I read the part of Colmar and Riquewihr of the guidebook on the previous night but didn't about the part of Strasbourg. I'd just thumbed through it on the train and didn't have any plan and so, we decided to wander around the Old City, the main tourists' attraction. I'll show you some pictures and add short remarks. If you want to know where the pictures were taken, look at the route map linked from "Today's Route" above.
We stepped into the Old City through the Pont Kuss (Kuss
bridge). It was a German city rather than a French city. Lots of houses had the structure of wooden framework. The Old City is situated on the Ill river, a branch of the river Rhine. Several tour boats run on this small river in the corridors 
of water. As far as I noticed, there were two water level regulators. I don't know if this term is correct, but you
can see the same system at canals.
This building seemed to have been used as a jail. Now that you mention it, it had an atmosphere that was compatible with the jail.
We went into the historic 
area that was called petite France, but the houses had apparently been influenced by the German culture. 
Don't you think
so? I had written about the flowers at the windows of German houses in this blog and a Canadian who was living in Freiburg sent me an e-mail like below.For your information, some of the large flowerbeds on European homes are not just beautiful, but also functional. Depending on the flowers which are planted, some of them can keep mosquitoes or flies at bay. By placing these flowers around windows and doors, the house can be kept free of mosquitoes and sometimes flies as well.
No matter how much the German people love flowers, I wondered why they
decorated windows of their houses with flowers. I fully understand the reason, after hearing from him. The functional aspect of decoration was really acceptable. 
This picture was the Chinese restaurant where we dropped in and ate lunch. It looked
bad, but the taste was not bad. After about one hour of walking, I thought that this city didn't look like a kind for tourists. There were really no signs for tourists that were written in English. We were often stranded. The menu of the restaurant we ate lunch at was written in French. They didn't speak English. They might be able to speak in English, but didn't. I don't agree with English monolingualism and I know and understand their historical background, but now, like it or not, English is the actual common language in the world. I couldn't agree with the stubbornness of French people.
(Vocabulary)
thumb through sth ＜本・雑誌など＞にざっと目を通す
= flick through
tour / sightseeing boat 遊覧船
Now that you mention it, そう言われてみれば
English monolingualism 英語主義
for better or (for) worse / like it or lump it / like it or not 好むと好まざるとにかかわらず
lump it (英)(インフォーマル) しかたなく受け入れる, がまんする
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