Month: March 2013

Lock me up (or down)

My first experience of a lock was on the Thames, near Marlow, Buckinghamshire, in 1997. That was on a smallish craft on which we were celebrating a family birthday, with friends.

In September, on the first night of our cruise from Basel (Switzerland) to Amsterdam (The Netherlands), we passed through locks before reaching Strasbourg (France).

Luckily, the first lock we reached was before bed time!  Clearly, the 110m (361ft) long cruise ship is designed to fit neatly into the width of these locks.

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All clear to proceed.

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The ship was launched less than 5 months ago, so the Captain doesn’t want to scratch the paintwork!

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Easy does it, Skipper!

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All so calm and peaceful in the night light. We would later pass through several more locks, mostly at night. The thrill of the first still lingers.

Next morning, we toured Strasbourg, beginning on the canals. We had to be ‘lifted’ to enter the old town, through a lock, of course!  Different scale, same degree of fun.

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The Strasbourg Astronomical Clock

Many, many years ago, as a child, I was taken to the Old Powerhouse Museum in Sydney. The attraction that truly had me intrigued, at the time, was the Strasbourg Clock. This model of the clock was built by a young Sydney clockmaker, between 1887 and 1889. It is believed that his working model was based solely on a postcard of the original.

To this day, it remains one of the most popular attractions at the Powerhouse Museum in Sydney.

Leap forward to 2012, when we were fortunate to visit Strasbourg, in the Alsace region of France.  The Strasbourg Cathedral (Cathédrale Notre-Dame-de-Strasbourg) is the home of the original Strasbourg Astronomical Clock (in fact, the current clock built in 1843 is the third to occupy the site).

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Our first glimpses of the Cathedral are from the canals and the streets nearby.

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DSC03409The cathedral is inspiring when we get closer, especially the detail around the entrance. DSC03410

I am always attracted to an organ, (and this one does not disappoint)DSC03413The intricate carving of the pulpitDSC03421

At last, we reach The ClockDSC03416

Our guide made sure that we arrived a few minutes before the hour, when the clock really comes to life, as it has done since 1843.

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Our guide, Catherine, detailed the history and workings of the clock. As part of her story, she mentioned that the Sydney model of the clock is significant, because it is the only model of the clock outside Strasbourg. That came as a bit of a surprise to me.

The other surprise I had was that I was the only person in the group, which included other Australians, that knew about the clock at the Powerhouse Museum.

If you are interested, you can read more about the Strasbourg Astronomical Clock here, and about the Sydney model here.

Obernai

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Obernai, the town whose Coat of Arms appears above, is the second largest town in the lower Rhine region of Alsace.  The major town of the region is Strasbourg, which is 31km to the north-east.

Obernai has a population about 12,000, and clearly benefits from tourists travelling the Alsace Wine Trail.

We enter from the car (and coach) park, through the walls. There are inner and outer walls, both beautifully restored.

Buildings form a part of the inner wall.
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DSC03490After passing through the inner wall, we find attractive buildings and streetscapes wherever we wander.

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While not really large, the churches had attractive architecture, including rose windows.

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Our guide pointed out a stork’s nest on top of one building. The stork is recognised as an emblem of Alsace.

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All too soon, it was time to re-join our party and head back to Strasbourg. However, I did manage to remember enough French, from my schooldays, to purchase some delicious biscuits. The hardest part of that was too choose which ones.