Visiting the Home of the European Parliament in Strasbourg (France) with Savvy Mom Ruth Paget
On a sunny albeit cold day, my husband Laurent and I walked around downtown Strasbourg admiring the fashionably dressed denizens of a provincial French city that proclaims itself a European capital.
The European Parliament of elected deputies has its headquarters in Strasbourg while the majority of European civil servants who carry out European Union policies are located in Brussels, Belgium. Strasbourg is also the site of France’s Ecole Nationale d’Administration (ENA), which has traditionally been France’s training ground for presidential hopefuls and high-level government employees whatever their political orientation.
ENA is located opposite the city’s canals off the Rhine River, the natural border with Germany, in an area called La Petite France. The canals make the air damp and cold in winter. However, in spring and summer flowers decorate the bridges over the canals, adding great picturesque charm to the half-timbered houses in the area.
At the rue de la mercerie, or street of the haberdashery (stores for buttons and threads), you can look down and see the entryway of Saint Laurent to the Notre Dame Cathedral. The cathedral was begun in 1015 in the stark Romanesque style, but was finished in the detailed and elaborate Gothic style, featuring much sculpture and pointed arches over the entries to the cathedral. The cathedral tower and entryways rise steeply, but as often happens when you look at Gothic cathedrals, you stop looking up as your eyes focus on the sculpture.
The sculpture on the Saint Laurent doorway, which is carved in the gray rose stone from the Vosges Mountains that the cathedral is made of, depicts the martyrdom of Saint Laurent. Saint Laurent died in 258 and served the Pope Sixtus II. The gridiron is his usual symbol, but he is also known for almsgiving and is often shown with a purse of money, too.
Saint Laurent’s feast day is August 10th and like many people with the name Laurent, my husband celebrates the Saint Laurent feast day with a nice meal and usually receives cards and gifts.
August 10th was far from our thoughts on our walk, though. The cold chased us from Strasbourg’s impeccably clean, downtown streets. We will return in spring and share our walk with tourists from around the world who want to see what a European capital with a long history looks like.
By Ruth Paget - Author of Eating Soup with Chopsticks and Marrying France
Click here for: Ruth Paget's Amazon Books
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