By
Bartleby (Sat Mar 03, 2007 at 08:22:50 AM EST)
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About half-way between Frankfurt and Cologne, on the Rhine, there is the
city of
Koblenz. Castellum apud
Confluentes, the place where the rivers Rhine and Mosel meet. In 1812,
Coblence was a garrison town on the eastern border of Napoleon's empire.
Near the triangular wedge of land between the rivers, a short walk up the
Mosel side, you'll find yourself on the square in front of St. Castor
basilica. On the square there is a fountain, erected in 1812, that
looks like a monument's pedestal whose statue has gone missing. It has two
inscriptions in French. In the original one from 1812, the French commander
of the city honours the victorious march of the glorious Grande Armée into
Russia. The second inscription was added by his successor St. Priest in 1814: "Seen and approved by us,
Russian commander of the city of Koblenz".
This story is not connected in any way to the content of this diary.
Inside: Pynchon, Pelevin, König,
myrmeleontidae.
(11 comments, 1446 words in story)
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