Wandering around Lembach

Trip Start Apr 30, 2006
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Trip End May 12, 2006


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Where I stayed
private home
(Lembach hotels)

Flag of France  , Alsace,
Wednesday, May 3, 2006

      Carol and I slept late-until 9 am, then had breakfast with Denise: croissants with marzipan inside (which we had many other mornings-wonderful stuff, that Denise bought fresh every morning), French bread and honey, and apple juice. Denise took us to see the peace flame (a symbol of the town, put up in 1995-the 50th anniversary of the liberation of Lembach by US forces and dedicated by US astronaut Russell Schweickart whose grandparents came from Lembach), the butcher shop where Leopold Siess might have worked, and a few other places. We stopped at the post office for stamps and got some envelopes with Lembach and the peace flame on them. We waited for Daniel to return home from work (he only works half-days on MWF), and then ate dinner. We had delicious pork steaks with a mushroom and cream sauce, over roasted potatoes, haricots verts, French bread of course, cheese, of course, and fresh éclairs for dessert (coffee and vanilla).
      Daniel called Erlangen to find us a room-it took about 4 calls to find a place. A former French professor of Carol's at New York University lives there and she wants to go see him. It will be a nice side trip. We walked up to the Mairie-Town Hall-and saw the actual marriage certificate of our GGGparents. (One of Schweickart's ancestors was a witness to the marriage! Small world.) We picked up some information about Lembach, including a guided tour of the historic sites, most of which we saw. I also picked up some literature in French for our niece, Allie Claus, who is studying French in high school. Then we drove to Wissembourg (15 km away) and the Jewish cemetery. For reasons I still don't understand, Daniel is the caretaker there. (He's not Jewish.) It was hot and steep slopes, so I stayed behind and rested in the car while Carol and Daniel looked to see if anyone of interest was buried there. She found a couple of   graves belonging to our Dennery family, and photographed not only them, but all the tombstones which had indications that the decedant had been from Lembach. (In the past all Jews who lived in Lembach had been buried in Wissembourg, which was the nearest Jewish cemetery.) The graves were in decent shape.
      We got back, rested, then had supper, talked a bit, and went to bed. (Supper was salads and meat and cheese for dessert-always cheese and bread. Daniel also brought home some éclairs from the student chefs at the school where he is the librarian.)
 
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