Never thought reading a clock would be so interesting!
July 4, 2024
Our second day is set to be another rainy one in Strasborg but we headed out to explore again. Our first stop was back to Notre Dame to get tickets for the astronomical clock show. Once again, coming upon the church is jaw-dropping. It is so tall and each time we see it, there are more details and aspects of it that stand out. Of course, on this walk we stumbled upon yet another carousel for Liam to ride. This one had two levels and of course Liam immediately had his eyes set on a car. He happily took the passenger seat to another boy to make sure he could sit in the car.
The clock is an amazing combination of art and engineering.
We got to the church for the clock show. Before the actual clock goes off, they presented a show to tell about it’s history. We thoroughly enjoyed this and learned so much about the clock. The one we see today is the 3rd clock here, with the first being built in the 1350’s. This original clock included a rooster as it’s centerpiece that would flap its wings and put out its tongue at noon. This was later replaced by a second clock that was built between 1546 and 1574. This one was more complex and included more moving statues and dials, and was a huge attraction. It was hit by lightening and stopped working in 1640, but apparently people still came to see the clock. According to legend, a 9 year old, Jean-Baptises Schwilgue was one of the visitors who came to see it and declared that when he grew up he would repair it. Of course, that was the clock maker to re-designed and made the clock that we saw today. The movie went on to show exactly how each aspect of the clock works and it was mind blowing. We were most impressed with the aspect that shows when a lunar eclipse will occur. When the movie ended, we got to watch the show and it made it that much more impressive. Liam enjoyed the gold rooster crowing and flapping and we watched the statues move around the clock.
More Petit France
After this we walked around more, checking out Place Kleber, before taking a canal boat tour. We enjoyed seeing both the old and new aspects of the city, and going in the lock and explaining how it works to Liam. After the tour, we walked to the end covered bridges area which we had seen from the boat. We found a playground for Liam and observed more beautiful architecture and colorful former tanneries while he played.
