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Avis' Genealogy reseach tour through |
Day Three - Abreschviller
We went to the Mairie in Abreschviller, next to the hotel but they had no Saltzmanns, so we drove via the very attractive St. Quirin to Lafrimbolle, which is very small but still has a Mairie & looked through the records there. (If a French village has two buildings, I bet one is the Mairie). Everyone was being very helpful, perhaps because it is Family. There was Nicholas 1837, father Joseph but no Pierre recorded. So, they suggested we go to Sarrebourg, the nearest biggish town, which we did but the Archive did not open until 2, so we went for a round trip in the Northern Vosges from Phalsbourg, stopping at La Petite Pierre for coffee. This was all very attractive. The archivist was very helpful, spoke German, so I could expand on what Avis asked but did not turn up anything except a pair of Saltzmanns at Farebersviller, which I could not find on the map. Some of the archive books, here & at the other mairies, were very old, worn & full of meticulous copper-plate handwriting. We had milles feuilles in a café before going back to Abreschviller another way via Walscheid.
We met Claudine & her friend Françoise at 1940 in the foyer, had a few drinks & chatted for 1.5 hours. Like all the Mairie staff, they were very friendly. We eventually had dinner: trout for Avis, which she thought very special. It was farmed blue trout & Avis is good at trout anyway but we get rainbow. I had Choucroute & five hunks of meat or sausage, which was very tasty but Avis hates sauerkraut.
Abreschviller |
Sarrebourg Market |
St Quirin |
La Petite Pierre |
Day Four - Still in Abreschviller
There was nothing to be done over the weekend on the genealogy, so we went to Strasbourg via the Col de Valsberg & Wasselonne, where the garage had trouble reading my credit card, a very serious matter. Strasbourg is very pretty in the Old Town, which is much pedestrianised & has a very modern, smart, tram system. Another gloomy, reverse Tardis cathedral, though. We did not hear its bells because of repairs. (Many of the cathedrals we saw were being refurbed for the summer tourists). This was a pity, as they inspired Brian's 7th Symphony. The weather was iffy, with odd outbreaks of rain. We had lunch in the form of vast & excellent salads by the river in the Riva Destra for ¤24.40. Then, we did a bit of a tour, going first to Rosheim, which had three towers over the road but it was raining, so we did not get out. We were luckier at the old (but tiny) Imperial City of Obernai, had a dry look round its beauties & 'tea' (coffee & cake) in a café where I teased the old but attractive patronne by mixing up the languages. On to Barr, also pretty & over the Vosges again, stopping at the sobering Struthof Concentration Camp, too late for the museum but impressive by its fairly small size, so they must have been packed in. Wonderful view to die to. Over the Col du Donon, I made a wrong turning, which added 20 minutes to the trip but did allow us a look at Cirez, another nice place, although these Lorraine villages are not so anally kept touristy as the Alsace ones. We met the girls for dinner. On their recommendation, we had a sort of veal & mushroom stew. It was very good & copious as seems usual here. Much talk. Claudine runs the Jazz Dancing Club here. I commented on the German lack of Social Capital & she said that the 1390 inhabitants of Abreschviller had 29 clubs.
Strasbourg - Cathedral Square |
Strasbourg - Place Kleber |
Obernai |
Struthof & the memorial |
Contact: Ken Baldry at 17 Gerrard Road, Islington, London N1 8AY +44(0)20 7359 6294 or e-mail him URL: http://www.art-science.com/Tourism/France/Alsace/a2.html Last revised 21/3/2003 © 2002-2003 Ken Baldry. All rights reserved.