In the city of Strasbourg, in the Alsace region of France

 “Traveling -- it leaves you speechless, then turns you into a storyteller.”

– Ibn Battuta
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(in the Alsace region of France) The city of Strasbourg, capital of the Bas-Rhin department of the Grand Est region in eastern France, lies 2.5 miles (4 km) west of the Rhine River on the Franco-German border.
+ The city was originally a Celtic village and under the Romans it became a garrison town called Argentoratum. It was captured in the 5th century by the Franks, who called it Strateburgum (from which its present name is derived). In 842 Charles II (the Bald), king of the West Franks, and Louis II (the German), king of the East Franks, took an oath of alliance here (the Serment de Strasbourg, a text of which is the oldest written document in Old French). After a struggle for power between its citizens and the bishops in the Middle Ages, Strasbourg became a free city within the Holy Roman Empire.

+ A blend of French and German cultures, Strasbourg naturally stuns in the winter months. Strasbourg’s Christmas markets are renowned (they were first held here in the 16th century), causing the scent of mulled wine and bredele cookies to waft through the streets. The hanging lights that illuminate the city’s centerpiece, the Cathédrale Notre Dame de Strasbourg, are also quite a sight to behold.

+ Strasbourg is the perfect overture to all that is idiosyncratic about Alsace -- walking a tightrope between France and Germany, and between a medieval past and a progressive future; it pulls off its act in inimitable Alsatian style. Make an effort to divert your gaze away from the mesmerizing Gothic cathedral long enough to roam the Old Town’s twisting alleys lined with crooked half-timbered houses, and visit the coziest of winstubs (Alsatian taverns) by the canals in the area known as Petite France -- while wondering at how a city that does Christmas markets and gingerbread so well can also be home to the glittering EU Quarter and France’s second-largest student population. (But that is Strasbourg for you: all the better for its contradictions and cross-cultural quirks.)

+ Indeed, Strasbourg is the prefecture and largest city of the Grand Est region of eastern France and the official seat of the European Parliament. Together with Basel (Bank for International Settlements), Geneva (United Nations), The Hague (International Court of Justice) and New York City (United Nations world headquarters), Strasbourg is among the few cities in the world that is not a state capital, yet hosts international organizations of the first order. The city is also the seat of many other non-European international institutions, such as the Central Commission for Navigation on the Rhine and the International Institute of Human Rights. 

+ Strasbourg remains immersed in Franco-German culture and has been a cultural bridge between France and Germany for centuries. (It is also home to the largest Islamic place of worship in France, the Strasbourg Grand Mosque.)