Strausbourg

Hi everyone! We just got back from an awesome time in France, Strasbourg to be precise. We were there to tour the city and see some old friends, the Masbous. The picture below is of Strasbourg Cathedral, which was the world's tallest building from 1647 to 1874. If you do the math that's 227 years! Like most large buildings of its kind, construction was over the course of an extended period of time. Here, construction took place over 263 years, from 1176 to 1439. Though unlike other cathedrals, Strasbourg's only has one spire.

One reason I love France is the food! Below is a picture of me on our first day eating breakfast. I had a croissant, a baguette, jam, butter, orange juice, and hot chocolate. So much bread! What can go wrong? Nothing. You would never believe this, but over our whole time in France, the best croissant we had cost less than one euro and was from McDonalds. Seriously!

Another cool thing about Strasbourg, and many other European cities is the tram system. You see tram lines everywhere, footpaths, roads, and even on the grass. Charlotte's tram system needs to up their game, because next to this it looks lame. 

While we stayed in Strasbourg, we had a day out with the Masbous, and we first went to a castle, or château in french, called Château du Haut-Kœnigsbourg. The castle at Kœnigsbourg is very old, some parts dating back to the 800's. Though abandoned during the Middle Ages, it was restored and rebuilt to its original glory under the German emperor Wilhelm II, from 1900 to 1908. I thought the defense structures and mechanisms inside and outside were the coolest part of it. For example, the massive portcullis, and a bridge over the entry that could be dropped if the castle was invaded. Also, if you look closely on the side of the castle, you will see little holes. Some of those holes are where human waste leaves the castle. I highly recommend you  look up Kœnigsbourg because it is very interesting.

Later that day, we went to an eagle sanctuary to see the birds and a show. During the show, the birds would fly right over your head, and it was awesome. The birds are specially trained to do that, as well as fly really fast, and even land on a volunteer's hand. That is what Matthew is doing in the picture below. He is holding a vulture, which came to him because the trainer put a piece of meat on the glove Matthew is wearing.

Another cool thing about the eagle sanctuary are the birds. We saw huge bald eagles and owls, right up close. But this was my favorite. I don't know its name, but it looks to me like a cute fuzzy ostrich. 

We had a great time in Strasbourg and thought it was excellent!