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Updated: May 17, 2025
Most likely it now possesses a railway station, a newspaper kiosk, and a big hotel, as at Gerardmer! As we drop down upon La Bresse after our climb of two hours and more, we seem to be at the world's end. Our road has led us higher and higher by dense forests and wild granite parapets, tasselled with fern and foxglove, till we suddenly wheel round upon a little straggling town marvellously placed.
Gerardmer "Sans Gerardmer et un peu Nancy, que serait la Lorraine?" says the proverb is resorted to, however, rather for its rusticity and beauty than for any curative properties of its sparkling waters. Also in some degree for the sake of urban distraction.
No wonder that as soon as the holidays begin there is a rush of French tourists across the Vosges. From Strasburg, Metz, St. Marie aux Mines, they flock to Gerardmer and other family resorts. And if some Frenchwoman maybe, sober matron dons the pretty Alsatian dress, and dances the Alsatian dance with an exile like herself, the enthusiasm is too great to be described.
Once arrived at Gerardmer, the traveller will certainly not care to hurry away. No site in the Vosges is better suited for excursionizing in all directions, and the place itself is full of quiet charm.
Remiremont is charming. We do not get the creature comforts of Gerardmer, but by way of compensation we find a softer and more genial climate. The engaging little town is indeed one of nature's sanatoriums. The streets are kept clean by swift rivulets, and all the air is fragrant with encircling fir-woods. Like Gerardmer and La Bresse, however, Remiremont lies open to the sun.
These socialities, giving as they do the amiable aspect of French character, will not perhaps constitute an extra charm of Gerardmer in the eyes of the more morose English tourist. After many hours spent in the open air most of us prefer the quiet of our own rooms. The country, too, is so fresh and delicious that we want nothing in the shape of social distraction.
Embroidery is also a special fabric of the Vosges, but its real wealth lies in mines of salt and iron, and mineral waters. One chief feature in Gerardmer is the congeries of handsome buildings bearing the inscription "Ecole Communale" and how stringently the new educational law is enforced throughout France may be gathered from the spectacle of schoolboys at drill.
Needless to add that people make themselves agreeable to each other without any introduction. For the time being at least distinctions are set aside, and fraternity is the order of the day. I do not aver that my country-people have never heard of Gerardmer, but certainly those who stray hither are few and far between.
One obtains the sense of contrast by slow degrees, so that the mind is prepared for it and in the mood for it. The acme, the culminating point of Vosges scenery is thus reached by a gradually ascending scale of beauty and grandeur from the moment we quit Gerardmer, till we stand on the loftiest summit of the Vosges chain, dominating the Schlucht.
The Vosges and Alsace-Lorraine must be taken together, as the tourist is constantly compelled to zigzag across the new frontier. Many of the most interesting points of departure for excursionizing in the Vosges lie in Alsace-Lorraine, while few travellers who have got so far as Gerardmer or St.
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