New Ulm review. (New Ulm, Brown County, Minn.) 1892-1961, 1919-01-29
SOLDIER BOYS LETTERS

George Steinmetz, nephew of And
rev Steinmetz Of this city wrote the
following letter to his cousin which gives
some interesting details Of a soldiers
holiday time in France. The letter IS
dated at Issodun, France, Oct. l, 1918.
I have not written you for some
time owing to the fact that | was away
on a seven days furlough, travel time
and all taking thirteen days, to Ankles
Bains, summer resort in southern
France used by the American soldiers.
had written you postal while there
but that is about all the time I could
find to do any writing, leaving that
to be done when I got back. | got
back last Friday night and have been
busy every minute until this evening.
| shall now tell you something Of my
trip and what 1 saw, it being so much
that I have to use the typewriter to
put it down fast enough.
/ left on a Sunday morning and had
to change cars several times stopping
overnight at Lyons, one of the largest
and best cities in France in which the
lights are always lit for it is very far
away from the front and not much danger
. of air raids. We got there about sew.
en- o'clock in the evening and as there
was no train going to AK that night,
we had to stay over in hotel. We
stayed in a good hotel and had very
good rooms. / do not suppose you have
ever seen French beds. Well, tell
you that they are very soft and high;
almost necessitating the use OF a ladder
to get in them. They seemed to be
almost all mattresses and springs, and
this is fact that l did not sleep very
comfortably in it for it was too soft
for an army man who is used to sleeping
on hard bed At least, it was several
days before l could sleep comfortably
in them, and when 7 did get used to
them, | did not want to get up in the
morning. The streets in Lyons were
quite lively at night and it seemed like
home to again get to place where there
were lots Of people. We, that is, my
pal and myself, roamed around the
streets and tried to see all we could in
the shortest space of time for we had
to catch the next train.
While in this city, l went to see
very fine and large church which
was built on top of a high hill. I am
told that this church was built hundred
years ago for king who was supposed
to be crowned in it. The interior was
rather dark inside on account of the
paintings which covered every wall,
except one portion in the rear which still
showed the white plaster for the church
is not quite completed as yet. Up to
this time, it was the finest church I had
seen in France. From there we went
to tower near by, from the top of which
we had a splendid view of the city.
Mountains are on every side Of the city
and through the center Of it runs two
rivers, about six blocks apart from each
other. AS the rivers run through the
heart of the city, bridges were in great
numbers to be seen everywhere. We
rode to the top of the tower in lift,
Gas they call it here) and were up there
about half an hour, SO had plenty of
time to get good look at the city and
its surroundings.
We left the city shortly and got into
AX-Les-Bains about seven hours ride,
changing once at some junction. We
were assigned to various hotels, i with
crowd of ten other soldiers being as
signed to hotel in the residence district.
This was formerly an apartment house,
and it was a fine place to stay for the
food and sleeping quarters were good.
Our transportation, food and rooms were
free, as the government took care of all
charges, SO all the money we needed was
Tor sightseeing and personal expenses.
As We we're told to forget that we were
IN the army while down there, l started
the next day right by sleeping until