Walk with me #3: Strasbourg (France) part two: little things that give spirit to city

in #walkwithme7 years ago (edited)

Last time I invited you to take a walk with me through the streets of the old town of Strasbourg. However, my walk didn't end there. While taking a lovely stroll through the streets and enjoying the first warmth of the sun this year I was pondering - what makes this city alive? So far I had my fair share of opportunities to visit and even live in different towns and cities. One is certain, each of them, no matter how big or small - has its own very unique vibe. Strasbourg is not an exception. So what gives it the spirit?

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The first pleasant thing that really surprised me is that in France various flea markets are a very popular and absolutely normal occurrence. Small ones like this, for an old books, postcards and an old records can be found pretty often all around the city, however, the "serious" ones for the real antiques has a specified dates, times and locations. The fact that people instead of throwing items away - gives them a chance to have a second life, does really impress me . I really salute such behavior. What is more for such a curious being as I am it is always really fun to have a peak to gorgeous valuables that have a long history behind them.

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Flowers! A lot of them! Flowers everywhere! It is an inseparable part of Strasbourg even if only in a flower stand at this time of the year.

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In the summertime, all city is covered with flowers: starting from bridges and ending pretty much with every window still in the city center.

The street cafe culture. Even if the weather is rainy - people very often rather choose to sit outdoors than indoors. So the little tables lined up along the sidewalk can be seen everywhere.

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The gift shops... always colorful and with the very specific decorations. Alsaciens surely loves stuffed things as decorations :)

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The Stork - is the proud symbol of Alsace so naturally, it is the first and the most important attraction of every gift shop you'll find in the region.

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And bicycles, bicycles, bicycles everywhere. It is a very green city. Not only in a sense that it has a lot of trees and parks but it also has a pretty well-developed infrastructure for cycling and among most of the citizens bicycle is the choice number one (instead of the car) as the main mean of transport. It is pretty usual to see a man with a costume or lady with a beautiful dress and in high heels just riding bicycle casually to work.

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The second most popular mean of transport is the tram. Despite its futuristic look it actually blends very well with the rest of the city architecture.

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And heading back..... The Marrons Chauds. A cute little train like stands that appears all over the place just at the end of autumn and stays there for the rest of the cold period. The perfect place to get some freshly baked chestnuts and not only....

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Finally - the local patisseries and boulangeries inviting you in with a magnificent sent of freshly baked goods from afar.

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And well, since I was in town anyway - the obligatory visit to one of the best patisserie/boulangerie in town. Normally there is a queue to get inside but seems that today I've got lucky.
Mmm.... always fresh baked goods...

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On the top shelf - the traditional Alsacien cake "Kougelhopf".

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Don't get me wrong, I love croissants and pretty much all French-backed goodness but "Pain aux Raisins" is my guilty little pleasure...

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Have a lovely weekend everyone!
Much love <3
@gretum

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A lovely tour of Strasbourg @gretum, thank you for sharing your time here :)

Thank you very much for stopping by to read! I'm glad you enjoyed :)

Merci Gretum for this great post on Strasbourg ! Ok you make us salivate with marrons chauds and pain aux raisins, but there is one thing very miummy too in Strasbourg is "choucroute".... Hope you did taste one when you were there !

Oh I know this glorious dish way toooo well :) and I'm still here and will be for the upcoming year and a half ^.^

Alors, je peux t'écrire en français ! Merci pour ton article qui nous fait aimer cette partie de la France qui, je dois le dire, à cause de sa situation géographique, n'est pas une destination préférée des touristes français... bon séjour à toi et ne prends pas trop de poids : a cuisine strasbourgeoise est bonne mais riche !

Oui, je commence enfin à comprendre le français mais malheureusement je ne me sens toujours pas à l'aise pour parler ou écrire :)

Regarding the tourists, it is a mixed feeling. Strasbourg is beautiful and unique place so it is bit sad that it is not that well known. On the other hand since there are not that many tourists it is a pretty calm place to be.
And yes, it is really difficult not to gain more weight! But not particularly because of the Alsacien cuisine, it is more in general because of the wonderful french cuisine and specially sweets! Just <3 it! Really French ladies if someone could tell me how you stay so thin and beautiful while eating all these magnificent backed goods I'd be very grateful :)

tu es donc GOURMANDE ! ha ! ha! I think thin ladies don't even look at those pastries, for only a glance makes you gain weigh ! As for my part, I live in France since 1974 and luckily for me, I don't like sweets ! Ouf ! But I do love wine and cheese... it is NOT better to stay thin.

What a shame that you do not like sweets, but well you are right wine and especially cheese are not better for keeping shape either lol sadly I love all three of them... so it is hard, really hard with so many temptations around!

Wow!! Beautifully impressive #walkwithme, ooooh I want to be right there with you to smell all the smells and taste all that there is to taste. Those tulips really brightened my day and made me think of spring. Thank you @gretum :) Much Love!

Thank you very much for your kind words and taking your time to leave a comment :) I really appreciate this. Also it makes me happy so hear that you enjoyed it! <3
I have quite a bit on mind and recently began to feel selfish about keeping everything to myself. Thank you for encouraging me to share with #walkwithme.
I really did not expect that my attempts actually will have such a positive reaction :)

You definitely deserve such a positive reaction, your #walkwithme's have been outstanding in the format, your writing and the photos themselves!!! We are honoured to have a talent like you in the community!!

Hi my dear :-)
Thank you for this walk , I feel like you bring me in and walk with you for real. From this walk, you show me how beautiful of the city / convenience by public transportation / people are so nice / the market / and food , I really want to have like this in LA (New Orleans) USA, the city i live now is busy .. I want to be in the cute town like this , i am sure I must be enjoyed. / Thank you love, and i am looking forward your next walk :-)

Thank you so very much for your lovely and encouraging words, as always! And well, so far I've experienced that every city has his own soul and heart, specially such old one as New Orleans ;)

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Great posz. Nice to see more and more travelers here. I see you are also in photocontest. I wm there a lot ^^ good luck

Thank you! I will definitely check your ventures as well :)