In the trenches at Massiges

The highlight, and one of the inspirations for this trip was a visit to the trenches of Massiges.  These trenches have been recently been reconstructed to resemble the trenches during World War 1.  It is still a work in progress.  Signs indicated it was not up to safety standards for public visits...though I doubt it met safety standards in 1914 either.

Côte 304-Hill 304

Hill 304 was the site of one of the bloodiest and longest lasting battles of WW1.

Like most of these battlefields, the trees were gone during the battles.  

You can see how the trees have grown back in the trenches.

The artillery fire was so fierce that the top of the hill was lowered by 4 meters- a little over 13 feet.

The latest battle fought there was between Anne and Jean-Loup-Who found this ladder?

Varennes-en-Argonne

A short detour to the French Revolution.  We stopped where Louis XVI was captured while trying to flee to Austrian controlled Belgium.  He had been recognized the night before by a shopkeeper in Sainte-Menehould, who recognized the King's face from the coins. The king should have kept a lower profile.

Fast forwarding back to WW1-Varennes-en-Argonne was later left in ruins after WW1.  There is a memorial there built by the State of Pennsylvania honoring those Pennsylvanian volunteers serving during WW1.

Abri du Kronprinz

Prior to and probably during the battle for Verdun in WW1,  Kronprinz Wilhelm used these bunkers to help plan their attack.



They lived here and were able to see or easily access the potential battlefields.












The kids had a lot of fun exploring these hobbit homes.

Episcopal Palace and the Cathedral of Verdun

We started our last day in Verdun with a visit to the  Bishop's palace.

Inside people were just beginning to arrive for work.  

Today it serves to promote peace in the world.

This is the second time we've found pieces of the Berlin wall.  The others were in Fulton, Missouri. I think this might be a part of the worlds biggest jigsaw puzzle.  

Tranchée des Baionnettes and L'ossuaire de Douaumont

Bayonet trenches

After the battle this site was discovered with only the bayonets and rifles sticking out of the earth.  When they excavated the rifles, a body was found beneath the each rifle.  What happened here will never be known.  An American benefactor Mr. Rand had the monument built over the trench...






...with a small cross marking the location of each of the unknown soldiers found in the trench.

The Ossuary 

Inside this building is housed a cinema like no other in the world. Located behind the walls of the cinema are the bones of the unknown combatants of the battle of Verdun in WW1.

T

I got my workout for the day... 
The kids started climbing to the top of this tower instead of looking at the museum exhibits. I had to climb the stairs two at a time to catch them, since they were having a bit too much fun...there were signs saying to respect the silence...they weren't.

Though mostly crosses, there are also gravestones for the muslims that fought in the war as well.

The destroyed Village of Douaumont

This small chapelle was built where an entire village used to stand.  Duoaumont was completely destroyed along with 12 other villages in the Verdun region.

They have placed markers all along the roads to indicate where each building had been located.  

Fort Vaux and Douaumont

Our first stop after lunch was Fort Vaux.  Fort Vaux was the second fort to fall during WW1.  Walking through the tight underground corridors it is hard to imagine how the soldiers stationed there and fighting must have felt.  This is not a place for claustrophobes.


Fort Vaux


Not even 1 km away from Fort Vaux, we moved forward to 1942 to WW2.

WW2 mass grave of resistance fighters

They were executed by the Gestapo a few months after Bain-de-Bretagne had been liberated in 1944.

           

We then returned back to WW1.  The second fort we visited was Fort Douaumont.  This fort, though larger than Fort Vaux, was not heavily defended and fell rather quickly after being attacked.
Both of these visits were quite interesting as you walk around following a guided tour with an i-Pod explaining the different events, locations in the fort.

*click on the yellow links to find a Wikipedia article about the history of the fort.

Fort Douaumont

A quiet picnic on the banks of the Meuse

We had lunch before proceeding to the next historical site.

It was a nice quiet park, with several ducks and fish in the water to keep the kids entertained.  I did manage to stop the kids from exploring long enough to take a few portraits.

What are you suggesting?

The Subterrainean Citadel of Verdun

Entrance to Verdun across the street from the tourist bureau.

Our first stop after the tourist bureau was the Citadel.  Verdun in the east of France has been on the front line of conflicts throughout the centuries.  The Citadel began construction in the 1687.  It along with a series of locks that could flood the fields around the town helped protect the town from invasion.  It was also used during World War 1 as a command center and shelter from the German invasion.

55 at 55

I turned 55 this year.  That's an interesting number.  I began my driving career under the auspices of the gas-saving 55mph speed limit in the late 70s and through the 80s. I remember thinking I'd never be able to drive faster than 55 (legally). Luckily(?) that speed limit has been relegated to a part of American history.
2014 is an interesting year.  100 years ago WW1 started. To commemorate this we decided to have a historical holiday this year and visit some of the sites of the Great War.  This was taking a step into the past. To better appreciate the history we opted to take the backroads and avoid the faster highways allowing us to travel through the  different towns and villages at a pace a bit more appropriate for the epochs we were stepping back to. The speed limit on these roads are limited to 90kph, or around 55mph. 55 at 55-stepping back in my history as a first step to discovering a further past.
Our holiday began with a side trip to Paris and the Orly airport to take our intrepid traveller, Elise to her flight for Guadeloupe. Of course air travel, with all of the restrictions and early arrivals for check-ins always seems a bit stressful.

Getting behind this boat being towed didn't help the stress level.  There was no passing, and the cars and trucks coming from the other direction were obliged to get off of the road to let this behemoth pass.
Did I mention it rained all the way to Paris?

We managed to finally lose Noah's Ark at a roundabout and managed to arrive at the Orly airport on time.  Waking up Elise to find out which terminal she needed, she had no idea. She passed her documents up to her mom to figure out which one she needed, only to discover that her flight took off from Charles de Gaulle in the Northern part of Paris...yikes!  It might have been nice to have that information before leaving Bain-de-Bretagne.  Somehow this was our fault.  A panicked trip to CDG fighting the rain and the requisite Paris traffic allowed us to arrive just in time to stand in line waiting to check-in for her flight.  Thank goodness they told us to arrive 3 hours prior to her flight time and she had actually shared that information with us.

Finally heading in the direction of Verdun, we managed to  get terribly turned around trying to avoid the traffic jams.  Our GPS and paper maps, though historically accurate for 5 years ago, did little to help us navigate the newly constructed roundabouts and roads. Finally escaping Paris, we were on the road to Verdun.  I started to get a little worried about our planned itinerary. It seemed that Anne wanted to plan to see every historical site we passed on the way there. We finally arrived in Verdun around 9pm tired and happy to have beds waiting for us there.
We stayed at the Formule 1. If you think of it as camping, while sleeping in a real bed, you'll have an idea of what kind of hotel it is.

Let's get this party started!

The next morning our historical tour began in earnest.

Summer Walks

Another nice thing about summer, is we often go on walks...more so than during the school year.  Always something new to see, or see in a different light.  Here are some photos from last nights escapade, kid shots and artsy-fartsy shots.

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Get your own

The Tale of Two Evening Walks

And so begins our walk.

One of the things I like about living at this latitude are our summer nights. The sun stays out until after 10 pm.   It reminds me of the summer nights in Canada or Schleswig-Holstein.*  

As Jean-Loup, Anne and I walked to cool off from the warm day we'd had (84°F), we were reminded of a similar walk we took back in Missouri a few years ago...

  

 Only sailboats and paddle craft 

In Missouri motorboats buzzed around in the background like mosquitos searching for their prey. The noise was so loud I almost didn't hear the scuffling noises coming from the woodpile.  I was surprised to see an armadillo digging around.  

Tonight, a loud motorized noise broke the voices drifting across the lake and the laughter of children playing. I looked out on the lake, half expecting to see a huge motor boat go flying by-nope- just a car in bad need of a new muffler.  My reaction must have been a Lake of the Ozark reflex I guess. 

Sprinklers on the soccer field.

In Missouri we left the cool air-conditioning to get some fresh air only to arrive home soaked with sweat and more exhausted than when we'd begun.  The heat from the day just doesn't dissipate like it does here.

Even before sun starts touching the horizon, the temperatures start dropping quickly around here. The cool lake breezes had been refreshing, but the walk back home is all uphill, like it was in Missouri.  Arriving home we were sweating again, but not soaked to the skin like we were in Missouri.  In both places the sunsets were colorful and enjoyable to watch as we walked. 

 Tonight we arrived home at nearly 11pm, the sun had finally dipped below the horizon.  It's dim glow guiding us home. 

 * We shouldn't have the same sunset time as Canada or Schleswig-Holstein, since our latitude is much further south.  However, our longitude is the same as the U.K., and our time zone is with continental Europe thus giving us an extra hour of daylight this time of year. 

  

Date Night

How did this happen? How can I be here at D’el Arte  wearing a suit and tie with my beautiful wife?   The day hadn’t been planned to end with a date night.  Then it all dawned on me.  I’d been set up.  Duped, so to say, into this unlikely event, a date night.  Her plan was so clever and deceptive as to escape detection until the last card had been played.

 

Oh, my wife is clever.  When exactly did the deception begin?  Was it the party which lasted until 3am the night before? Was it at the invitation to the wedding three weeks ago?  How far back could it possibly go.  When was this seed planted in my wife’s brain to have a date night with me all dressed up and formal?

So many twists and turns-she played her cards well, I never suspected while sitting in the pews next to my wife that when she leaned forward with a pained expression on her face that the evening would end at D’el Arte.  Nor when her condition appeared to worsen and I decided to go get the car to take her to the doctor’s office, nor when I returned to find her lying on the cold hard stone floor of the church could I have ever imagined we would be enjoying a quiet evening together sharing entrees and desserts.  Nor could I have conceived after having multiple people help calling the ambulance, which never came, or the friends who called my in-laws to come take care of the kids, that we would be eating a wonderful pizza by the end of the evening.  No, none of these things would have prepared me for the relief I would feel after waiting 4 hours in the emergency room that her pains were probably only intercostal muscle pains and the test for something more serious were all negative.

Honestly dear, next time you want to go out for a date night just ask me.  I’ll say yes.