Wednesday the entire group....French and American... set off bright and early for a day's excursion. Spirits were high in spite of the lingering uncertainty of our return to the US as British Airways prepared to go on strike.
Our first stop was to a Chocolaterie where we saw a demonstration of how to create various chocolate shapes and how to decorate them. We tasted. We savored. When a strike is iminent, there is no better way to keep the worries at bay than to eat chocolate.
Next we headed to Strasbourg, the captital of Europe. We took the Strasbourgian bateau mouche and were treated to a beautiful tour of the city as seen from its waterways. We gazed at the Cathedral, took in the astromical clock.
The day finished on a more serious note as we threaded deep valleys and climbed a steep mountain to arrive at le Struthof, the only concentration camp that was located on French soil. We were greeted by the sight of its soaring white monument to those who lost their lives here during the Second World War. The group was somber as we visited the buildings that held the gas chambers and oven. We read the personal stories of those who were sent to this camp never to return. As we left we were conscious of how fortunate we are...and that it is also imperative that sites like this be preserved so the memory of what happened here will not be forgotten, that remembering will instill and strengthen the hope that nothing like this will happen ever again.
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