The Cathedral Illuminated

On the summer nights in July and August, the city of Strasbourg stages a number of "illuminations". Basically, they wait until the sun goes down and then they put on some loud music and project images on buildings. Many of the illuminations are kind of artsy-fartsy deals with wierd music and even wierder imagery. Some are good and some are not worth stopping for.

I suppose this is just as much for the locals as for the tourists. The sad fact is that many folks come out at dusk to get out of their steaming hot apartments and to get some cooler evening air. It's a chance to walk, and let the sweat dry, and see people, and be seen.

The most popular of all illuminations is that of the Cathedral. Here, they don't screw around with avant-garde. The music is Mozart. There are no images projected, but rather the lights just highlight different areas of the facade. They mix up the colors and the brightness to match the mood of the music. The plaza and street in front of the portals is packed for the 10:30 start and not too many leave before it is finished. (You get a feel for this in the bottom picture. Note all the silhouettes of peoples' heads.)
It's a nice show. Sorry that the pictures don't do it justice. (Hey, you try taking pictures at night and see how they turn out. )