The Sepia Saturday theme for September, On the Street, made me go back and look at some unwritten old postcards from my great aunt Gerda's collection.
Readers who have been following me for a while probably remember Gerda - my grandmother's older half-sister, the travelling lady's maid. When World War I broke out, Gerda "got stuck" in France, where she spent the war years working for someone living in Lyon. I've not been able to establish whom. (In my imagination, a wealthy American woman who "got stuck" in France during the war as well - but I have no real evidence of that.) What I do know, from Gerda's postcards written to her brother Gustaf during the war years, is that they were also able to travel a bit now and then, in the eastern parts of France.
Dijon is situated north of Lyon, and they/Gerda could have travelled there by train. The last of the postcards below gives me an important clue as to when she actually bought that one, though: It can't have been until July 1918 at the earliest; and may not have been until on her way back home to Sweden in 1919, after the war was over...
I like how all these street photos also have people in them.
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| 34. DIJON - Rue de la Liberté |
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| 40. DIJON - La Caisse d'Epargne |
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| 3. DIJON - Place de la République et Monument Carnot |
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| 9. DIJON - Fontaine de la Jeunesse ('the fountain of youth') |
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| 27. DIJON - Eglise Saint-Pierre - Place du Président Wilson |
Linking to Sepia Saturday 688 - On the Street
A perfect street post - except with fewer people. :) Reminded me of when I was first married. I was used to working in busy places like San Francisco and Oakland where multiple crowds peopled the streets. When I married we moved north - almost to the border of Calif. with Oregon and the main town to shop in was Crescent City where I once told my mother in a letter if there were 3 people on the same side of the street with you, it was considered a crowd. Didn't take me long to get used to the quieter, less stressful way of life, though! :)
ReplyDeleteGail, I'm not a "big city" girl myself... I tend to avoid crowds when I can, or at least keep on the outskirts!
DeleteInteresting streetscapes from Gerda's collection. A shame nothing is written on them. Perhaps, in the absence of a camera, she wanted these for herself to remember the locations.
ReplyDeleteMolly, most of the (old) written cards that I have are those that were sent to Gerda's brother Gustaf. The unwritten ones are no doubt those that she kept as "souvenirs" for herself. Back in those days at least, I'm sure she did not have a camera of her own.
DeleteThese postcards were a perfect choice for our theme. I imagine Gerda would be pleased that you've displayed them for a good purpose since like most travelers, she probably bought multiple postcards at a time and then selected only a few to actually use. I bet there are millions of similar postcards of places in France, all different. Now whenever I acquire a new card with a street scene of a parade or a band playing, I immediately go to Google Maps and try to find the modern street view.
ReplyDeleteMike, I'm sure you're right about her usually buying multiple cards at a time, and then choosing some to send, and some to keep for herself. - I too have used Google Maps sometimes too to compare old views vs modern. Dijon was probably just a "tourist stop" for Gerda, though. She may even just have made a short stop there to change trains, travelling from Lyon to Paris.
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