We sadly left our Watronville B&B with goodbyes from Mr. and Mrs. Wurtz. We left them our "Walking Verdun" book, and Madame Wurtz sent us off with some homemade jam. This was an unlooked for treasure, staying with them, their cats, grandkids, and other guests; we won't soon forget!
On the way to Strasbourg, we decided to drive south and see the St. Mihiel U.S. Cemetery; this is a relatively small WWI cemetery compared to the Meuse-Argonne we saw yesterday. This one only has 4,153 buried here, but like all the American military cemeteries it is beautiful, patriotic, and sacred.
A large marble eagle is in the center of the four burial sections and serves as a sundial. In the back, at the memorial, is a chapel and hall of the missing. Like the other cemeteries we've seen, it is mournful but beautiful, and the ground we walked is holy to Americans and French alike..
This is a beautiful and touching statue of an American soldier that's located off to one side of the cemetery. The young man is so innocent and handsome, but his face seems stern and mournful in a way. It's really something to see!
This is the pink granite urn inside the memorial at the far end of the cemetery. It's centered among these beautiful sculpted columns that give the memorial a classic Greek look. It's so formal and solemn looking - very appropriate for the location.
We just happened to arrive as a family from Texas was having a military ceremony to donate a great uncle's WWI burial flag and some of his war artifacts. We hung back out of respect and suddenly "Taps" was playing from the colonnaded memorial at the far end of the cemetery, and we both had to wipe tears from our eyes. It was a special moment for sure.
This is a picture of their uncle, the donated flag, and his war medals.
From St. Mihiel, we made the decision to see the Montsec Monument. (On the way, we drove through the village of Richecourt and saw their WWI memorial to the fallen soldiers of France. It is so beautiful but so heartbreaking.)
Montsec is a monument to the U.S. victory in this area. It looks a bit like the Jefferson Memorial but without the dome on top, and it dominates a hilltop from miles away.
The monument consists of a large circular colonnade, and names of nearby villages liberated by American troops are carved upon the outside frieze. We drove up and circled to the top. As we walked up, the scale of this monument is immense . . . like the memorials in Washington D.C. We were stunned!
Inside the colonnade there was a map table in the middle, almost like an altar. It had the landscape below clearly marked with the names of villages, rivers, etc. The view was incredible, no matter which way you looked! So much so, that it took our breath away! Again, we were just in awe!
We headed on to Strasbourg, about 2.5 hours away. It really is a beautfiul city, but our first impression was one of pure horror as we tried to find the hotel, park the car, navigate the pedestrian zone (in our car), and check into the hotel - all at the same time. There are several pedestrians lucky to be alive tonight; they came within inches of losing their lives to a crazy blonde American in a stick shift! :-) (FYI - the parking garage we were sent to was so dark that we had to pull out our trusty little flashlights that we brought with us!)
Our hotel is shabby chic with an emphasis on shabby! It's small and tacky, BUT (and this outweighs many other issues) the Wi-Fi ROCKS and the air conditioner is leaving icicles on our noses as I type! Woohoo!!!! I love cold rooms!!!! What does that say about us? That we're willing to speak glowingly of a shabby little hotel room and somehow harbor doubts about the Wurtz's beautiful little B&B all because of the lack of accessible technology! We're so spoiled and so ashamed! :-) (But after having to spend three nights at McDonald's for their free Wi-Fi, this tacky hotel is like the Holy Grail to us!!!!!)
After settling in, we ventured out for dinner and a little wandering of the side streets. We picked a highly recommended and beautiful little restaurant close to the big cathedral, mostly because it had a menu we could decipher! :-) It turned out to be a fantastic meal and went a long way to resolving our issues over three nights of McDonald's dinners!
First, we split the two appetizers: escargot with garlic, parsley butter and then three cheeses (camembert, roquefort, and muenster) with a small salad. Both of these were so lovely and we were delighted to be back in a town with great food! :-)
I chose the scallop and shrimp risotto for my entree. The seafood was perfectly cooked, and the risotto was made with seafood stock and tomatoes. It was spectacular! For Tammy, nothing could satisfy her but a good German meal of charcuterie and sauerkraut (basically a big plate of meat, potatoes, and sauer kraut)! She is such a good Germanic girl! Give her salted herring from Denmark or sausage and sauerkraut from Germany and she's a happy camper!
Dessert for me was chocolate mousse in an eclair with apricot sorbet and pieces of liqueur soaked apricots. It was so delicious I can't even tell you! Light but so flavorful!
Tammy had an interesting but tasty dessert that was a lemon sorbet with apples and applesauce. It looked a bit strange but it was really good.
By the way, Strasbourg is in France, but it's part of the region called Alsace which was taken over by the Germans two or three times in the last two hundred years. So all the streets have German names, the food is good German fare, and the old town looks like Leavenworth with all its half timbered, Bavarian style buildings! It's a really wonderful and interesting mix of cultures here!
Tomorrow we vow to relax and simply wander this beautiful city and see what sights it has for us to discover!
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