Saturday 15 November 2014

Visiting Strasbourg

Last month, my sister and I both took a day off and travelled to Strasbourg as part of a group organized by our hometown's Community College. We had a comfortable bus and a chatty driver, but no proper organization which was a bit daft if you consider that we were supposed to be booked for a visit at the European Parliament as a group. Well, it all worked out in the end; we had a long question-and-answer session with one of the Vice Presidents (who is originally from our area; I've met him before and he is a really decent man, one of the few who seem to be able to maintain their personal integrity in the middle of the swamp that European politics sometimes appear to be), had a guided tour of the building and were then taken back into town by our chatty driver and left to our own devices until late afternoon when it was time to board the bus again for the drive home.

It was a very interesting day altogether, and I'll show you pictures of Strasbourg's old town center in one of my next posts. But first, here is where the European Parliament meets:






There is a roof garden up there, you can just about see the trees. I wonder who has access to it.



Inside the building, there was a lot of natural light from the top and the glass walls. Certainly not the worst of work places. The room where we met "our" Vice President, though, was windowless and filled with a most unpleasant smell coming from a combination of the dark blue leather armchairs and whatever cleaning stuff had been used on them.

Here is where parliament sessions take place when in Strasbourg:

You should now be able to work out where my "puzzle" picture in the last post is from :-)

Is this a way to leave one's work place behind?


The wood-covered cupola above the Parliament Room seen from outside, and the entrance to the visitors' gallery where we were allowed:

Media court and the background for countless pictures of politicians and visitors:



Your very own European Librarian! Now, would I make a good member of Parliament or what? (Of course I'd dress up for that, I promise!)

15 comments:

  1. What an amazing building. Good to see they still have messy desks in such grand and important places... x

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    1. They don't stop being humans when they become members of the EU parliament :-) Yes, the building is amazing; I liked the plants going from the bottom to the very top of the light court.

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  2. I am surprised that you didn't show the troughs where the MEPs guzzle their expenses.
    If you were an MEP Miss Arian, Nigel Farage (leader of UKIP) would surely change his views on Europe! He might even want to form a coalition with you.
    At last we have the answer to picture quiz! I couldn't sleep for the last two nights as I tried to imagine what it might be.

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    1. Have you spotted the Union Jack in the middle of the fourth picture, YP? Our guide pointed out to us that this was where Nigel Farrage's office is. He and his fellow UKIParians also have little Union Jacks on their desks in the parliament room. Nobody else displays their flags; they all know who they are and where from.
      The troughs were not part of the tour, I'm afraid, so there won't be any pictures of those.
      Sorry to have disrupted your healthy sleep pattern. I'm glad it's back to normal now!

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  3. I knew your photo had to be of a ceiling!
    I am now ready for the Old Town Center photos, bring them on!

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    1. Yes, most who commented were right about that :-)
      The Old Town pictures will follow, don't worry!

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  4. Sometimes i wonder about people who go into politics. Even good people seem to get more interested in keeping their government position than in doing good for their constituents. You, i believe, would keep a steady step toward doing what was right and good.

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    1. Yes, it probably happens very easily for someone who goes into politics to gradually change and adapt to the "system". I would not be the first - nor the last - person to be determined NOT to change for the worse... and then lose a large portion, if not all, of my original idealism.

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  5. How nice to have a little trip with your sister! I hope the lack of organization did not lead to any difficulty. I think you would make a very good MP, probably one of the best....

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    1. It was just a bit inconvenient and disappointing, but we still had a good day out and enjoyed the trip. Thank you for having such a good opinion of me, Kristi!

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  6. I know Strassburg quite well (whenever we went to Alsace on holiday we visited) but I’ve never been to the EU Parlament, except to look at the buildings from the outside.

    It may not be the purest politics (is politics ever?) but I am glad we have an EU. If GB ever leaves - horrible thought - I shall have to leave GB.

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    1. For a moment I was confused there, Friko; GB in the context of my blog is always Graham ("GB" from Eagleton Notes) for me, but of course then I understood what you meant.
      I, too, am glad we have an EU. The alternative is much, much worse than a few seemingly over-strict and silly regulations.

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    2. Please let me assure Friko and you, Meike, that I have absolutely no intention of leaving Blogland and I sincerely hope that GB (the other one) never leaves the EU. It may sound rather odd but because I've been known as GB for ever I never confuse GB me as being the same as GB the political entity. I nearly said 'country' but GB is not a country.

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  7. I think I've commented on Strasbourg before. I've been to the old town but never to the EU buildings. In fact when I visited the Louise Weiss building hadn't been built.

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    1. There is a statue of Louise Weiss in the building. It was embarrassing that nobody in our group knew who Louse Weiss was. And even more embarrassing is that I still don't know who she was!

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