After David finished his class this afternoon, we started out for a walk near the Georgia Tech campus. Our first stop was Fort Queuleu, built between 1868 to 1872 and the site of a German internment camp.
In 1943 and 1944, 1,500 members of the French Resistance were interrogated at in the fort's casemate A before being transferred to concentration camps in Germany in 1944.
Today, you can visit Casemate A on the first Sunday of each month from 3 to 5 pm. The remainder of the fort is a park featuring trails and physical fitness activities.
Armed with a map (which didn't help much), we began our walk around the perimeter of the fort. The trails were wide, running from forested areas to open fields. When we got to a point where we saw the freeway, we realized we had missed a turn. So, we went through a field of grass, walking in the tire tracks of a plow.
Once we reached the farm, we encountered a woman who was taking a walk in the other direction. She lived in a nearby village and was pleased to run into Americans on her walk. She told us that she and her family, long-time Mosellans, had been evacuated to the south central part of France from 1940 to 1944. She raved about the American soldiers who liberated Metz and gave her and other children chewing gum!
After walking through the village of Grigy, we joined the bicycle path that happens to run through a golf course.
Two and a half hours after we left for our walk, we returned to Georgia Tech, a bit tired but glad to have had such an interesting afternoon.
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