Donuts, France and flavored tequila

Sound like fun? It was!

On Saturday, the four of us got up and headed to Vogelweh where Steven filled the BMW with gas and the rest of us filled ourselves with donuts...and a couple of apple turnovers. We hit the road and headed toward the French border. (How cool is it that we can just decide to go to France for the day? Seriously.)

Strasbourg is a place I've wanted to go for a while now. We've had winter to contend with and a series of bugs that have kept us house bound. The plan for the weekend was to do some spring cleaning now that we're all feeling better, but Saturday was my birthday and Steven thought it might be fun to get out a bit. I'm so glad he did.

Strasbourg is beautiful. These are views of a part of the town called Petite France. Strasbourg is often times called the European Capital. It sits on the Ill River and is known for it's university.

Mylee's beautiful, too.

the Cathedrale Notre Dame de Strasbourg

The above shots were taken from the Barrage Vauban which is a fortification bridge you can either walk through or over.

the Barrage Vauban. Those people look tiny up there on top.

We took our time walking through Petite France. There were many shops, homes and apartment buildings right on the water and lots of people out and about enjoying a bit of sunshine.

We turned a corner and saw this peeking through at us. It was breathtaking.

Hello, Notre Dame Cathedral. You're beautiful.

We walked through this courtyard on the Rue Merciere. There was a very popular and bustling pizzeria here and many more shops.

The cathedral was stunning. So much intricate detail and that amazing rose window. 

The inside was just as dramatic as the outside.

Scotty in motion...

This cathedral is 466 feet tall and was the tallest building in the world between the years of 1647 and 1874. Today it is the sixth tallest church in the world and the highest still standing structure built entirely in the Middle Ages.

Victor Hugo called it "a gigantic and delicate marvel", and Goethe said it was a "sublimely towering, wide spreading tree of God".

Christ on the Mount of Olives - a group of life sized sculptures.

You can see the cathedral and the surrounding plaza in the opening scenes of Sherlock Holmes: Game of Shadows. I've seen this movie, but now I think I need to rent it again because I was unfamiliar with the scenery during that first viewing. It's always fun to watch movies and recognize where they've been filmed because you've been in that exact spot. The kids loved watching the first Bourne movie after having visited Paris. They picked out specific places we walked and took pictures of.

Pilar of Angels and behind it, one of the world's largest astronomical clocks.

Outside we saw some of the flying buttresses and some renovation work that they're doing to the cathedral.

We walked past several museums. Below is a courtyard we stepped into as we made our way back toward the river.

We stopped here so Steven could take a picture of a group by the water.

St. Paul's Church across the way.

We stopped to rest here for a bit and watched the swans. I never knew how entertaining swans were. They had me giggling. The current in the river right here was pretty strong. It looked to us like perhaps the swans were resting their feet. They would pull them up and lay them across their backs. Nature can be funny sometimes.

Just chillaxin' a bit with the swans.

Am I the only one that thinks Mylee looks a lot like her Daddy?

We decided to go and see St. Paul's church and crossed the river.

Unfortunately, the church has been undergoing restoration since June of 2009 and we were unable to go inside. A violent hailstorm in 1958 broke many of the panes of stained glass in the church. Some of that damage can be seen in the photo below. 

We decided to head back into Petite France and get a bite to eat before finding the car again. We stopped at a restaurant that looked good but we were told they were closed. I was bummed about not being able to eat there in Strasbourg, but sometimes things work out for the best.

On our way home we decided to stop at a place we'd eaten with our friends, the Goulds, when they were visiting over Christmas. Andreas Stube is an authentic German restaurant in Landstuhl that serves the most delicious food. When we got there, however, we found it was closed. Right near it is a Mexican restaurant called Tequila Cocina and Lounge. We pass it all of the time and have mentioned the fact that we needed to try it. So we did, and, oh my goodness was the food good!

Dark restaurant, bright flash.

As I sat there I had a funny thought...We'd spent all day in France, then came back to Germany to eat in a Mexican restaurant while watching the Dominican Republic play Spain in a World Classic Baseball game. Life is so very, very cool.

I had an amazingly wonderful birthday. Here's to another (hopefully) terrific year with more of everything that life has to offer...