March 16, 2011

Today was very full of activities -- kind of a break from our service. Also, Wednesdays, most schools have off. Both the GS students and our host siblings boarded a bus and headed to Strasbourg for the day. Our first stop was the Chocolate Museum, where we learned all about the history and the making of chocolate. Of course, we got to taste some, too!! I highly recommend this place; it's one of those "feeling good" kind of experiences. Soon after, we took a boat ride on the Lille, the river which runs through Strasbourg. Fortunately, it was covered because yesterday was much colder than Tuesday when temps were in the 60s.

Then, off to the Cathedrale in which is housed one of two astronomical clocks in the world. At 12:30, while we were watching the seconds tick away, we witnessed all sorts of moving figurines, many of them biblical, yet some simply astronomical. A few bells, a crowing rooster, a skull reminding us about how much time we have left in this life....there was lots happening in 10 minutes.

We had lunch on our own (with the host siblings)and met back at 2:30 to drive to the only German concentration camp on French soil. Remember that Alsace was German during much of World War II. It was a sobering visit in the fog of the mountains where the students learned about the atrocities of that war. We returned to Guebwiller by 7. Our students had much to share with their families around the dinner table, I am certain. --Cheri

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