Paris and Strasbourg, France - April 2025
Posted June 3, 2025 - 99 Photos. We paid another visit to Rick’s favorite foreign country - France! We spent a few days in Paris, then took the high-speed train to Strasbourg. We had wonderful weather for most of our visit, and enjoyed a lot of good food, especially French pastries. Rick’s French-speaking abilities continue to improve, and he did a good job speaking and understanding French. He’s clearly not a native speaker, but he gets the job done!
01 - We flew direct from Denver to Paris. It was nice flying without layovers. After spending a couple of days in Paris, we traveled to Strasbourg for the second half of our visit.
02 - Our Air France jet patiently waits for us to board.
03 - Our plane had cameras to see the action outside. Here we are on the runway, ready to hit the friendly skies.
04 - We made it to Paris Charles de Gaulle airport. Time to "sortie" to see Paris!
05 - Enjoying lunch at a Paris crêperie - Rick loves crêpes with Nutella and banana.
06 - Before checking into our hotel, we visited the nearby Montmartre Cemetery, which was opened in 1825.
07 - It's a huge cemetery, with a lot of famous "residents" and ostentatious tombs.
08 - Unfortunately for some of those residents, Paris built the Rue Caulaincourt viaduct right above their tombs!
09 - We stayed at the oddly named and whimsical Hotel Joke, in the Montmartre neighborhood.
10 - The hallway outside our room.
11 - Our room had a gigantic magnetic poetry board, surprisingly in English.
12 - Rick experiments with an odd set of mirrors in the hotel lobby.
13 - Remember April 2019, when it looked like Notre Dame Cathedral might burn to the ground?
14 - Work is still being done on the Cathedral, but the ground floor has reopened. We were excited to see the refurbished structure.
15 - We weren't able to get tickets to enter the church, but the line for us, the un-ticketed, wasn't very long anyway!
16 - The inside of the cathedral was incredibly bright after the workers removed centuries of soot from the walls.
17 - The stained glass luminescence was dazzling.
18 - We saw colors inside that we had never noticed on previous visits.
19 - A new addition is this gold disc, which displays the holy Crown of Thorns, believed to have been worn by Jesus Christ. Unfortunately, the Crown is only displayed once a month....
20 - A photo of the Crown from the web. The first historical reference to the relic appeared in the 5th century. In 1239, King Louis IX of France acquired the Crown for $275 million in today's dollars. While its authenticity has not been proven, it is known to be at least 1,600 years old.
21 - These are panels showing the life of Christ - we were not even aware of their existence until this visit. It's amazing how much more is visible is the new bright light.
22 - This exterior view shows that there is still plenty of work in-progress.
23 - Yummy French onion soup at a resto across the street from Notre Dame.
24 - A visit to the Grand Mosque of Paris, which was as spartan as Notre Dame was opulent.
25 - The Mosque's garden was pretty nice.
26 - A beautiful day to visit le Jardin des Plantes...
27 - ...where Rick gets a whiff of the sweet aroma of cherry blossoms.
28 - We ended the day with a visit to Dirty Dick's Tiki Bar, where some of the drinks cost an arm and a leg.
29 - We only paid a leg for these two tasty concoctions.
30 - Visiting the Louvre Museum to see the Haute Couture exhibit. Works by Christian Dior, Chanel, Yves Saint Laurent, and Versace, among others, were on display.
31 - Unsure who would want to wear this, as the head-piece looks awkward to lug around. Perhaps it would make a good Halloween costume.
32 - Do not wear this in the Wisconsin woods during deer-hunting season!
33 - Part of the power went out at the Louvre, so we had to exit through the basement, which was a unusual experience!
34 - Taking the train back to our hotel, we had macarons in one of the train stations.
35 - The vanilla macarons (YES, VANILLA - NOT CHOCOLATE) were delicious!
36 - For our farewell to Paris on our last night there, we dined at a fancy schmancy place for dinner. It was a very tasty meal.
37 - Sunset along the Seine.
38 - Our hotel was near the world famous Moulin Rouge. We opted not to spend a fortune to see scantilly-clad women doing the Can-Can.
39 - The Gare de l'Est (train station) had armed soldiers on the premises when we left for Strasbourg. We saw the same thing in Strasbourg - we're security increased due to the approaching Easter holiday.
40 - Riding the high-speed rail to Strasbourg. We covered 300 miles in under two hours. It sure would be nice if we had these in the USA...
41 - We stayed in Old Town Strasbourg, which is on an island surrounded by canals.
42 - It was nice to be welcomed to Strasbourg with such beautiful weather.
43 - A peaceful street that our AirBNB overlooked.
44 - We also overlooked La Grande Rue, one of the main streets through Old Town. It was interesting to see all the hustle and bustle below.
45 - We had the local speciality, Tarte Flambée, for dinner. It's a thin-crust flatbread that's traditionally topped with crème fraîche, onions, and bacon. It was pretty good - tasted a lot like scalloped potatoes with ham!
46 - Checking-out Place Kleber.
47 - Morning view our our kitchen window - nothing like what we see in Colorado!
48 - We took a day trip south to the small town of Colmar. The Strasbourg train station looks cool from a distance. And the number of bikes parked around it was astounding.
49 - Traveling first-class to Colmar!
50 - A young woman talking on her phone was kind enough to take a break to snap this photo!
51 - Colmar has an annual Easter Market, filled with decorations, local crafts, and delicious treats.
52 - St. Martin Church, built between 1235 and 1365, is an important example of Gothic architecture.
53 - We saw a stork! This area of France is home to storks, who migrate each year from Africa to spend the warmer months in Europe. The storks return every year to the same nest. This nest is on top of St. Martin Church.
54 - Pfister house was built in 1537 for a hat-maker, who made his fortune "in the silver trade." This house has been a symbol of Colmar for many years.
55 - From La Petite Venice ("Little Venice") area of Colmar, which has a lot of canals.
56 - After a long day, we relaxed with some fries, sauerkraut, and beers at Le Meteor. We hung-out there several nights during our stay.
57 - Breakfast the next day came from L’Atelier, a highly rated bakery, down the street from our place. There were just about always lines of people to get into that place!
58 - We explored La Petite France, an island area in the center of Strasbourg. Behind us is one of three covered bridges constructed during the 13th century that defended the island against invaders.
59 - From one of the covered bridges, this is a view of three towers, also used for defense.
60 - This dam is what really made the defense system hum - they could open the flood gates to raise the water level around the island to keep invaders at bay!
61 - The combination of clear sky and calm water made for great reflections!
62 - This is the Pontonniers International High School, which is renowned for its high scores in the Baccalauréat, the final exams taken to receive a diploma. We enjoyed seeing so many cherry blossoms during our visit.
63 - La Grand Rue was packed!
64 - We finished our walking for the day with some delicious gelato.
65 - Our apartment provided a great view of the sunset over La Grand Rue.
66 - Rick checks-out the action below.
67 - We climbed 330 stairs in the Strasbourg Cathedral to reach its observation deck, just below the bell tower and spire.
68 - Construction of the Cathedral lasted over 400 years, and was completed in 1439.
69 - At 466 feet, Strasbourg Cathedral was the world's tallest building from 1647 to 1874. Today, it is the sixth-tallest church in the world and the tallest surviving structure built entirely in the Middle Ages.
70 - Making our way to the observation deck.
71 - The staircase had an occasional slotted window to peer through - such a confusing jumble from that perspective!
72 - We made it!
73 - The view to the west - that's Germany and the Black Forest in the distance.
74 - A view of the church's flying buttresses. Flying buttresses are architectural elements from Gothic architecture that support the walls of buildings, particularly those with vaulted ceilings and large windows.
75 - We needed a snack after stair-climbing, so we hit a nearby bakery that had the most excellent pretzels. Rick is eating one topped with emmentaler cheese.
76 - We walked across the Rhine River to visit Kehl, Germany. The river is below the white arches in this photo.
77 - It was a very chilly, windy day, so we only spent about 10 minutes in Germany. Apparently, Kehl's only claim to fame is being on the other side of the Rhine from Strasbourg, so there wasn't much to do there, but stand.
78 - The weird words on these signs, and the previous photo of Rick, is our only proof that we visited Germany. It was pretty much a non-adventure!
79 - Visiting the Haut-Koenigsbourg castle, south of Strasbourg. Setting about 2,500 feet above the plain, the castle has a strategic position that was quite easy to defend.
80 - Rick enters the castle on one of its several draw bridges.
81 - This is an enclosed staircase. The castle is positioned in a rather small area at the top of a hill, so a lot of the castle is built up, rather than out.
82 - It's easy to get a stiff neck in that place, looking up all the time!
83 - View of the Alsace Plain from the castle.
84 - Julie strikes a pose on another drawbridge - this one is INSIDE the castle. Huh...
85 - Speaking of striking poses, Rick models some traditional garb before leaving the castle.
86 - Guess who's back to visit the Strasbourg Cathedral again?
87 - The Cathedral's interior is just as stunning as the exterior. When Hitler visited the church after invading France during WWII, he asked his soldiers, “What do you think gentlemen, will we return this jewel to France?” The soldiers replied "Never!”
88 - Fortunately for the rest of the world, the fascist Nazis lost the war five years later. And, despite their expectations to the contrary, the losers did indeed return the "jewel" to the French people.
89 - Amazingly, 80% of the stained glass is original, surviving from the 12th to 15th centuries. The cathedral's windows traveled a lot during World War II - first hidden by the French in the southwest; then taken to Germany by the Nazis; and finally returned by British and American troops at the end of the war.
90 - The Cathedral is home to an astronomical clock ("l’Horloge Astronomique"), which is visited by over 3 million people each year.
91 - The main attraction of the clock is the procession of the 18-inch high figures of Christ and the Apostles, which occurs every day at noon.
92 - Unfortunately, we were at the church at 4 pm. The only activity we heard or saw then was the light ding of a small bell!
93 - The Lindt Store makes the absolute best hot chocolate. We started our last day in Strasbourg with a cup.
94 - Got Hot Chocolate?
95 - We had an enjoyable visit at the European Parliament. Strasbourg was chosen as the location as symbol of reconciliation and cooperation between countries that had previously been at odds, in particular, France and Germany.
96 - The atrium. Need we say more?
97 - This is the Parliament's plenary chamber, also known as the Hemicycle. There are 720 Members of the European Parliament (MEPs), representing the 27 EU member countries. The laws they pass are applicable to the entire EU.
98 - We had our picture taken, and it will now be randomly displayed in the Parliament with a zillion other similar photos.
99 - Back in Paris, and ready to fly home. Unfortunately, our plane had a problem, and we were booted off. After waiting many hours, our flight was canceled. We did eventually make it home, about 24 hours later than planned.