On Wednesday, a couple of us headed to Strasbourg, France, to see a friend perform in a play. It's about an hour and a half away. We got there a couple of hours early so we could walk around and do some exploring. It was a typical rainy day that felt very similar to Portland. Still, I couldn't for a second let the weather ruin an opportunity to explore. Since we didn't have a lot of time, I was everywhere taking pictures and soaking it all in. I'm pretty sure some of my group found it annoying at times. :)
Strasbourg is basically France's own little version of Venice.
Even on an overcast, rainy day, I still found it to be very beautiful and serene.
Every corner brings something picturesque that's begging to be captured.
It has a definite romantic undertone to it.
As long as I live, I don't think I'll ever tire of cobblestone streets.
After having a quick bite to eat (i.e. some not so great vegetable soup and bread), we headed in the direction of the theater. We weren't exactly too sure where we were going. Luckily, we had some great navigators in our group...(right, Mecky? ;) )
Not wanting to be late to the play, we were in a bit of rush. After leaving the water canals of Strasbourg, we walked further into the city. I tried to take a quick video...the thing was, I was a little too quick. Hopefully, this won't make you that dizzy:
One thing is for sure, you cannot spend only a couple hours in Strasbourg. It is a place that needs time to be explored. I'd like to return sometime and do more of that.
The play I saw was Alice in Wonderland, but it was more of a loose interpretation of it. The first hour was a german interpretation and the second hour was french interpretation. The thing that was very unusual about the play was the fact that the cast was made up of people from mental institutions...both staff AND patients. I really appreciated the way in which the play was done, in that none of the mentally handicapped people were put in position where their disability was highlighted or made fun of. To be honest, most of the time I couldn't really tell who was handicapped and who wasn't. They all did an incredibly great job and played their parts well. At the end when everyone was taking a bow, I almost started crying because it was such a beautiful picture of human decency, kindness and respect. One of the handicapped ladies kept hugging the director and clapping with excitement and he just kept hugging her back as the crowd was clapping for him and giving a standing ovation.
Also accompanying the play was some live music. The musicians were fantastic!
