Provence countryside
April 1943: Train, Toulouse to Valence (Drôme)
Continuing foodless train ride through splendid sunny Provence.


We continued our foodless journey through the lovely countryside of Southern France. With gnawing starvation eating at my stomach, I had by now convinced myself that our escort had, for his part, eaten a delicious meal and slept in a cozy bed.

It was fortunate that he disappeared for good at the Valence Rail Station because I had begun to hate this chap.

A lady whom we came to know as Madame Sabatier took us in tow.

She "parked" the four of us in a hotel room with a wartime Camembert cheese for supper.

Starved as we were, we could not bring ourselves to eat this vile-smelling thing, so different from what we were used to, and left it under the mattress.