Directly across Strasbourg Cathedral, on the corner of rue Mercière and place de la Cathédrale, see if you can pass the “belly test.” The Büchmesser, or mesureur de bedaine in French, was built in 1567. The pink sandstone column was used by City Council bigwigs to test their bellies after a night of feasting for Schwörtag, a day when they renewed their oaths to the constitution. This vow involved lots of wining and dining apparently. Schwörtag is still celebrated in the southern German city of Reutlingen, not too far from Strasbourg, but…
