There comes a time in life when we contemplate our past, which seems to improve with age like good wine.

And while counting our achievements, it is better to count them one by one, savouring them, as if by tiny mouthfuls to make it last forever.

The nostalgic walker in Strasbourg does not have difficulties in finding remembrancesof his youth while strolling through Strasbourg’s narrow streets betweenthe two branches of the Ill Riverand the Vauban Dam.

Sloping rooves, the huge cathedral,the Kammerzell House,Petite-France and its canals,and even Place Kléber are stillthere to remind him.

However, on closer look, if we compare the present day with old photos of yesteryear,we see that everything’s changed.

Even the most prestigious vestiges seem different because their environment and the people around it have changed.

The new generation of local people are wary of those Alsatians that magnify past traditions to the point where Alsace is confined to “storks, cathedral and sauerkraut”.

They are wrong, because Strasbourg’s strong identification with the past does in no way harm its ability to open up to the future.

The cathedrals of today, the European Parliament, the Human Rights Building, the Museum of Modern Art speak in favour of a city that is modern as well as one that is in touch with the Old Continent.

The sleek, new tramway and riverboats carry visitors who delight in seeing sights that alternate between past and present.

Every journey may end upin a winstub where the sun shines in glassesof wine or beer that accompany fine dishes from the countryside.