Montpelier examiner. [volume] (Montpelier, Idaho) 1895-1937, 1919-01-10
ROY ROBINSON WRITES
OF SIGHTS IN FRANCE


Roy Robinson, in writing to his
parents. Mr.. and Mrs. @. A. Robinson,
from Tours, France. Dec. 10, tells of
q little pleasure trip he and some of
his comrades took. From the letter
we publish the following:
We left about two weeks ago on
our leave and thinking we might get
hungry on the trip, we decided to buy
a little ham and make us some sand
witches so we went into one shop and
found out that they sold only horse
meat. We went to another shop and
bought a pound Of boiled ham which
cost eight francs or about $3.50
which is sure some price to pay. We
left that evening and nothing OF i'm
portance happened until we arrived at
LaMans, which Is about 100 kilome-
tres from here. There we went into
French canteen and bought some
cheese sandwiches, which was all
they had, and l don't think / will ev-
or attempt to eat any French cheese
again as that was about as rotten as
any have ever seen.
We left La Mans about midnight
and had to stand up all of the way as
we were on the Paris express, which
Is always crowded, but that was bet
ter than riding in the third class cars
which they have here. 1t took us
three hours TO get to RenneB, which
was our next stop. From there we
went onto st. Malo, arriving at g.: 80
In the morning. We were checked in
and the M. p. toek us to our hotels.
From st. Milo we crossed the bay and
landed Mt Dinard, where we were split
up into small squads and taken to
the different hotels and assigned to
the first real beds that we had seen
since arriving in France. Tom, the
fellow that was with me said, How
Will we ever be able to sleep?" re-
piled, How will we ever be able to
wake np7" We then went to q small
eating joint across the street and ate
to our hearts content, after which we
went down to the "Y" OF what they
call the casino. located on one Of the
most wonderful beaches in France, IL
not in the world. After strol1ing
around for awhile we went TO the In
formation desk and had a chat with
the ~" lady, which was the first
time that l had talked with o real
American girl since we left the
states. That evening we went back
TO 1he casino and saw the best show
that / have seen for sometime. II was
Q French vaudeville and was worth
the time we spent trying to get a
seat, We turned I'm about midnight
aud It was 10 the next morning when
the madamoselle woke us for our
breakfast which consisted OF bread
and chocolate, which is q French
meal. They never have much more
for breakfast and Il You want any
extra you have to pay for it. After
having good wash and shower
bath at the y" we went to q barber
shop TO get shaved. On the wall wal
a sign which read, st is a French
habit to tip the barber who has serv
ed You"
That afternoon we visited one Of
the beautiful French chateaus. Ths
second day we took boat trip across
tbs bay to st. Servan. which In nOtet
for its many ancient relics. The frs
thing OF interest that we saw was al
old we'll which was built I'm the fourth
century There Is not house that Il
not at least 500 years old and they
were considered modern. We walket
mp the hill and visited an old for
which was used to protect the villag,
In the early times The fort Is nov
used to house German prisoners. Gu
day was nearly over by the time w,
went back to the dock and went {,
the top OF one of the large towers
which had many compartments o
dungeons in which they kept the con
vfcta IN the olden times They wer
not what we would call convicts, hu
were those the king did not like an
he put them there to get them out o
the way, and there they died, as Their
was no possible chance for them I
escape. They burned both their fee
of when they died TO make sure the
were not playing 'possum and the