strasbourg

i moved here about 6 weeks ago, one the reason why i chose this town was my love at first sight with this place when i first discoverd it a couple of years ago, since then i came here regulary everytime i had a chance!
in one way it is a typical french town: lots of charme and you get confused easily by the streetsigns (very french!) on the other way it has a lot of german elemts to it, all the fachwerk buildings from the late gothic period, and the old language "elsäsisch" an allemanish dialect which you here every now and then, by mostly the older generations (for me thats funny cause thats a simular language to my native swiss german).
if you've made to the center of strasbourg it is a easy city to get along, the whole center "ile" is worth seeing, but not to big, so you can walk around!
first there you have the cathedrale place with the very imposant cathedrale, her back is roman and her front gothic (one of the most spectacular gothic fronts i've ever seen!) on the left (if you stand in front of her) you have the "maison kammerzell" my fav. old building probably around the world! if you pass that you get in one part of the grand rue a street with full of small and cute boutiques (ideal to find presents!)
on the back side of the cathedrale you have plenty of small very narrow streets very charming! and lots of cafes and bars to spend some time in (at night it is full of life)
if you turn on the right side (in front of the cathedrale) you get in a very touristic place with lots of people trying to sell you stuff!
if you turn (still in front of the cathedrale) you get to the "gutenberg place" where you find restaurants who sell typical food during the whole day (right next to the street "les tonneliers" which has rapes that grow above) if you follow the big street on the right side you get to the place "kleber" where you find all the big magasins like H+M and mc donals and of course Fnac (the best book shop in france) and Habitat (my fav. interior shop)
to get to petite france (the very cute fachwerk quartier) you just have to head along the grand rue from the cathedrale away and turn left on one of the last possibilities! not far from there "barrage vauban" that on the otherside of the 3 towers, that you can climb where you have a beautiful view of the historical center!
at night the cathedrale gets a light show with music (it's a bit tough to watch, you get neck problems, but its worth seeing!) and on the cathedrale place you have plenty of travelling enterainers who make a nice athmospere!
some specific reviews will follow!