German quarter (Neustadt) and the European institutions
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Strasbourg

Across the canal from place Broglie, place de la République is surrounded by vast German neo-Gothic edifices erected during the post-1870 Imperial Prussian occupation, one example being the main post office on avenue de la Liberté. At the centre of the square is a war memorial showing a mother holding two dead sons in her arms, neither of which, unusually for such monuments, wears a military uniform. This testifies to the horrific family divisions faced by Alsatian families, whose members often found themselves fighting on opposing sides in World War II. At the other end of avenue de la Liberté, across the confluence of the Ill and Aar, is the city's university, where Goethe studied. Adjacent, at the beginning of boulevard de la Victoire, are the splendidly Teutonic municipal baths, the Grand Établissement Municipal de Bains, where you can take a sauna or Turkish bath (€10.10) or just swim (consult the complicated opening hours on the board outside).

From in front of the university, the wide, straight alleé de la Robertsau, flanked by confident fin-de-siècle bourgeois residences and beautiful early-20th century buildings including some Jugenstil masterpieces, leads to the headquarters of the three major European institutions: the bunker-like Palais de l'Europe, 1970s-built home of the 44-member Council of Europe; the glass and steel curvilinear European Parliament building, opened in 1999; and Richard Rogers' 1995 contribution for the European Court of Human Rights, with its curving glass entrance and silver towers rising to a boat-like superstructure overlooking a sweep of canal. To visit the European Parliament (tel 03.88.17.20.07; free) or the European Court of Human Rights and the Council of Europe (tel 03.90.21.49.40; free) you have to book.

Opposite the Palais, the Orangerie is Strasbourg's best bit of greenery, and hosts a variety of exhibitions and free concerts. Here the cigognes (storks), to be seen perching on many buildings in the town, have their main nesting site. There's also a zoo with small animals, such as monkeys, and exotic birds including flamingos apparently fed pink sausage-colouring to enhance the vivid hue of their plumage.