May 19-23 The Time Between

May 19-23 The Time Between

After returning from Corsica, I had a few days to re-organize. I spent a bit of time wandering through Strasbourg. One day, Fabi rode her bike into town and we went to the Hôpital Civil de Strasbourg. This is one of the oldest hospitals in France. It was built in 1340 when the city of Strasbourg decided to build a hospital outside of the city because of a plague that was plaguing the inside of the city. The original gate (Porte) to the hospital  is the only one that remains from the original fortifications of Strasbourg.

In 1716, much of the hospital was destroyed in a fire so most of the buildings are “newer.”  (It’s all relative.) It’s now a teaching hospital as well as an ordinary hospital.

In 2008, a new huge(!) hospital was built with 715 beds. It’s called the Nouvel Hôpital Civil (New Civil Hospital) It’s very modern with the latest technology. I don’t have a photo of the new part but we did walk by this lovely house on the hospital grounds. I don’t remember what it is used for.

I asked Fabi if she thought the Nouvel Hôpital Civil would still be the New Civil Hospital in a hundred years. In other words, when does it become old? Hmmmm.

As we were leaving the grounds we came upon the famous wine cellars. It is original and dates back to 1395. It’s quality wine and not advertised. The wine cellar is now a tourist attraction—by reservation. Money from the sale of the wine goes to buy new medical equipment.

Since Fabi rode her bike, we didn’t do much else that day, especially after it started raining.

Another little outing involved wandering over to Place d’Austerlitz which I had been to with Celine. This is a monument to Strasbourg and shows the town in relief. Here are some photos of the top of it.

I also took photos of the sides of it which show symbols of Strasbourg. I didn’t understand most of them, except for the Cathedral, the stork, and the little dog— a copy of the one in the Cathedral. Take a look.

And, where do I live in Strasbourg? Excuse my finger on the lens, but look for the red house in the lower part of the photo.

On market day, Wednesday, I wandered through a couple of markets. One was at the Place Broglie and was food only. I have a couple of pictures…

One curious thing I saw was a long line of people lined up around the side of one of the produce stands. Yet no one was actually in front of the stand. Here’s a photo….

I took a look and discovered that there is a sign telling people not to touch the produce but to tell the workers behind the stand what you want and they will choose for you. Now that’s a new one. I wondered why so many people chose this produce stand when there were others at the market where they could make their own choices.

From there I came upon another market which features antiques. This was really really really really interesting because I saw a few things from my grandmothers house…and my mothers house too. So, take a look.

This section was especially interesting because dishes and the linens like these are in my closets at home. I guess I have antiques.

My very favoritist (made up word!) of the week was on Thursday. I went to lunch at a restaurant called Cheval Blanc (White Horse) in Schiltigheim which is near to where Fabi lives. Lunch that day was with all of the family members of my generation except for Roland, Fabi’s brother, who is recovering from a stroke. Many spouses were there too. Not only was I lunching with Fabi’s sibs but with her cousins, too, so it was truly everyone from that generation. I marveled at this. Here’s a photo. I’ll point out the ones who are part of the same gene pool. (This is primarily for family members who are reading this blog. I imagine others don’t really care about it.)

From the left (sitting next to me)…

*Damien (married to Catherine)

*Catherine (Fabi’s cousin—gene pool)

*Annie (married to Andre, Fabi’s brother who             died during Covid)

*Jean (partnered with Sonia)

*Nicole (Fabi’s cousin. Has 2 children, Noel             and Ludovic—gene pool)

*Sonia (Fabi’s sister—gene pool)

*Bruno (married to Nicole)

*Veronique (Fabi’s sister. Her husband                     Claude isn’t there—gene pool)

*Fabienne (queen of them all IMHO—gene             pool)

Then there’s me. This means that everyone here except fo three people were part of the same gene pool. I’d sure like to see what Ancestry has to say about that.

OK, back to the lunch. This is a traditional kind of restaurant. I started out with a picon —my favorite kind of beer cocktail. Then, I had the special of the day which was Onglet de Boeuf. Google says this is called “hanger steak from the lower belly of the cow.” It was pretty good. 

For dessert, I had this incredible delight. Soooo yummy! It was a miniature Kougelhopf with ice cream inside. There was some chantilly (aka whipped cream) on the side. OMG!! This was soooo good.

We had a little bit of adventure while inside the restaurant. During the daily rain event, there was quite a bit of hail. It piled up on the sidewalk and cars. Then it poured rain. The water in the road was running like a river. Then, all of a sudden, it started raining inside the restaurant. Soon, there was a veritable water feature in the corner where people were sitting. Here’s an updated family photo with a bit of graphics. Look in the corner of the room.

After a few minutes, even Sonia had to move to my end of the table. As you can imagine, there was a rush and a flurry of activity. People moved quickly and mops and buckets appeared. Before we were finished with lunch, someone from the city came and checked the damage. Note: The city owns the building because there’s a civic theater in the basement and the upper floors are rented out as the restaurant. 

By the time we left the restaurant, the rain had stopped and lo and behold(!) water was not backed up on the streets; not backed up in the gutters; not backed up in the drains. How does the city of Schiltigheim do that? I noticed that it’s the same in Strasbourg.

I took this picture of the restaurant as we left. The lowest roof is the one with the problem.

One last little thing about this restaurant. There are many signs with various sayings and words of wisdom. Some are even in English. My favorite one is this one….

I am the ancestor of the iPad.