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HERBESTHAL. 31, Route. 209
17 ft. thick at the bottom and 770 ft. long at the top, couches a colossal lion,
MA ft. in height, constructed of blocks of sandstone. The lake or reservoir
covers an area of about 200 acres (Lake Vyrnwy in Wales ca. 1100 acres).
The train now ascends the deep valley of the Vesdre. At (24 M.)
Welkenraedt (840 ft.), on the line from Bleyberg (p. 274) to Aix-la-
Chapelle, we leave the country of the Walloons (p. xvi) and enter
a German-speaking district.
251/) M. Herbesthal (*Railway Restaurant), the first Prussian
station, is the junction for Eupen (H6tel Reinartz) and Raeren (St.
Vith-Malmedy, see p. 263). The custom-house formalities usually
cause alongthy detention for trains from Belgium. — Beyond (28 M.)
Astenet the train crosses the Gdhl Valley by a viaduct 690 ft. long
and 4125 ft. high. 30M. Hergenrath, the German station for the
neutral district of Moresnet (p. 274). 33 M. Ronheide.
35 M. Aix-la-Chapelle (see Baedeker’s Rhine). Thence to Maas-
tricht, see R. 15; to Cologne, Diisseldorf, etc., see Baedeker’s Rhine.
32. From Pepinster to Trois-Ponts (Luzembourg).
Spa.
2531/2 M. Rarnway in 11/4-41/2 hr. (fares 4 fr., 2 fr. 70, 1 fr. 5d c.); to
(D/2M ) Spa (fares 1 fr. 20, 80, 50c.); to AM/2 M.) Luxembourg in 2-31/4 hrs.
(fares 7 fr. 80, 5 fr. 60, 3 fr. 90c.). Passengers coming from Liege usually
have to change carriages at Pepinster.
Pepinster, see p. 273. The wooded valley of the Hoégne, which
the railway ascends, is enlivened by a succession of country-houses,
gardens, and manufactories. From the bridge at (13/, M.) Juslen-
ville we have a pretty view of the chateau, park, rocks, and high-
lying church of that name. — 21/p M. Theus (587 ft.), with several
cloth-factories and iron-works. — 3!/) M. Franchimont. To the left
above the station are the considerable remains of the ruined castle
of Franchimont, the seat of the margraves of Franchimont down to
1048 and destroyed in 1487 and 1794 (key kept in the village of
Marché de Theux, to the left, opposite the Lazarist convent). The
last proprietor is said to have been a robber-knight, who possessed
vast treasures buried in the vaults beneath his castle, where they
remain concealed to this day. The tradition is gracefully recorded
by Sir Walter Scott in his lines on the Towers of Franchimont, —
‘Which, like an eagle’s nest in air,
Hang o’er the stream and hamlet fair.
Deep in their vaults, the peasants say,
A mighty treasure buried lay,
Amass’d through rapine and through wrong
By the last Jord of Franchimont’.
Aboye Theux the Hoégne describes a wide curve towards the
E., and the train enters the valley of the Wayai (which debouches
here) and ascends its winding course. — § M. La Reid; the village
is on the hill, 2 M. to the right (comp. p. 279), Farther on, also to
the right, lies (6 M.) Marteau (p. 278). |