Thursday, May 22, 2008

Strasbourg, France

My first official from France comes from Strasbourg. I love the tranquility which this picture portrays!

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Strasbourg is the capital and principal city of the Alsace region in northerneast France.
The city's Gallicized name is of Germanic origin and means "town (at the crossing) of roads". The modern Stras- is cognate to the German Straße / Strasse which itself is derived from Latin strata ("street"), while -bourg is cognate to the German -burg ("fortress, town, citadel"), the English borough and the French bourg ("village").
Strasbourg is the seat of several European institutions such as the Council of Europe with its European court of human rights, its European Directory for the quality of medicines, and its European Audiovisual Observatory, the Eurocorps, as well as the European Parliament and the European Ombudsman of the European Union.
Strasbourg is an important centre of manufacturing and engineering, as well as of road, rail, and river communications.

On the picture you can see the lurking of the Strasbourg Cathedral or the Cathedral of our Lady of Strasbourg, built between 1176 and 1439. Being 142m tall, it was the world's tallest church until 1880.

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