Before we get to this weeks quiz, I might as well go over last week’s puzzler. Just call me Will Shortz. Here was last week’s question:
You’re sitting at a small authentic restaurant in Paris with a good friend. All of a sudden, your friend addresses the waiter in perfect French, and proceeds to order. You do not speak a word of French and never knew about your friend’s hidden talent (you suspect that he/she might be a spy or a prostitute, but you do not ask for fear that he/she might have a gun or may be charging you by the hour). After a few moments, this shows up at your table:
Your friend also ordered a carafe of wine to go with it, which makes you dismiss your previous thoughts almost immediately. Not because you feel any less concerned, but you know now that you are going to get your drink on and you can deal with the other stuff later.
So here is the question: Which of these glasses will likely accompany the wine?
The answer? Glass three.
As some of you surmised, the pizza-esque ‘dish’ is actually a tarte flambé (also known as flammekueche in Alsatian), a traditional (and delicious) Alsatian dish. So you would likely order one of the Alsatian wines: Riesling, Pinot Gris, Gewûrztraminer, Pinot Blanc, Sylvaner or Edelzwicker. Given that it was a carafe of wine, the last two are even more likely.
Moving on to this week, we will stay in Alsace and even though this does not directly deal with wine, I tossed back many a glass of Sylvaner in the shadow of the cathedral when I was a student there, so at least for me it means wine:
Most (all?) cathedrals in Europe have two matching spires. They do not always match–the most famous being in Chartres–truly a marvelous structure. Even if you do not have a religious bone in your body, you should try and visit Chartres at least once. Strasbourg, the capital of Alsace, has one of the tallest cathedrals in Europe, and it was the tallest building of any kind in the world for almost four centuries. Curiously, there is only one spire.
Why does the cathedral in Strasbourg only have a single spire?
- The other spire burned down
- The other spire was destroyed in WWI by the Germans
- The original architectural plans for the cathedral only called for a single spire.
- The original plans called for twin spires, but during construction, the chief architect realized that the structure would not be able to support the weight of two spires, so they just built one.
- The original plans called for twin spires, but the town ran out of money during construction and they never began the second spire.
- After the original architect died while it was still under construction, his successor wanted to dramatically alter the second spire which met with great opposition from the bishop, resulting in a stalemate of sorts.
the drunken cyclist 
Beautiful place … meanwhile, I go with #3.
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Thanks for playing!
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I never saw the Cathedral, but it looks absolutely beautiful, thanks for the pictures! What I greatly appreciate with all of your quizzes, I have to educate myself – so yes, I had to do a lot of reading in this case too. So based on my “quick education”, the answers 4,5 and 6 have all element of truth in them, but I’m not sure a single one of those is a correct answer… But I will drink to that tonight anyway 🙂
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Wow, you have been digging!
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I’ll go along with aFrankAngle and say No. 3.
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Thanks Cat!
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I’d guess #5. Quite common in Europe at the time…:)
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Ah, we have a historian…
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6
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Heidi, I do not know where to begin with your comment, so much there to ‘unpack’. Answer on Wednesday!
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More great photos! I still don’t want to join their religion, but I really love their architecture. Great photos. I’m guessing #6 for the quiz.
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I have no desire to join either, but man, are they impressive! Then I think about how many people were killed trying to build the sucker and I go find something to drink…
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This is SO fun! I have absolutely no idea!!…to my mother’s chagrin…she was a literature professor and french teacher and the only American member of a neat French quilting group…which I have the pleasure of actually having been gifted one of their beautiful modern deco quilts, bright colors, with each member of the group’s hand sewn signature and message on a square on the back. It has traveled with me all over this country (USA).
I’m going to send my mother here, to your page, to get her 2 cents…without utilizing google or the like. She is one of the most well-read, broadest horizon of knowledge in one person, that I have ever known. I’m curious to hear what she has to say ;D
….I’ve never been able to stump her…in my whole life…and I’ve tried…..held out for 6 mos waiting to throw ‘perspicacity’ into a conversation…finely got my in and she knew what it meant!!… I’m the moron
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Your mom sounds amazing! Such a great comment, thanks…
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…Ok, just got off the phone with Mom, she says #5
Looking forward to hearing the correct answer!
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Thanks for all the hard work! Answer coming this week….
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