26 July ’05, Tuesday.
What do you know about Verdun, France ? I would have been only to say that it is somewhere in the northern part of France… Well, I would have been right on that regard, (although if you had asked me that question a few months ago I would not have even had that right), but now that we had taken this morning to go on a tour of the “Lower Citadel”, I can tell you a little more. Can you imagine a conflict, no, a war, where over 700,000 men lose their lives in just 4 months, and to top that all off, neither the aggressor or the defender gained any strategic advantage over the other. Verdun is where that part of WWI took place. Our tour took place inside the Citadel. This Citadel, built by the Vauban’s in the 17th century as a logistical center for the military, was “honeycombed” with tunnels that seemed to go forever. It could house over 2,000 men and supply them with all their needs from cooking, medical, armament, and command posts. It also gave them their access to the trenches that they fought from. Our tour took us 6 at a time, through the tunnels on a small tram. It was really done well, with videos portrayed as if we were there at the time, and fixed displays of the mess and living areas to mention a couple. If it had a negative, it was that it was COLD as hell in there…about 7 degrees Celsius, but that also gave me a little “close time” with Louise. We continued our walk of Verdun by going into the town its self. Verdun sits on both sides of the Meuse River. It isn’t very large so we were able to walk it in no time at all. Fact is, this is the first time that we have seen physical evidence of fighting from WWI and WWII. There are a number of buildings that still have areas where bullets have hit the building and left the marks to show it. Seeing as how most of the shoppes close down from noon to 2, we went looking for lunch. I must say, Louise seems to always order the right foods…she ordered this chicken and corn salad, and it was fantastic. After lunch, we found the internet, so I was able to up-load and Louise was able to answer some emails that were over do. As we walked through town, we came upon a long water feature that came down from a tall monument at the top of the hill. The first look, it reminded me of a Aztec pyramid, but it was one more additional WWI monument to those who fought for Verdun. You might say, that I was a little taken with all that we saw. We also saw a wonderful cathedral. Most of the stained glass windows were from the 13th century. It is amazing to see the work that they could do then, spectacular. You know, it’s always good to get back to “Bumble Bee” after a day like this, because we have that little time where we sit outside, around the table and enjoy a well deserved glass of wine and a taste of cheese. Then of course, comes out the barbeque to complete the enjoyment with a great meal. You know, I’ve been going to mention this for quite awhile…(now that I think about it, I’ve already done it a time or two, but..), in this campground we have a mixture of travelers from all over Europe, but a group that stands out in numbers are those from The Netherlands… If we were to take a count tonight, I would lay you odds that about 80% are Dutch…THEY ARE THE TRAVELERS and we have seen them in every country we have been in!!! Tomorrow, we pull up again and this time we are heading up to Luxemburg for a day or two
What do you know about Verdun, France ? I would have been only to say that it is somewhere in the northern part of France… Well, I would have been right on that regard, (although if you had asked me that question a few months ago I would not have even had that right), but now that we had taken this morning to go on a tour of the “Lower Citadel”, I can tell you a little more. Can you imagine a conflict, no, a war, where over 700,000 men lose their lives in just 4 months, and to top that all off, neither the aggressor or the defender gained any strategic advantage over the other. Verdun is where that part of WWI took place. Our tour took place inside the Citadel. This Citadel, built by the Vauban’s in the 17th century as a logistical center for the military, was “honeycombed” with tunnels that seemed to go forever. It could house over 2,000 men and supply them with all their needs from cooking, medical, armament, and command posts. It also gave them their access to the trenches that they fought from. Our tour took us 6 at a time, through the tunnels on a small tram. It was really done well, with videos portrayed as if we were there at the time, and fixed displays of the mess and living areas to mention a couple. If it had a negative, it was that it was COLD as hell in there…about 7 degrees Celsius, but that also gave me a little “close time” with Louise. We continued our walk of Verdun by going into the town its self. Verdun sits on both sides of the Meuse River. It isn’t very large so we were able to walk it in no time at all. Fact is, this is the first time that we have seen physical evidence of fighting from WWI and WWII. There are a number of buildings that still have areas where bullets have hit the building and left the marks to show it. Seeing as how most of the shoppes close down from noon to 2, we went looking for lunch. I must say, Louise seems to always order the right foods…she ordered this chicken and corn salad, and it was fantastic. After lunch, we found the internet, so I was able to up-load and Louise was able to answer some emails that were over do. As we walked through town, we came upon a long water feature that came down from a tall monument at the top of the hill. The first look, it reminded me of a Aztec pyramid, but it was one more additional WWI monument to those who fought for Verdun. You might say, that I was a little taken with all that we saw. We also saw a wonderful cathedral. Most of the stained glass windows were from the 13th century. It is amazing to see the work that they could do then, spectacular. You know, it’s always good to get back to “Bumble Bee” after a day like this, because we have that little time where we sit outside, around the table and enjoy a well deserved glass of wine and a taste of cheese. Then of course, comes out the barbeque to complete the enjoyment with a great meal. You know, I’ve been going to mention this for quite awhile…(now that I think about it, I’ve already done it a time or two, but..), in this campground we have a mixture of travelers from all over Europe, but a group that stands out in numbers are those from The Netherlands… If we were to take a count tonight, I would lay you odds that about 80% are Dutch…THEY ARE THE TRAVELERS and we have seen them in every country we have been in!!! Tomorrow, we pull up again and this time we are heading up to Luxemburg for a day or two