| Description | Letter from Amelia Nyasa Laws, Metz, to her relatives, regarding Aunt's outings, Amelia has had a feverish cold which has delayed her start at the hospital, visit to Strasbourg (she caught the cold on the train), Dr. Belbeze has been bitten by his own rabid dog and has gone to the Pasteur Institute in Paris to be examined, he has been replaced by a lieutenant who is complaining of Amelia's absence, exhibition being held in town with sections on art, racing, needlework, music, etc., difficult to find accommodation for Aunt, but she can now stay on in the Station Hotel in a south-facing room with a balcony, good shops, a reasonable restaurant close by, food more abundant and less expensive than in Italy, Aunt is so much better looking, Mlle. Stoufflet is anxious that Amelia should start a private massage practice in Metz, there was a Swedish masseuse and her husband there before the war who had more work than they could handle and did well out of it, size of the town, possibilities, her absence was regretted because a lieutenant with a broken arm was plastered too tightly and by morning his hand was black, then the plaster was cut off in such a way that the arm was cut, too, a military masseuse treated it wrongly, and now the arm is useless, Plantieres' reputation has suffered badly in consequence and the officer's father is suing for a pension, another contact at Strasbourg, visit to Strasbourg to see if they like it, it is beautiful but too big and noisy, Aunt prefers Metz, drive to see the sights, Imperial Palace, University, orangery, Kehl Bridge, arrangements for military occupation there, 'a beautiful smiling landscape - the Germany of nature as compared with the murderous Germany of the past few years', monument to Desaix, the docks and old houses by the river, 'As in most cases the picturesqueness of the scene outweighs the modern conception of comfort for the inhabitants', only one stork's nest as since the war the storks have left Strasbourg, learning the origins of pate de foie gras, gymnastic fete, organised by the Catholic church. |