The CIA chateau

Well, we even have our very own castle here, the chateau de Pourtales! With a rich history.
Built in 1784, called after Mélanie, countess of Pourtales, a favorite of Napoleon the 3rd. When she was in town, she had many hosts: King Ludwig the 2nd of Bavaria, the German emperor, the Prince of Wales, many kings and queens, Albert Schweitzer, Franz Liszt, and so on.
Melanie died in 1914, and her castle closed in 1939.
After the war, the castle housed the Free Europe University in Exile founded by the CIA in 1951 to form cadres for the reconquest of Eastern Europe. I wasn't aware of this when I played in the park and used the chateau's toilets in the 60es...
In 1972, it became a campus of Schiller International University.
A fancy hotel occupies now the former stables, see below

The 1776 BREXIT

Yes, they did it 240 years, exiting Great Britain (not the EU, lol!).
And 150 years ago, the first US general consulate opened in Strasbourg, adorned with a flag, with 36 stars and 13 stripes.
2 interesting documents about it, here, and also here, the latter from President Obama. Have a look!

Another bloody Valentine

1347. The Plague. The Black Death. In Strasbourg.
Who's fault was it? Not the rats. Not the lack of hygiene. No, it was the Jews, they certainly poisoned the wells and rivers!
So, what to do? Let's go to the ghetto, just next to the cathedral (the good fathers needed to keep an eye on THEM...), and let's burn them!!! This is what the good christian people of Strasbourg did, on February 14th, 1348. Not forgetting to baptize the children, before throwing them in the fire.
It happened in the jewish cemetery, in what is now called rue Brulee, burned street. In Alsatian, Brandgass means street of the great fire.
2000 children, women, men... The few survivors escaped, and joined the ghetto in Venice, Italy.

That girl from Domremy

Yes, you probably saw some movies about her, or studied her at school. Saint Joan of Arc (to Catholics), the national symbol of France par excellence. More about her here, if you're interested.
This statue is situated inside the cathedral. She was put there in 1937, as a thank you for  'kicking the Germans out of France' during WW1. BTW, I removed the 'don't touch' sign from this photo: it was in French... and German...
Nowadays, Joan -Jeanne - is the saint patron of the french nationalists, the highly controversial National Front, for example, wanting to kick all the non-white foreigners out of France, specially what they call the 'Arabs" (anyone not having had french ancestry for centuries). Reminds you of some ''politicians'' in the US of A, doesn't it?!
2 weeks ago, in the news... Some french guy, descendant from nobility, bought Joan's ring at a auction in London, for 370.000 euros or so. He wants to display it at his historical amusement park...

Petite France + syphilis...

Poetic, no? Although... The name Petite-France ("Little France") was not given for patriotic or architectural reasons. It comes from the "hospice of the syphilitic" (Hospice des Vérolés, in French), which was built in the late fifteenth century on this island, to cure persons with syphilis, then called Franzosenkrankheit ("French disease") in German. Wikipedia.

Poetique, n'est-ce pas? Or... Le quartier tire son nom de l’hospice des vérolés, construit à la fin du xv^e siècle pour accueillir les soldats revenant de la campagne d’Italie atteints de syphilis, appelée également le « mal français »