Alsace, France - The Summer That Changed My Life

Garden in Thanvillé

When I was 13, I started working as a busboy at a small French restaurant called La Petite France. The owners, Chef Paul Elbling and his wife Marie-Antoinette, were good friends of my parents and my godfather (who had taken me there for dinner the night I was offered a job). After some time working at the restaurant, Chef Paul told me that since I was learning French in school and had straight A's that if I wanted I could go live with his family in Alsace for the summer. 

When my father came to the restaurant to pick me up one evening (but not before socializing with the last remaining patrons), Chef Paul strategically made the offer again, this time in front of my father. As I turned to my dad with that look on my face saying, "Father, may I?," he quickly added, "If Mack Brown (head coach of U Texas football) has a summer camp in France then you can go." Honestly, my heart sank a bit, only to float back to the surface with a wonderful inflatable I call determination. 

A few months later, my family and I were gathered at La Petite France for Uncle Rick and I's birthday, and more importantly, my farewell dinner before leaving the next day for Alsace. 

Age: 16 years, 0 months, 3 days. I gave my mother and father one last hug goodbye before my first solo travel across the Atlantic. Mom cried, of course, while dad shook my hand and simply said, "Son, I'm proud of you." The long journey to France began. Richmond to Basel, Switzerland via Philadelphia and London. Marie-Antoinette reminded me last minute to be sure to exit to the French side of the Basel Europort where her brother-in-law, Jean Marie, would be waiting to whisk me to the French countryside. 

It was a beautiful day when I arrived, the scenery to my surprise was very similar to Virginia, specifically the Blue Ridge mountains. No wonder Marie-Antoinette and Paul settled in Richmond. I was tired when we arrived in Thanvillé at Le Relais du Chateau,  my home for the next ten weeks. A brief drink with my hosts and it was off to bed until supper. 

Val de Villé

My hosts, Lionel, Virginie, and his son, Louwyck

1 Rue de l'Eglise, Thanvillé, France
My room is third floor, middle window on right. 

The next day my work started - indeed, this wasn't going to be a 'free' trip. Room and board came with a price, so I took up my post as the dishwasher in the kitchen. A far cry from the excitement of the main dining room, being a busboy at La Petite, this was to be the time of my life and dammit I would make the best of it - with a little complaining here and there to vent my frustrations. 

Lionel was a fantastic chef, single-handedly making anything and everything Alsatian in his kitchen. Several dishes were quite popular, including the Alsatian version of pizza, Tarte Flambée. It tasted like a pizza made with swiss cheese and ham. No tomato sauce, mozzarella, or pepperonis on this pizza; and certainly no cheese-stuffed crust!

Thanvillé is a charming, quiet village nestled in a small valley one hour south of Strasbourg. A collective of villages make up the Val de Villé. Ours was quite small with about 300 residents, yet each one took great pride in preserving the serenity of the area. Geranium beds were in every window, the houses were painted in a multitude of colors, and everyone walked around the village with a smile on their face. 

During the afternoons and evenings, I would go for stroll to relax. Whether to Chateau de Thanvillé (behind the restaurant) or the German Military Cemetery (say that ten times fast) it was like walking through an abandoned movie set. Interesting fact: Chef Paul's father fought for Germany during WWI. At the time, Alsace was unquestionably part of the German Empire. 

View from my bedroom

Chateau de Thanvillé

The Long and Winding Road

German Military Cemetery (WWI) 

Two weeks into my stay, it was time for a change. I was loosing weight, spending more time outdoors, and becoming a totally different person. Why not go all the way? A quick trip to the salon in the nearby principal town of Villé and my transformation was underway. The old Ried - fat, boring, friendless, unpopular, straight-pretending - was about to be rid of forever. 

"'de Graffenried' means nothing now! A-nother story must be-ginnnnnn"

Jean-Marie (Lionel's father) and I in the bar. 

Okay, so it wasn't a huge change, but it certainly felt like it at the time. My whole life had been turned upside down for the better. I even learned my lesson about binge drinking! Being the smart-ass I am, I pissed off Lionel who in turn challenged me to a one-person drinking contest. Quadruple shot of vodka, in a glass, to be drunk all at once. Certainly. GULP. Another one he poured…and another one. After four of these babies in about 15 minutes, I was jollier than ole Saint Nick - and was 'fluent' in Alsatian dialect, or so it seemed. Stumbling to bathroom just in time to vomit everything I had eaten in the previous week, I was happy to duck out 'gracefully' from the bar to get some sleep by 2:30.

7:00am: KNOCK KNOCK, "Hey, conard (French for A-hole), wake up and go clean the dishes." With the worst hangover in human history (can one be hungover and still drunk at the same time??) I managed to clean the dishes and kitchen, returning to bed and sleeping for the next 15 hours. 

Lionel had given me a bike to explore the area when the restaurant was closed during the afternoons, and I took to learning the area well. I would ride for miles up and down the rolling hills, through forests, and even up to centuries-old castles long vacated. They were too small to attract tourists which left me to enjoy them all to myself. Pushing the bike up steep, rock covered trails through overgrown bushes and past the occasional deer, I imagined myself a Medieval merchant hauling my goods to his Lordship's hill-top castle. The access road back to the bottom proved a lot more fun to ride down than the hike up. 

On Tuesdays and Wednesdays when the restaurant was closed, we would take day trips to some of the local sights. One week, Marie-Antoinette's sister Regine took me to Strasbourg, the provincial capital of Alsace one hour north of Thanvillé. We walked around the old town, visited Notre Dame de Strasbourg Cathedral, and enjoyed the lovely, quiet streets along the Rhine River. We even stopped to visit the namesake of Chef Paul's restaurant, a small island in the heart of Strasbourg - La Petite France. 

La Petite France

Notre Dame de Strasbourg

Kammerzell House, the oldest building in Strasbourg. Built in 1427

Perhaps the best story from my time in Strasbourg was the infamous Marlboro Classics. To touch on the backstory, I have always wanted to be like Uncle Rick, and he had always bought clothes in France from Marlboro. Low and behold, Strasbourg had a store, and go figure, I spent about half my summer savings on five pieces. When I sent an email home telling of this, my mother was FURIOUS to say the least - and of course, Uncle Rick got blamed. Just to be clear though, as of October 2014 (ten plus years later) I still have and wear every piece purchased. 

Another day trip was a bit closer to home, though much higher: Chateau Haut Koenigsbourg. About twenty minutes from Thanvillé atop the Vosges mountains, Koenigsbourg is an imposing Medieval castle fortress overlooking the Upper Rhine Valley. The castle's origin is unknown; some documents mention it as early as the 700s during Charlemagne's reign. What is certain is that "King's Castle" (Koenigsbourg) was referenced in the 1100s as the property of a German king. It was abandoned after the 30 Years War and left almost untouched until 1900 when Kaiser Wilhelm II ordered a full restoration. Today, it is one of the most visited places in France and a spectacular castle to see, albeit having a highly romanticized restoration. It is perhaps the only sizable rival to Neuschwanstein in Bavaria. 

No trip to Alsace (for history buffs at least) is complete without paying homage to the Maginot Line. Built in the 1930s as a deterrent against German invasion, the Maginot Line was a series of tunnels, concrete bunkers, barricades, and garrisons armed with everything from machine guns to tanks, all aimed towards Germany in the hope it would be able to quell any invasion. Well, it was a complete failure because Hitler's armies went through the Ardennes Forest (which was "inconceivable" at the time) and came around behind the line. Nevertheless, it proved a modern feat of engineering and was well worth the visit. 

Each summer up the hill from Thanvillé is a famous show called Le Rêve d'une Nuit d'Été (A Midsummer Night's Dream). Hundreds of locals make stages, sets, costumes, and then act in a huge spectacle - complete with a flying, fire-breathing dragon - that chronicles the storied history of their region. It was truly amazing to watch as one of the more than 100,000 visitors that come to see it. 

My time in Alsace was great though seemed very short. I shall always remember the wonderful hospitality given to me by many of the locals, especially the Mayor and his wife who made sandwiches and wine for Jean-Marie and I one afternoon. I would not trade my experience for anything. But fear not, the journey continued into Provence and Paris. Stay tuned.