The multilingual tram …… some confused identity ……and a street grid

So just as you think you are in the French town of Strasbourg, along comes a blue tram with Welcome in Italian embellished on the side.

And to add to the confusion my travelling chum who snapped "Benvenuto tram car 3001" tells me that "here we are in Strasbourg and the trams are mainly white with an occasional blue one".

All of which should not be that confusing to anyone who knows a little of Strasbourg’s history which is a city which has ping ponged between Germany and France.

In the Middle Ages it was governed by the bishops of Strasbourg, and then for four hundred years it was a free imperial city, before being seized by the French in 1681, who subsequently lost it to the newly created Germany in 1871, only to go back to France after the Great War before them briefly being occupied by the Nazis from 1940.

And then after it was liberated by the 2nd French Armoured Division under General Leclerc in November 1944 it was  again a French city.

So some might say my multilingual tram is just covering all the bets, and I have to confess it does in fact have messages in other languages along with the French and German national flags. 

The flags may seem an odd addition given the history but my Wikipedia my Wikipedia tells me that the   service is “one of the few tram networks to cross an international border, [and as well as taking you around Strasbourg will whisk you off] “to  Kehl in Baden-Württemberg, Germany”.

Leaving me just to add "The Strasbourg tramway (French: Tramway de Strasbourg, German: Straßenbahn Straßburg; Alsatian: D'Strossabàhn Strossburi(g)), run by the CTS, is a network of six tramlines, A, B, C, D, E and F . The first tramline in Strasbourg, which was originally horse-drawn, opened in 1878. 

After 1894, when an electric-powered tram system was introduced, a widespread network of tramways was built, including several longer-distance lines on both sides of the Rhine".*

But it wouldn’t be a communication from my travelling friend if I didn’t include one of those cast iron street grids which I delight in collecting.

This one has that romantic and catchy inscription …… "Strasbourg Eurometropole Assainissement" which google translate offers up as …. "Strasbourg Eurometropole Sanitation".

So that is it.

Leaving me just to include  those two trams again .....  if for no other reason than  they also show the tram stops where passengers can shelter, wait for their tram or just take pictures of trams.

And yes I also collect tram stops.

Location; Strasbourg

Pictures, blue trams, white trams and a street grid, 2024

*Strasbourg tramway, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Strasbourg_tramway#Future_extensions