Secret Itineraries & Underground dungeon crawling

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Ben said for today's adventure we needed to wear old clothes, so I got dressed in Ben's old pants, Lorraine's old T-shirt, jacket and shoes and off Ben and I went to this secret surprise Ben had waiting for me. The girls wanted to stay at home with Lorraine and I felt a bit relieved as I wasn't too sure just how safe this surprise was that Ben had in store for me. The roads were horribly slippery and many times the old car skidded in the ice. It was pretty scary!! We finally reached our destination in a restricted army area. STRICTLY NO ENTRY!!! so we parked in the woods and walked! We then reached this huge fortification. Now I was excited but also a bit scared as I did not know what to expect. It was after all in a restricted army area - 'restricted' because it was too dangerous to go inside and here we were attempting to go inside the fort. I was scared and I was excited.
We reached a little opening in the wall that Ben wanted me to crawl through first, but I was too scared so I insisted that Ben go in first. Ben said he needed to boost me up as I was too short which is why he wanted me to go first, but no ways was I going in first!!! I was claustrophobic and besides I did not know what was inside here!!!
So in crawls Ben and when he gets to the other side, he shows me that it is not only crawl space, there is enough room to stand upright. That makes me a little less scared, so I try to jump up and crawl in, but I just can't do it, so now Ben has to come back out to help boost me in. Then I get stuck halfway cos I don't know how to wriggle my body through and I say to Ben let's just go back cos I can't do it and I'm really scared. He says No just keep trying. I eventually get it and I'm inside the fort.
Big SIGH! Inside is not as scary as it looked from the outside. It was big and spacious - not as I imagined, but very dark and the ice made it very slippery, but it was fantastic to be experiencing this for real and not just going through a museum. This fort exploration for me was the highlight of our Euro trip and I thank Benjamin Agostini for making this possible and I thank couchsurfing because if it was not for CS, I would not have gone to Verdun - and even if I had, by some remote chance, had Verdun on my itinerary, I would not have had the opportunity to explore firsthand a real WW1 fortification. I would have probably just gone to the musuem and if that was closed just left Verdun without ever knowing what it felt like being a soldier hiding in a fortification in WW1. THIS WAS TOO AWESUUUMM!!!

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Photos

the moat around the fort
Ben's surprise, fort exploration...AWESUM!!

Ben crawling thru the tiny space to
get inside the restricted fort

Now me
I finally made it

Once inside
we could stand upright Thank God!!!

The first thing I saw inside the fort
was this thing that they launched canons from

Creeping, crawling, slipping, sliding...
I'm loving it!!!

Going deeper and deeper into the dark underground
For me this fort exploration was the highlight of our Eurotrip

In the darkness
we found...

if we climbed up here
we would be in the area where the cannon was fired from

If I climbed up those stairs on the inside
I would have been here, but it was closed now

Ben insisted I get a pic with the bat
Look at my face..I was not happy:(

I did not look very gracious crawling
out of the fort, but

I could just be myself with Ben..
he was so uncomplicated

Another entrance into the fort
but not a very safe one

I loved every minute of this fort exploration
Thank you Ben!!!