Sue was keen to visit Strasbourg, just across the French border from the Black Forest but we were having trouble finding somewhere suitable to stay near the city. We were about to give up but decided to take a completely different approach – go without the motorhome. We paid for two more nights at Schonach and then used the included travel passes to take a bus and two trains to Kehl, a town on the german side of the Rhine directly opposite Strasbourg on the other bank. We then boarded a tram which carried across the border straight into Strasbourg’s city centre – the joys of free movement!

Strasbourg is regarded as the capital of the Alsace (now called the Grand Est region). It’s an important centre of manufacturing as well as the seat of the European Parliament. The centre is full of attractive historic buildings but it’s centrepiece is the gothic Cathédrale Notre-Dame.

The interior has many impressive features but the most interesting is the huge Astronomical Clock, regarded as a Renaissance masterpiece. Everyday, animated figures of the apostles process around the base at noon.

If you come to the city you have to visit the ‘Petite France’ quarter. formerly the home of tanners, millers and fishermen, it is a district full of half-timbered 16th & 17th century houses surrounded by waterways.