French Villages
Along this stretch, we spent several nights in small villages along the way. In the middle of a forest we moved from the region of Alsace to Lorraine. The town names, the names on graves in the cemeteries and the architecture are becoming less German as we travel West again, though even the locals did not know the origin of the name of one town, "Xouaxange". David was delighted to find out and attempt to master the pronunciation.
We enjoy stopping in these small villages which don't feature on any "must see" lists and in fact are hardly a dot on the maps. Because we are on the canals we usually see people walking their dogs, pushing strollers or wheelchairs, fishing, jogging and cycling. As we walk the streets we see more every day behaviour and sometimes we find the unusual. Our friend Charlie reported a "first" the other day: he spied a woman walking her turtle. She would reach out to turn the turtle around when it had gone a few metres away. The turtle was working very hard but she hardly had to move.
Another interesting sighting was in a village which had only two shops, the usual pairing of a bakery and a hairdresser, plus an old church and the town hall. A tractor was driving around towing a flat trailer covered by a red carpet. Several middle- aged men and women were perched on the trailer. Every now and again one or two would hop off, another couple would hop on further down the road. On closer inspection, I discovered that they all had a clip board and pencil and were closely checking flower pots and window boxes. I wonder if they were judging the town for the number of "Flowers" it deserved? (Most towns have a "Fleuries" rating with 4 being the maximum possible and equating to beautiful, well-groomed, flower covered villages.
Regards,
Penny and Dave
