strasbourg.

i spent last friday and saturday in and around strasbourg. we took the train there friday morning and arrived around 11 am. we then had lunch at the strasbourg program director's apartment. then we met up with the strasbourg students {only 1 from lewis + clark, the rest are from kalamazoo}. we boarded a bus to spend the afternoon on an excursion to struthof, le château de haut koenigsbourg, and kaysersberg. struthof was the only concentration camp on french soil during the second world war. there are times when living in france when i can feel the presence of the war. before this trip it was most notably on cold, cloudy days sitting in stark, utilitarion class rooms without heat on the university campus and watching long, green tarp drapped cargo trains pass below my window sill. it is also noticiable with certain modern conviences that are generally used in conservation. things many americans take for granted such as water, hot water, telephones and electricity. during the war {and especially during hitler's last stand} france's infrastructure was destroyed. the devastated country had to work extremely hard to get everything up and running again. the national telecommunication network wasn't even entirely established until the 80s. so now, even almost 70 years after the war, many people still feel the need to conserve these precious resources that generations prior worked so hard to restore. {this may be where many 'the french never shower' jokes may stem from, which by the way, i don't find so much funny as extremely culturally insensitive} anyways, as still present as the war is, i never felt it so much as at struthof. riding up the narrow, curving road up to the camp that was well hidden in the mountaineous area of the vosges region, i couldn't even imagine what it must have felt like to be driven up this road after being captured for a simple offense of your religion or trying to stop the horrorendous events that were occuring, to work tirelessly in a prison camp, not knowing whether or not you'll make it out alive. i also got so angry at the nazis for hiding such a horrendous place in such a beautiful area. it was definitely a bittersweet trip. at the camp we learned more specifics of the treatment of prisoners. i won't go in to too much detail because it is pretty gruesome. two things that did strike me as especially horrid, were the use of prisoners for medical experiments. there were professors from the medical school in strasbourg at the camp who would inject prisoners with inoncuous diseases just to see what effects it would have. the other is that for the first few months the ashes of the deceased were used as fertilizer on the captains garden. then when there were too many, the remains were just dumped into a pit at the bottom of the camp {it sits on a hill}. the area now is mostly just the land. many of the huts were torn down in the 1950s because they were built so poorly and the rooves were already caving in after only 10 years. a few replica buildings remain.

{view looking up at the camp from the bottom of the hill. memorial for unidentified prisoner in the background}


after that sobering experience, we went to château de haut koenigsbourg. this château sits on top of a mountain and has incredible views. it was especially strong defense wise, because the mountain is really only climbable on the north side. we had a guided tour and learned about its history. if i remember correctly, it was built originally in the 9th century but smaller than it is now. then it was destroyed and rebuilt in the 14th century. then destroyed again by fire which heated up the bricks to the point where they exploded. then around 1900, when the area was under german control, the german empire decided it should be restored in order to show germany's strength. so it was restored to 90% of the authenticity of the 14th century version. the non-authentic 10% consists of many german embellishments which would never have existed. like a giant eagle mural painted on the ceiling of a room that used to be 4 rooms but is now one large room where the emperor entertained guests the 2 times he actually went to the château. so it was interesting and very beautiful.

{view from cannon tower at château de haut koenigsbourg}


after the château de haut koenigsbourg, we went to kaysersberg, which is this adorable little village in alsace. alsace is famous for its wine. the drive into the village was gorgeous with all the vinyards and grape leaves which are starting to turn a golden yellow this time of year. the grapevines run right up to the back walls of the houses that circle the village. the town itself is the reality version, if one ever existed, of the village from disney's beauty and the beast. tiny little streets bordered by stout buildings of different colors with fountains and flower boxes everywhere. we even found a grape vine growing up a wall by the central catherdral and helped ourselves to the sweet little morsels. we had a lovely dinner of quiche lorraine, chicken, green beans, potatoes, and chocolate mousse. it was a lovely evening.

{keysersberg}


the next day we went to the contemporary art museum in strasbourg. it was such a relief to see things from the 20th and 21st century after having stuffy 19th century and older artifacts shoved down my throat for the past month and a half. i feel like france is so caught up in history, which is great because there is such a rich, long history here. but let's get real, impressionism happened over a hundred years ago. let's move on. we're in the 21st century.

{'pile 1' by claude rutault}


after several hours wandering through the stark white walls filled with conceptual pieces, a few of us had a picnic lunch on the sunny river bank. it was lovely. then i wandered a bit of the town, enjoyed a coffee at an outdoor while i read poetry by rimbaud, then hopped the train back to nancy. it was a quick trip, but well worth it.

{l'ile river in strasbourg}

{the gorgeous strasbourg cathedral}


{typical french saturday morning: walking the dog to go buy fresh flowers at a local farmer's market. ah the life.}