Laurel Robbins from Canada embraced GPSmyCity city walk app, and said goodbye to guide books and tour buses. Read about her experience in the article below.
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Bonjour to Strasbourg
By Laurel Robbins
I have waited my whole life to visit France and that day finally arrived, thirty some odd years later. We were headed to Strasbourg, France and I could hardly contain my excitement! I had recently moved to Germany from Canada and was excited about traveling around Europe, now that everything is so close. Strasbourg is only 150km away from Stuttgart where I am living, sitting on the France/Germany border. Furthermore, the entire city center of Strasbourg is a UNESCO World Heritage Site, reflecting the well preserved historical significance of the city. As if that wasn’t enough, Strasbourg is also home to the European parliament. It’s no wonder that the city is such a popular tourist destination!
We decided to go to Strasbourg a few days in advance and while I normally research a place before I visit it, I didn’t have time to do so this time. Instead, I entered GPSmyCity, and luckily there was an iPhone app for Self-Guided Walking Tours of Strasbourg. It was the first time both my German fiancé and I were using a GPSmyCity iPhone app and we didn’t know what to expect. Fortunately, it couldn’t have been any easier; the only problem was we both wanted to navigate to each sight using the handy GPS.
For our first tour we chose the City Orientation Tour since it had fifteen sights and seemed like a good way to orient ourselves to the city. Our first stop was Place Kléber, the largest square in Strasbourg and a popular place for major events. It was teaming with tourists and locals just hanging out enjoying the sunny day. The sight descriptions on the City Orientation Tour were informative and imperative to knowing what was significant about each sight, especially since many of the sights did not have any information at the sight itself. The photo of each sight in conjunction with the GPS was also useful in ensuring that you were actually at the right location. Quite a few times, for the less obvious sights, we held up our iPhone with the sight picture to the actual sight itself to verify that we were at the right place which worked quite well.
Next stop on the City Orientation Tour was the Antiquités Bastian. We were there on a holiday and most of the stores were closed so we were limited to window shopping. But from what we saw, most of the antiques appeared to be in the French country style, or what I would personally call kitsch. Nonetheless, we enjoyed seeing French antiques for the first time and we spent quite a bit of time looking in store windows.
The highlight of the City Orientation Tour was, without a doubt, the Cathédral Notre-Dame, Strasbourg’s most famous landmark standing at over 142m making it the 6th tallest building in the world. It was built in 1015 and is listed as a UNESCO world heritage site – facts I know thanks to the sight information provided in the City Orientation Tour. With its massive size and long history, it is truly breath taking. Not only is it beautiful, and especially impressive at dusk, but I was surprised at the emotion it invoked, just standing in its presence, and especially when I lit a candle in remembrance of my grandfather and grandmother who had long passed on. If you see nothing else in Strasbourg – although that would be a shame, since Strasbourg is such a charming city – see the Cathédral Notre-Dame.
The City Orientation Tour also included several museums and a gallery. These too were closed due to the holiday, but as Strasbourg is so close we intend to come back. The Musée Alsacien sounded especially intriguing after reading the GPSmyCity description “The wooden corridors of Musée Alsacien will lead you through the history of the Alsace region and its popular traditions….” Of all the museums, this one sounded the most interesting to us. When travelling, I typically visit a museum or two and that’s it for museums, so I appreciated reading the museums descriptions provided on The City Orientation Tour so I could decide which museum sounded the most interesting and then go back and visit it.
Saint William’s Church is another sight on the tour and while it is lovely, it seemed plain without the Romesque architecture and stature of the Cathédral Notre-Dame, to which it paled in comparison. We were glad to have seen this church which appeared to be void of tourists, but quickly moved on.
Another highlight of the tour was yet another church, Saint Paul Church. Its spires jutting out from above the tree tops are the first thing you notice. Saint Paul’s is nestled close to the river and while it is currently undergoing restoration, it was our second favourite sight on the tour after the Cathédral Notre-Dame. Surprisingly, we didn’t see any other tourists there and, while it is located outside of the tourist area, it was very easy to get to.
At the other end of the city and in complete opposition to the historic buildings and half timbered houses, we visited the European Parliament. It is a very bold modern building – in sharp architectural contrast to the rest of historic Strasbourg. Depending on when parliament is in session, tours can be arranged so I would recommend checking ahead of time if you are interested in a tour. This is also on our list for next time.
After completing the City Orientation Tour, which took about 3 hours and covered 6.6km, we felt we had a good orientation of the city, and definitely saw a lot more and learned a lot more about each sight than we would have by just following a tourist map. The descriptions provided were particularly useful since most sights didn’t have any information posted beside them. We also thoroughly enjoyed just wandering the streets of Strasbourg, which are bustling with life and bursting with historical charm – I just couldn’t get enough of the half timber houses, and going from sight to sight. We made our way through Strasbourg speaking a combination of English, German and high school French but had no problems communicating, since most of the locals were fluent in several different languages. Strasbourg is best explored on either foot or bike and, given the length of this tour, we were able to experience a lot of it and get a feel for this vibrant city oozing with charm at every corner. We also didn’t get lost which we definitely would have if we had just followed a tourist map.
In summary, our first time using a GPSmyCity iPhone app was a success. It is very convenient and reduces the need for time consuming research prior to traveling. It also means that you are not dependent on the hours of the local tourist office. We arrived on Sunday long after the tourist office had closed so we wouldn’t have been able to get a map even if we had wanted to. It was open again the next day, but we didn’t even bother going in. There was no need since we had the Self-Guided Walking Tours of Strasbourg. The City Orientation Tour was an excellent way to get to know Strasbourg and was the jumping off point for us for the other self-guided tours included in the iPhone app. Our only complaint about the GPS was that it didn’t automatically update your position; you had to keep refreshing it which was a pain. Sightseeing in Strasbourg, using only the GPSmyCity iPhone app, was very straightforward and hassle free. We’ll definitely be using it again for future trips. Goodbye heavy, out-of-date guide books, hello GPSmyCity!
