Strange atmosphere … In the silence of the downtown Strasbourg, closed to cars since Friday, we still hesitate to walk on the road. Guided by her collator, she walks with short steps to the crosswalk. Her tiny feet barely resting on the first white band, the old lady looks up, seems to hesitate a moment, then slowly rotates. What’s the point? The shortest path from point A to point B is a straight line. And the street is empty. The old lady goes diagonally its careful progression.
The sound of silence placed on the bitumen
Around her floats a rumor we did not know: the sound of silence lying on the asphalt. It is 15 hours, though in full week. And it lacks that roll so familiar in non-pedestrian area that of moving vehicles bouncing off cars stopped. The parking spaces are empty. No mirror or current niche to avoid: cyclists with reflective vest ride on a pool table. But never too far paint dots that mark the paid parking. One likes to slalom, smiling.
The car park next door, St. Peter-le-Jejune, is not quite deserted. A sedan parked at the curb, as to not disturb the order of the empty spaces between the road markings. Leaning against the car, a man waits. “My parents had an appointment with the cardiologist. I could go through the appointments and macaroon disabled, but it was limited, “he said, nodding towards the check-point in the Stone Bridge, 200 meters away. “The time I accompanied them to the door of the doctor, the municipal police was already there, trying to call the pound. But I could not do otherwise, they still have 84 and 87 years old, my parents … “So there is next to the car,” this is what I was told. It’s an hour that I’m here … “
“And the parking meters? All this is money that not fit! We will pay, that, at a time!”Look at this street, it looks like its war,” added her husband, looks scared. “There are 12 guys who were dead in Paris and suddenly it’s a mess everywhere. This is nonsense. We’re clueless. I’m not going to vote on Sunday, y ‘fed up, “he continues.
Approaching the place of Iron Man, the sounds cape becomes familiar. The screeching of trams, car and two engines – one ambulance and utility of a medical laboratory: service requirements. Here, the nerve center of the transport network and Strasbourg Mecca of anarchic street crossing, pedestrians will give heart to joy … but never far from the sidewalks. Nature abhors a vacuum, but it needs a little time to take his ease …
The legend of St. Nicolas for smokers a PMU bar
In the narrowest street in the Game-of-children, we let more readily tempted by the ride in the middle of the bitumen. Speakers installed along with the Christmas market broadcast a song by the Company Creole over by a children’s choir that no noise is covered. “It resonates in the stairwell … It’s pretty unbearable … It’s not too much music I listen to,” sighs a young man with long hair, pushing the door of his building. Further, similar pregnant song tells the legend of Saint Nicolas smoking a PMU bar, lined up on the sidewalk. They did not dare go down the path.
A postmistress raises the rear platform of his truck. “Ah nickel for us is: we have the whole place to park!”She laughed, kissing Eye dozens of unoccupied parking spaces. White reflective stripes, red signs: no cars, it still takes far more abundant signaling dedicated to them. After three hours of wandering, seeing a pedestrian light turn red in a new traffic-free street, one wonders why they have not just been arrested.
“There’s not happy residents, there’s those who have made repress above …”
On deck St. Nicolas, a man in a reflective vest keeps barriers. It has the caliber type that we do not try to confuse, and before him to build muscle more shoulders. Picking ask. Open close. From 10am to 20pm. “But here it’s only for cars coming out. I cannot let those who want to return. But hey, they are people who are trying … There’s not happy residents, there’s those who have made repress above …, “he said, pointing to the nearby checkpoint, on the deck of the Raven.”This morning I also had electricians who had come to work in the city, with all their equipment into the van … They were very annoyed …” he continues raising the barrier for three cars that are presented.
In the pedestrian area, everything seems normal. The large crowd less. Never the Christmas market had been so breathable. On patrol in the middle of the tourists, a CRS takes a gentle look at the illuminated angels that open the way to the cathedral.
Suddenly, two joggers emerge from behind, carried by the smooth carpet of the open street. “Oh I say, I want to type one of these sprints!
A shop left his door open. It is mild despite nightfall, and “there is no traffic noise, no honking people to move in the lane next door … It was weird at first but it’s really nice,” smiles the saleswoman.
At the bridge of the Post, six armed military police accompany that controls all flashlights outside, sacks of pedestrians and cyclists passing by. No sign of reluctance.
Further along the Stone Bridge, are the coffers of vehicles that the police open? Upstream, a colleague controls the papers to leave or not allowed to pass. 200 meters, then 300 … Prevented to pass by a police officer with reflective uniform, a woman pulls over to the side; it will not have long to wait. These are not the controls causing this influx is the clock: it is almost 20 pm. suddenly the signal sounds: “It’s good!”A man closes his chest: his van registered in Lorraine will be the last open day. CRS move barriers. The bridge is open. And the line of cars rushed to the Big Island, to go hide in car parks. Night as the streets must remain a desert…