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Blogs from Lorraine, France, Europe
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World War I - Verdun Battlefields and Cemetery
Published: August 5th 2012Europe » France » Lorraine » Verdun
July 28th 2012
Saturday, Day 12 We started the day in Verdun. We wanted to see the battlefields and then drive down to Reims, France. This is the location of one of the deadliest battles in World War I. It lasted more than 300 days in 1916. The battle was basically a stand off but Germany lost more men. In total more than 500,000 men died here. We drove around the battlefields and saw many of the original bunkers and trenches. There were also forts around the town that were captured, first by the Germans, then later recaptured by the French. The most moving part was the huge cemetery and memorial building in honor to those that died. In the basement of the memorial was a terrible scene. It housed thousands of bones of bodies that were never identified. ... read more
July 27th 2012
Friday, Day 11 After Jackie read this blog she said that she was surprised that I omitted one of the best things we have seen on the trip up to now. I completlely left out comments on Burg Eltz, the beautiful castle just above Cochem. So, I am issuing an edit on this day. After breakfast we headed for Burg Eltz, the castle that R. Steves claims is his favorite in all of Europe. This castle has been in tact for 700 years. It is not on the Mosel River but in a thick forest a few miles north. In my mind it is the ultimate, and maybe the first, condomium. It seems that the three families lived together inside and had separate lives. There was a meeting room where they met to work out issues ... read more
July 20th 2012
When people talk about the eastern part of France, territory long disputed with Germany called Alsace and Lorraine, you often hear about Strasburg which is a wonderful city. Christian's sister, however, lives in Nancy so it is here that we spent four lovely days in early June. We did some walking around and wanted to share some of the things we found. King Stanislaw (Stanislas in French) of Poland (1677 – 1766) was also the Duke of Lorraine and had an imposing castle in Nancy. It looks like he favored Versailles in the gilding of decorations here and in the style of the gardens of Luneville Castle where he died. My camera was over-exposing so the details are not as superb as in person, but you will get the idea. Another castle of the Dukes of ... read more
Art Nouveau, a Roman aqueduct, and a medieval cathedral: Nancy and Metz, France
Published: July 13th 2012Europe » France » Lorraine
July 7th 2012
We thoroughly enjoyed our tour through the northern border of France towards Belguim. The cities of Nancy and Metz make up a very interesting and diverse ensemble for the tourist. Nancy is home to Art Nouveau, and in the 60 km drive to Metz we found a 12th century church with WW 1 bombs suspended on its walls as a reminder of a close encounter, and drove under a Roman aqueduct. We also picnicked beside the Moselle River in true 'Miniscule' country. Nancy, the home of Art Nouveau, is a city designed by the Polish king in exile, Stanislaw, who was father-in-law of King Louis XV. He was apparently a popular ruler and the city benefitted from his planning. Place Stanislas is impressive, with its ensemble of 18th century public buildings designed for royal parades and ... read more
May 15th 2012
Lyons France, where the Wine goes down smoothly. Too smoothly, if you ask me. But let's be honest. It's no Jackson triggs shiraz, black edition. The scenery here is unbelievable. I'm sure some romantic movies were created here by just looking at the scenery. There I am... going soft in France's country side already. You guys judge though, the scale is one to finkles iPod (haha I'll stop picking on you einy) Haha jokes, Canadian jokes... I miss those. The P party is tonight. We're going as a "possy" of T's Why not get the most use out of these jerseys. Last night Bryce was the only guy needing to turn the light on when passing out. When asked why his response is in a broken Aussie accent "can't see shit" I'm not sure what he's ... read more
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September 4th 2011
Hallo allemaal, Een nieuw jaar, een nieuwe blog. Toch? Zoals jullie gewend zijn live vanuit San Francisco.... Met zijn tweetjes! Oh nee, toch niet.... Dit keer, is alles anders.... Dit keer zijn we met zijn drieeen. Ons allerliefste kereltje Jamey is er bij!!! En als we dan toch gek aan het doen zijn: Niet vanuit de USA, maar vanuit FRANKRIJK! Om toch nog een beetje bij de vertrouwde basis te blijven, hebben we er een soort van rondreis van gemaakt!!! . Geen FLAUW idee waar we ons in gestort hebben, maar we zien wel waar het schip strandt!!!! Onze vakantie is begonnen met een weekend centerparcs. In Frankrijk, dat dan weer wel! Het is een vrij nieuw, super bosrijk park. Uurtje ten oosten van Nancy. Afgelopen vrijdag met een familie auto (heb van auto gewisseld met ... read more
July 23rd 2011
My resources are one 14-kg backpack, one month and half, 800€ in the Pocket, and friends all over Europe. I will try to outline a vertical view of Europe by exploring its two cultural poles -the north (baltic and nordic countries; especially Estonia, Lettonia, Sweden and Finnland) & the south (Spain and South of France)- with Italy and Fance as transition countries. I would like to get a better understanding of the two different approaches of the individu to society while contextualising them in the respective historic past. Is there an antinomy between the individualistic societies of northern countries and the more social-oriented societies of the southern one? Are these differences irreductible? ... read more
July 22nd 2011
I apologise for my lack of blogging recently, but the internet situation is pretty bad. It's either too expensive for my budget or I've only had 15 minutes! I'll upload the photos when I get home. We arrived in Nancy and took a long bus ride to our hotel, which was situated in a lovely industrial estate that wasn't actually in Nancy. As we didn't have a kitchen we went and ate a croque monsieur in a small café in a supermarket. The next day we travelled into town and we went shopping as it was raining. I bought a bit too much, mostly clothes, and then we went to the botanical garden and followed the tourist train because it was slow enough for us to get a free tour :D In the evening we watched ... read more
June 14th 2011
The next day we started early again. We drove all the way to Verdun, to be more exact: To the battlefields of Verdun. We first visited the small museum, where we learned all about the war, well at least what we didn't know yet. After watching a small movie - which was very one-sided and not well made at all - in the museum cinema, we left the building and went to the real battlefield. We went underground to see a fort, where the soldiers stayed and where the longest and most devastating gas attack happened. The cold down there was very refreshing and you can get lost in the long and confusing alleys. It was a very wierd feeling to be down there, where there are only bats, and sometimes some visitors. After we came ... read more
June 13th 2011
We started our excursion to France very early and after driving through western Germany and Luxembourg, we crossed the French border. Our first stop was the city of Metz, in the Lorraine region. We had almost the whole day to discover this rather small, but very beautiful city. The first sight we visited was the Cathedral of Metz (Saint Etienne de Metz) from the 16th century. The inside is very impressive, but reminded us a lot of the Dom or Cathedral in Cologne as well. We continued from there and walked through the mayor part of the city, passing stores and houses. Finally we reached our destination: the main railway station (Gare de Metz-Ville). We went inside and passed the main hallway and visited the tracks as well. The station was build by the Germans and ... read more
