I lived in Strasbourg for 18 months, between October 1988 and April 1990. Not a huge amount of time but a very formative one for me. The first time I set foot here was earlier in 1988, when Kathy Dickinson and I went on an adventure through England and France with one of the destinations being to look at the lab in Strasbourg. Still remembering that awesome trip, Kathy!
My apartment was in a part of the city called Petite France, a series of very small islands where the mills used to be. In fact, I lived on Rue des Moulins, with my apartment spanning the water between two islands. It all seemed pretty normal at the time but, looking at this now, I realize how amazing it was.
Strasbourg has changed a lot in almost 30 years. It was somewhat down-at-the-mouth and sleepy at that time. Now, the dingy and traffic-filled street where I used to do my laundry and get coffee is now a pedestrian way, and everything seems much fancier. I jogged past the science institute where I worked, which moved out of town a few years after I left, and remembered all the characters who worked there. Wow, a lot of time has passed.
My apartment building is behind the two orange buildings, and where the water is coming out.
Similar view at night.
OK, my actual apartment didn't really face the water. It's on the 3rd floor of the pink building (the windows that don't have the shutters down).
Petite France from a different angle. You can see the cathedral in the background. I used to like to go to the park on the left to read. Did some exercise there on this particular morning.
The institute where I worked, the LGME (Laboratoire de Genetique Moleculaire des Eucaryotes). A little more run down now (most of the labs moved over 20 years ago) but some cutting edge science went on here (sans blague). Pierre Chambon was a world leader in steroid hormone and retinoic acid research.
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