Battle of the Bulge 75th

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Sunday, 7 April 2019 - Traveled to Ghent to explore its medieval streets and canals, visited Gravensteen Castle, admired St. Bavo's Cathedral and the famous altarpiece, enjoyed the lively market squares, and ended the day with scenic canal-side photography.

First day in a new photogenic city means I am up and out to catch the best light at dawn. Capturing the big Christmas Tree without people was at the top of the list.

belgium2019 — Place Kleber, the largest square at the center of the city of Strasbourg in the heart of the city's commercial area, was named after general Jean-Baptiste Kleber. In the square is a statue of Kleber who went with Napoleon in the Egyptian Campaign in 1798-99. When Napoleon left Egypt to return to Paris, he appointed Kleber as commander of the French forces. He was assassinated by a student in Cairo in 1800.

belgium2019 — Strasbourg is the capital of Christmas.

belgium2019 — A storefront with bears - there would be many more bears throughout the city.

belgium2019 — Early in the morning this restaurant was taking in deliveries and I spotted the ladies painted in the hallway and took a picture. Later this day we asked the hotel for a recommendation on a coffee shop and they sent us to this restaurant - which was a real treat - French pastry. We went back each day in the afternoon.

belgium2019 — Cathedral of Our Lady of Strasbourg (Cathedrale Notre-Dame de Strasbourg)

Although considerable parts of it are still in Romanesque architecture, it is widely considered to be among the finest examples of high, or late, Gothic architecture.

We attended a mass at the Cathedral Notre Dame in Strasbourg all spoken in French/German which was beautiful to be in the grand church with its huge antique tapestries hanging between each transept. The greening of the church was beautifully decorated and there was a long nativity scene you walked down along one side of the cathedral.

belgium2019 — At 466 feet, it was the world's tallest building from 1647 to 1874 (227 years), when it was surpassed by St. Nikolai's Church, Hamburg. Today it is the sixth-tallest church in the world and the highest extant structure built entirely in the Middle Ages.

belgium2019 — The octagonal north tower was built from 1399 to 1439. The north tower was the world's tallest building from 1647 until 1874. The planned south tower was never built and as a result, with its characteristic asymmetrical form, the cathedral is now a landmark of Alsace. You see 30 kilometers from the observation level all the way to the Black Forest.

belgium2019 — The main door to the cathedral.

Strasbourg has one of the earliest facades whose construction is inconceivable without prior drawing. The statues, dating from the 13th to the 15th century, located above the triple portal of the Gothic facade, depict the Prophets, the Wise and Mad virgins and the Virtues and Vices.

belgium2019 — The door on the right of the cathedral front.

belgium2019 — Always on the lookout for gargoyles this little guy was a surprise. He was at about 6 feet on the front corner pillar - I checked and he has a twin on the far left. Not sure of the function, although there is a hole in the mouth.

belgium2019 — The arches of the north portal are decorated with graceful 14th century statues representing the virtues and striking down the vices. This is the seducer and the foolish virgin.

belgium2019 — The Virgin Mary with Child in the center of the main entrance.

belgium2019 — The Passion of Christ over the main entrance.

belgium2019 — There are thousands of status on the facade.

During the French Revolution, all the statues were ordered to be destroyed. More than 230 were destroyed. Fortunately an administrator of public property managed to hide 67 statues. Many of the statues on the cathedral are reproductions.

belgium2019 — I love the gargoyles - here is a pretty mean looking dog.

belgium2019 — A horse gargoyle - rather unusual.

belgium2019 — Funny - starving - little man Gargoyle.

belgium2019 — Sighted high in the cathedral - a dog sitting on a ball.

belgium2019 — In the niches of the first and second floor galleries you can see equestrian statues of twenty monarchs, from Clovis I until Louis XIV. Not surprisingly, these statues were the first to suffer the torments of the Revolution. Destroyed, they were later replaced in the 19th century.

Sandstone from the Vosges Mountains used in construction gives the cathedral its characteristic pink hue.

belgium2019 — Various astronomical devices, including a sundial, on the outside of the south side - over the clock.

belgium2019 — Ornate clock with the Virgin Mary on the south side.

belgium2019 — The great rose window over the entrance to the cathedral.

belgium2019 — One of the 14 beautiful tapestries hanging in the Cathedral.

belgium2019 — A small chapel at the altar end of the cathedral.

belgium2019 — The very complex Astronomical Clock of the cathedral - the mechanism dates from 1842.

Besides the time it also displays the civil and ecclesiastic calendars, and many astronomical indications such as the sign of the zodiac, the lunar phase and the position of many planets.

belgium2019 — Detail of the clock - this is a rider in a chariot representing the day of the week - in our case Apollo and his chariot are representing Sunday.

belgium2019 — The chancel with a Christmas Tree on the left.

The Romanesque chancel is elevated from the rest of the nave and the transept because it is situated above the crypt. Its cul-de-four cupola is decorated with neo-byzantine frescoes dating from the 19th century. It is Eastward-facing, towards Jerusalem, as was the tradition in the construction of cathedrals in the Middle Ages.

belgium2019 — Little dog sandstone carving.

It depicts the time when Geiler of Kaysersberg came to preach on this pulpit, accompanied by his dog. He preached long, earnest sermons-so long that his pet dog, who went with him everywhere, would fall asleep. This is that dog, still sleeping. As I was taking pictures several people came up and while touching the puppy's head said a quick prayer.

belgium2019 — Near the chancel is an arch called Pillar of Angels constructed around 1230, serves as the central pillar of the south transept. It features twelve sculptures, this is an angel playing the trumpet.

belgium2019 — Simple but pretty Christmas ornaments suspended from the chandlers.

belgium2019 — The chandelier covered in pine boughs for Christmas and the great rose window.

belgium2019 — In the creche was a rather odd, I thought, display of blue butterflies - which were photogenic.

belgium2019 — One of the stained glass windows - in this case hell.

belgium2019 — Beautiful stained glass high in the arch of the cathedral.

belgium2019 — Homes along the canals created from the Ill River.

belgium2019 — Many of the storefronts sported a Christmas display. Santa was prominent but bears seemed popular as well.

belgium2019 — Also many doors decorated for Christmas.

belgium2019 — Down a very narrow and long street was a pretty tree with yellow leaves.

belgium2019 — Another over the top store display - this time all in white and instead of bears this one uses owls.

belgium2019 — At the Royal Palace was a live nativity scene - during the day the sheep were all that remained.

With a sign - "Please do not feed the sheep".

belgium2019 — The Strasbourg arms in the stone road.

belgium2019 — Ahh, the Christmas Market. There was a large market around the cathedral. Thousands of Christmas Tree ornaments in the various shops.

If you haven't experienced a European Christmas Market, this is an excellent market with its over-the-top decorations, lights and many, many stalls. It was completely magical and something I'd love to repeat.

belgium2019 — The display over one of the Christmas Market shops - Virginia Ann's fav.

belgium2019 — Nutcrackers were a big item in the various Christmas Market stalls.

belgium2019 — Along with thousands of Christmas ornaments were thousands of people.

belgium2019 — With all these people, including tourists, we were the only ones in the Musee de l'Euvre Notre-Dame. The museum is famous for its rich holdings of original sculptures, glass windows, architectural fragments and building plans of Strasbourg Cathedral.

This is one of the original stained glass windows.

belgium2019 — An original statue from Notre-Dame de Strasbourg saved in the museum.

belgium2019 — Statues from Notre-Dame de Strasbourg - well worth the visit to see the statues up close instead of their reproductions way up on the cathedral.

belgium2019 — Building decorated for Christmas.

belgium2019 — On the left is the Kammerzell House, one of the most ornate and well preserved medieval buildings in late Gothic architecture, it was built in 1427!!!!!!

belgium2019 — The cathedral and the street decorations on our walk to dinner...

belgium2019 — The very narrow street in the old town completely covered in lights and Christmas decorations.

belgium2019 — Decorations in a storefront.

belgium2019 — Big bears standing over a store.

belgium2019 — A great dinner and nice walk back to the hotel. Here we pass under the lights to Petite France.

The name Petite France was not given for patriotic or architectural reasons. It comes from the "hospice of the syphilitic" , which was built in the late fifteenth century on this island, to cure persons with syphilis, then called "French disease" in German.

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