When we first planned our trip, Madonna and I spent a day with the 409th Infantry Journal, detailed maps of Alsace and Lorraine, Google Maps, a high-intensity lamp, and multi-colored post-it notes. (Is it just me, or does everyone think that the Western Civilization hit its peak with the invention of post-it notes?)
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| The route from St. Dié to Sélestat. |
Our handiwork in stickies allowed us to see the big picture of the 409th Infantry's campaigns. The route from the Meurthe River over the Vosges to Sélestat was the first one - or as we called it, the First Push.
Having located the Meurthe River on our way to Épinal on the previous day (Ch. 6b Day One), we made that our starting point on Day Two, intending to follow the route taken by the soldiers of the 409th over the mountains and all the way to Sélestat.
September 29, 2011
Well-breakfasted and equipped with a new set of directions from the innkeeper, our foursome (Charlie, Fran, Madonna, and I) set out in the morning again going west over the mountains to the starting point of the First Push - Nompatelize. Another twisting, winding road uphill to the fairly large mountain town of Sainte Marie-aux-Mines where we could take the 7-mile tunnel through the highest part of the mountains in a straight shot to the other side of the ridgeline. Several minutes of working out how to operate the automatic toll collection machine, and we were off to the western slopes and heading downward to St. Dié. That town seemed a good place to stock up on picnic supplies for the day, so we found the Intermarché Super - which was pretty super, I thought. It had an outdoor café complete with blackboard menues of the day.
It also had a dazzling counter of deli meats and sausages which, I regret to say, I did not photograph. If you love rabbits as pets, don't look at the next picture. This is a whole rabbit on sale in the meat department, skinned but whole.
I do not put this photo here to gratuitously disgust you animal lovers out there. It's just to show how different are American and French attitudes towards the animals we eat. In two ways.
First, we Americans like to buy meat in forms that bear no likeness to the animal of origin and ignore its animal-ness. It's even getting difficult to find meat with bones in it, and now I have read that some food researchers are experimenting with growing meat in petri dishes!
The second cultural difference is the fact that in France there is a much wider variety of animals eaten, and wider variety of animal parts eaten. I remember a butcher's stall in a Paris market entirely devoted to parts of lambs. There were trays full of lamb brains, lamb hearts, lamb kidneys, lamb feet, ....... all very neatly organized.
For those interested in cultural differences, particularly eating habits, I highly recommend the book Bringing up Bébé by Pamela Druckerman. The section concerned with teaching French toddlers to eat 4-course lunches in pre-school, and the process of menu creation was just amazing.
While the others shopped for food at the Intermarché, I went off in search of a car wash sign we had seen driving into town. Madonna's husband Mark is a graphic artist. Among his many talents is the ability to create new "vintage" signs. We thought he needed a picture of this beauty here.
Here's another that we had photographed previously. I'm not sure what exactly is the pachyderm-clean car connection.
Next to the "Éléphant Bleu" carwash was this lovely building with glorious French windows.
Enfin, with our trunk fully stocked (OK - our Citroën was not named for any member of the pachyderm family, but was named for Picasso - who did have quite a schnoz), we headed west again across the Meurthe River and followed small country roads to the tiny village of Nompatelize where the soldiers of the 409th "detrucked" and set off on foot to cross the Meurthe River.
Photo I wish I had taken: high on a stucco building wall in this village were 6 dates painted in large black letters and numbers. They were the dates of six battles fought in this little hamlet in all three of the major wars between France and Germany between 1870 and 1944. It seemed impossible that such horrific violence had taken place six times in such a remote, rural, peaceful setting. And yet the inevitable memorials were evidence of that history.
This memorial and burial ground from the Franco-Prussian War of 1870 contained the graves of both German and French soldiers, sometimes buried together in the same grave. The stone below says, in German, "Here lie 4 German and 8 French soldiers, fallen the 6th of October 1870. In death united".
Each of the four simple crosses above is engraved with the word "Inconnu", unknown.
Farther down the road was another memorial, this time commemorating two wars. The stele on the left in the photo below commemorates soldiers and civilians shot in 1870,
and the stone on the right (above) is dedicated to soldiers and civilians of the village killed in World War I, World War II (below the palm branch), as well as one soldier killed in the Algerian War (1958 - 60).
We drove to the river on tiny roads, looking for a place along the river where the soldiers might have crossed. It would not have been near any town, nor in sight of any sentries on the enemy-occupied east bank of the river. Their crossing had to be made as silently and invisibly as possible.
I have recounted the story of that dramatic event in Chapter 5, a crossing accomplished on a dark night, in the rain, across a rain-swollen river using a couple of long boards as a footbridge, and ropes strung across to hold onto. Oh, and with heavy packs and munitions on the soldiers' backs.
One man was lost to the river. It seems miraculous that it was only one, in view of the conditions they faced on that night.
On this sunny autumn day, after a spell of very dry weather, the river was calm, the foliage golden.
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| Madonna on the bridge |
It took a lot of imagination to conjure up that wild night long ago.
And very moving to stand on this sunny river bank, with no hint of the blackness, the mud, and the pouring rain.
We counted ourselves lucky to be traveling in our comfortable Citroën "Picasso" on a well-constucted bridge.
To continue to the other side of the river, we headed south to the main bridge in St. Michel-sur-Meurthe.
There was a little train station there,
and a very nice bridge.
Once across the river, we headed north to La Hollande and Hurbache where the 409 rested for the night.
As we continued east through St. Jean and Provenchères, the road climbed more and more steeply through little villages in the hills.
The inscription on the roadside memorial below says:
"The 6th of November 1944
Here were shot by the Militia and the Gestapo
Pierre Cuny 28 years old
Désiré Bênoit 21 years old"
The cross is the Cross of Lorraine, symbol of the French resistance fighters.
In the last couple of decades there has been a movement in France toward acknowledging the role of the Vichy French regime in carrying out the orders of the Nazi occupiers. The Militia was the military arm of this collaborationist government engaged in fighting the resistance groups and "keeping order". General Pétain, who had been a famous and well-respected hero of World War I, became the head of the Vichy Government, and was supported by much of the French population because they believed he would do what was best for France. Once in power, he betrayed that trust by collaborating with the Nazi occupying forces and using the Vichy Militia to carry out Nazi programs. Pétain, and many other Vichy officials, were punished later as war criminals.
High in the mountain pass hamlet of Colroy-La-Grande, a church and memorial.
Sights along the way......
At this little village church, I photograph Fran photographing.
Inside the church.
"Le Verbe" means The Word. Reverend Fran told us something interesting about the importance of "Le Verbe" in this context but I can't remember what.
Wanna jump in here, Fran?
An old grave in the churchyard.
We continued eastward through the heavily forested mountains. An exciting moment came when we got to the hairpin turn just after the hamlet of Fouillaupre where the company ran into an enemy blockade called an "abatis". It was here that the 3rd Battalion, including Charles Meagher Sr., headed into the woods on the right side of the road to go around the blockade and on to Urbeis. There was no safe place to park so I have no authentic photo of that spot. But here is a similar scene - here is the terrain they marched into, guided by a local French civilian who knew the way.
On to Fouchy, via the road, not through the woods like the 3rd Battalion.
We found a restaruant with an outdoor garden for a beer stop. The family who ran it even had a Diploma of Honor on the wall.
Inside the place was packed. With Golden Agers! It was the monthly meeting of the Club du Troisième Âge. Sadly the video that I sneakily took won't upload. Merde. So you won't get to hear the Alsatian oom-pah music.
Here are a couple of ladies you might recognize, taking advantage of the danceable moment!
And here's a quote from a France travel site - note what they say about Alsatian music.
"In summer and autumn there's a food or wine festival each weekend in a different town
or village, with wine tastings, tarte flambée and other local delicacies, arts and crafts,
and if you're unlucky, traditional Alsatian music." (emphasis mine)
http://france-for-visitors.com/alsace/vosges/route-du-vin.html
That seems very uncharitable to me. And Fran, Madonna, and all the senior citizens were enjoying it a lot!!!
Here's a link that will let you decide for yourself - Mazurka Alsacienne, compete with traditionally costumed dancers. The scenery is pretty nice also.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZGQYzzJqn1A
And then we were on to Selestat!
Downhill through Villé and Dieffenbach, around the face of Frankenbourg Mountain to Chatenois, and Scherwiller on the Alsatian plain. We arrived at a rond-point on the outskirts of the city and followed any signs that seemed to point us toward the Centre-ville.
The D258 marked on the signpost took us into the old part of the city and right up to the River Ill. (That's ILL)
Where we found a kayakers paradise on the River. These guys were having a great time in the faux rapids.
A walk around the Old City revealed some very old buildings in traditional Alsatian style.
Notice the ventilated roof so grain could be stored high and dry above the hazard of river flooding in the days before the waters were all controlled.
Here's someone bucking for a higher flower rating!
Ancient door across from a solar-powered parking meter.
Old inscription above is in German or Alsatian.
On the balcony to the right, one French inscription commemorates a visit to Sélestat by Louis the XIV in 1681, 33 years after Alsace became part of France at the end of the Thirty Years War in 1648.
Louis came here to "receive the hommage of the Magistrate of Strasbourg" - The kind of oath swearing that would seal the deal on Alsace being French.
The inscription on the right side of the balcony below tells us that the heir to the throne visited in 1690, and his son the Duke of Burgundy came and stayed in this very house in 1703.
Note the fleurs-de-lys in their honor.
A bit farther on, we caught sight of the colorful roof tiles of Saint George's Church.
Around the front, its Gothic spire soars above the entrance and the rose window.
As I stood on the curb waiting to cross to the entrance, a proud Selestadian made a point of telling me that there are three very fine old churches here. He pointed out the streets I should follow after visiting St. Georges.
Sélestat is known as the "City of Humanism" - so
inside the church was this painting of Francis and Claire of Assisi. and announcing the "Parish Community of Selestat, City of Humanists".
Beatus Rhenanus (1485 - 1547) an Alsatian humanist, religious reformer, and classical scholar was a native of Sélestat.
He spent his later years in his home city and in Strasbourg, where he wrote scholarly works and corresponded with many of the great minds of the day, including Erasmus.
He left his invaluable collection of books to his
hometown, where they are still housed in the
Humanist Library there.
We managed one more beautiful church - the Église Sainte Foy.
The simple exterior walls were checkered with gray stone and pink vosgian sandstone.
Just stunning.
There was a plaque on the church school commemorating the entry of French troops into Sélestat in 1634 (time of Louis XIII, for you history scholars). Next to it was a list of French heads of state who had come to the city. There are some glaring omissions!!!!
No one since 1976???!!!
Not Mitterand, Chirac nor Sarkozy!
I wonder how that's affecting the first round of voting for president this weekend.
Another long day of touring ended and we pointed "Picasso" toward home.
This time we drove on a multi-lane divided highway across the flat and fertile Alsatian plain.
Au revoir!
On the balcony to the right, one French inscription commemorates a visit to Sélestat by Louis XIV in 1681, 33 years after Alsace became part of France at the end of the Thirty Years War in 1648.Louis came here to "receive the hommage of the Magistrate of Strasbourg" - the kind of oath- swearing that would seal the deal on Alsace being French.
Beatus Rhenanus (1485 - 1547), an Alsatian humanist, religious reformer, and classical scholar, was a native of Sélestat. 
