STRASBOURG, FRANCE
The center of this town is very well preserved and/or rebuilt.  The Cathedral is a major landmark and can be seen from almost anywhere in the city.  We stayed in a very old and well maintained hotel right next to the Cathedral.  Strasbourg is is the capital and principal city of the Alsace region in eastern France and is the official seat of the European Parliament.

Map of Strasbourg, the Hotel we stayed in I marked with an X and a small red oval close to the Cathedral.

Hotel Cathedral is the light brown one.  We had the room on the far end, not the top floor but the one under it.   I put a small red oval on it but I don't think it shows up.

Our room.
The entire building was real narrow,
about twice the width of this room.

The view from our hotel window.
I had to reach out  a long way as the window opening is about 2 feet deep.

The hotel room window

The view of the Cathedral from our window.

View of the Cathedral from a block away

The Cathedral construction began in the twelfth century, was completed in 1439 and became the World's Tallest Building, surpassing the Great Pyramid of Giza.

The Illumination Astronomical clock dates from 1843. Its main features, besides the automata, are a perpetual calendar (including a computus), an orrery (planetary dial), a display of the real position of the Sun and the Moon, and solar and lunar eclipses. The main attraction is the procession of the 18 inch high figures of Christ and the Apostles which occurs every day at half past midday while the life-size cock crows thrice

The Illumination Astronomical Clock in the cathedral.

The Illumination Astronomical Clock in the cathedral

For our American service

The old district of Strasbourg is surrounded by these canals.

This area of Strasbourg is known as Petite France

This is one of the big touristy things to do.  Take the Batorma boat tour through the canals and locks.

Maison Des Tanneurs 1572

Panorama from the Barrage Vauban with the medieval bridge Ponts Couverts towers in the foreground  

Saw this guy by the canal.  About the size of a cat.  I don't think it is a rat.  Looks like a beaver with a skinny tail.

Tour boat in the lock, waiting for the water to raise up.

Men in Black

EASTER TRIP - STRASBOURG FRANCE, ROTHENBURG OB DER TAUBER & NURNBERG GERMANY
Germany has a 4 day holiday for Easter.  The stores and most everything closes.  We rented a car and went to Strasbourg for a couple of days, Rothenburg for a part of a day and Nurnberg for a day and a half.  The weather was still really cold in the 30's and windy most of the time.  Snowed a little bit.  We had a nice Renault car, very nice, a lot different than my 1958 Renault I had back in the 70's.  The autoban was FAST, we took some quiet farm roads to see more country on the way back.  We did see a lot of one kind of bird of prey, looked like a big hawk, lots of birds, some deer.  The architecture and history is what Europe if famous for and we saw a good sampling of it.  There is so much to see in every city.  We want to head back to Rothenburg most of all when the weather warms up and the plants start growing.  I'll put up photos of the 3 areas in separate blog entries.

Drove down to Strasbourg, then to Rothenburg, then to Nurnberg. Route is highlighted in green.

Strasbourg
http://susanssmith2012.blogspot.com/2013/04/strasbourg-france-center-of-this-town.html

Rothenburg
http://susanssmith2012.blogspot.com/2013/04/rothenburg-ob-der-tauber-red-fort-on_2.html

Nurnberg
http://susanssmith2012.blogspot.com/2013/04/nurnberg-we-stayed-two-nights-in.html

ANOTHER NEEDLE HOLDER - 6 SIDED BOX THAT HOLDS ANOTHER BOX AND OPENS OUT FLAT.
I finished this needle holder yesterday.  I like the fabric on this one a lot.  I also like the way it folds up and unfolds.  It has a smaller box inside called the thimble holder.  The fabric had a few different designs in the print so that I was able to select one part that has a hex that fit the top of the thimble holder just perfectly.  Later I gave this one to Sister Zimmernink for her birthday.

The Needle holder box as it looks when it is closed.

The bottom of the box is covered too.

The lid off, showing what it looks like when folder up.  The draw string has a clasp that allows the sides of the box to open when the cord is expanded.

Shows the box opened.  The sides of the outer box and second inner box has needle holders .  The small box on the inside is a thimble holder.  I'm going to look for a smaller pair of embroidery scissors for this case but these small gold embroidery scissors fit OK for now.

This is the thimble box.  The pattern called for glueing it to the bottom of the larger boxes, but I chose to leave it as a separate box and I finished off the bottom as well.

The thimble box has the hex print centered on the top of the box.  It worked out very nice.

ANOTHER NEEDLE HOLDER
I bought these cute needle holder kits at Costume College last year.  This one is in the shape of a heart.  I'm done except I wanted to add some ribbons or decorations to the front but I'll have to find a better fabric store.  The one department store that I found that has some fabric has very little choices of anything.  So for now it is done...
I have another kit that is much larger and complicated that I will want to get some more supplies for before I start it.  I gave this one to Christie Watson.

The finished needle holder

The top view showing the layers and button holding it closed

Showing the button holder off and starting to open.

Opening the needle holder

The inside.

The outside

The inside with some needles, pins, small embroidery scissors, etc.

 THE STEPS - in case you are curious

Fabric is cut about 1/2 inch larger than mat board and glued.  There are main fabric outside and lining pieces. 

Showing the parts with the outside and insides glued and a few of the hinges

Detail of the button holder

Showing clothes pins to show how I hold it while the glue sets

MY CATS

Patch, he is fat!

Patch

Muffin

Elder Lyons is being transferred to a place in East Germany.  We will miss him.

The photos are blurry because our apartment doesn't have much light.

Elder Lyons and Elder Ellsworth and Steve

Elder Lyons, me, Elder Ellsworth

BIKE TO RUIN STRAHLENBURG of Schriesheim
On Saturday March 16th we rode our bikes out to find the ruins we could see sometimes from our apartment.  We missed the Ruin Hirschburg but found the next one called Ruin Strahlenburg.  The ruined castle has a restaurant open during warmer months that will be fun to re-visit when all the vineyards are growing and as the seasons change the views will be even better.
http://www.strahlenburg-schriesheim.de/en/index.html
We rode about 25 miles round trip.  It was a pretty nice day although there is still a little snow and ice here and there, we stayed warm and enjoyed our exercise and fresh air.

Looking up at the Ruin Strahlenburg from the town below and the narrow streets.

This steep cobblestone path going up through the vineyards was a real challenge for me.  I couldn't ride it and I kept slipping on the stones when I walked up it because of the cleats on my shoes.  Steve made it up pretty fast, you can see him in the yellow jacket near the top of it. 

View from the vineyards approaching the ruins.  Where we live would be on the horizon.

Looking up at the Ruin, just before getting to the top.

The entrance to the Strahlenburg Ruins

View from the terrace at the ruins.

The terrance where you can buy food and drinks in warmer times, snow & ice still on the ground here.  When the vines start growing it will be even prettier.

Before 1237 the castle was built on monastery property illegally but was allowed after much money was paid.  The  castle still shows the round keep, and a four-storey residential house of the time of around 1240.

A spring by the road still has ice, strange globe shapes.

Looking back across the valley to the ruin after we went DOWN and the back UP  the other side along the Blutenweg road.

March 12, 2013 - Wow I guess I won't be riding today.

At least not this morning.

MUFFIN TAKES A BIKE RIDE
I felt Muffin needed a Vet check-up because she has been acting strange.    Last week I bought a smaller carrier that would fit in the basket of my bike.   It went pretty well on the bike.  COLD though, about 35 degrees F and windy!  I put a beach towel over her for the trip, that may have helped.  She didn't make a sound.  She was pretty scared at the vet but very docile.   The vet speaks pretty good English, a lot better than I can speak German.  The blood & urine work showed she does not have a bladder or kidney infection.  So the vet is sending the samples to a lab for further work including thyroid tests and she will call me tomorrow.  She gave her an injection that might help.  She gave me a paste that I can feed her to help if it is an accumulation of hair in the intestines.  She said to cook some chicken and mash potatoes, because that will sometimes help to firm up the soft stools.  So some of this is good news, no kidney trouble, we have to wait to see if anything else shows up.  Muffin is a bit jumpy now, I just moved my foot and she jumped up in the air.

She says, "What have I done to deserve this?"

Cat on bike.

Muffin goes for a cold 20 minute ride to the Vet.
You can see part of the stairs and bike-ramp to the underground rooms where we store our bikes.

BIKE RIDE TO MANNHEIM AND LADENBURG
The weather didn't stay warm very long but on Saturday, March 9th, it had not turned too cold yet.  Although by Monday it was back down into the 30's.   We took a ride into town to find a route that Steve could use to ride to work.  Turns out it is about 5.7 miles one way, by a short route, not bad at all.  From there we headed east along the Neckar River to Ladenburg, then back to the apartment and only had a few sprinkles.   Ladenburg is about halfway between Mannheim and Heidelberg.  There is a Dr. Carl Benz auto museum in Ladenburg but it is only open 6 hours a week, 2 hours at a time,  so we'll have to go on one of the days it is open.  We rode a little over 20 miles.

Quad crew boat and coach on the Neckar River

Quad turning around to row UP river for a extra good workout.

Some of the bike path along the Neckar River going towards Ladenburg.

bike path along the river

Petting a swan at the Ladenburg park.  

We counted 17 swans at this one spot.

Is Steve being "goosed" or "Swanned"?