Monday, August 5
Niece wanted to sleep in (still recovering), so Brother and I wandered into Strasbourg and over to the cathedral. I had heard about the Astronomical Clock and wanted to see it. I learned tickets were sold inside, so we got in the long line of tourists. Not a big deal, there was only a check of packs and bags at the entrance so we were inside in five minutes. We bought tickets to the clock and wandered around. A nice place!
At 11:15 everyone was ushered out. It was time for the people who paid to see the clock. Brother and I went around to the side entrance and stood in line. This time the crowd, once inside, was in a much smaller place.
This Astronomical clock was built about 1838-1842 and is quite big. It is in one of the transepts of the church. The number of people who can crowd in front of it is rather small, at least compared to the crowd who wanted to see it in action.
Actually, what the clock does at midday isn't much – the rooster crows and two sets of figures circle around. It's all the other stuff the clock does that is so impressive. Especially because it is all mechanical.
* It has two sets of hands on the time face, one for what the government says the time is, and one for the solar noon. The clock goes off at solar noon, or 12:30 according to the government.
* Around the time face it also has a big wheel showing the day of the year. There are additional arms for the current position of the sun and moon (it has accurately predicted eclipses) and in doing so takes into account of the changing speed of elliptical orbits. More arms point to the time of today's sunrise and sunset.
* Another face shows the positions of the visible planets around the sun (with a moon orbiting the earth). Saturn does its orbit in 28 years, and that is accurately portrayed.
* And then the big one – every December 31 it calculates the date for the next Easter, which is dependent on the full moon after the spring equinox.
All that without modern computers – and even without electricity.
We learned all this through a video that was shown before the clock did its thing. One narrator spoke French, another spoke German. We could read English subtitles as the German narration was spoken.
Once the clock was done the doors were opened to the public again and Niece appeared. I waited while her father pointed out a few cool things about the building.
We walked across the cathedral plaza to a restaurant that got good recommendations. I was amused the restaurant name was a French word and a German word (I don't mention them because I don't remember the German word). The food was good. We had to order fast because the kitchen closed five minutes after we got there.
After lunch all three of us went to Palace Rohan near the cathedral. This really had been a palace. It now houses three museums and we decided to go for all three. The first was the rooms of the palace residence and a wing of the decorative arts (lots of porcelain) fit for a resident bishop. The second was a regular art museum. Niece appreciated the Medieval art. I liked the works from the 19th Century. The third was an archeological museum showing the range of residents of the Alsace area from earliest man to the modern era. Alas, we had only 20 minutes to closing.
The climb to the top of the cathedral was still open, but that had to wait until we could power the climb with gelato. Once that detail was handled we climbed the 330 steps (pausing frequently for photos taken out the windows of the stairwell). At the top is a large platform with great views of the surrounding area. We stayed there for a half hour, until closing. I pointed to the southeast and commented to Brother that between where we stood and the hills in the distance (part of the Black Forest) is a village where at least eight generations of ancestors lived. More on that tomorrow.
We found a restaurant for supper (good quality, but not great). Then back to the hotel for the night.
No comments:
Post a Comment