Hotel Les Colombes Verdun

Nice country drive throughout the Verdun region to the little village of Stenay, where there is a council platz with washing machines etc, in a picturesque setting next to a canal. The whole area is scattered with monuments to the Americans, and with a large cemetery. It seems as though no Frenchman would need to mouth off at the ...

... vines that produce the grapes look entirely different than the ones we are used to, a lot squatter. Instead of going out for dinner we bought 2 roast poulettes and salad and had a beaut meal at home washed down with champagne and Pepsi Max!! When we got back to the camper about 9 I decided that seeing as we still had at least an hour of daylight we would hit the A4 again towards Verdun and find a nice quieter Aires for the night , which we did about 50 k out

... it only had to surrender weeks after the German did occupy France and the armistice was signed. As a sign of respect the French crew of the "Fort De Fermont" was allowed to parade out of the fort with full military honours.we then returned to Etain for a fast change of clothes to head to my cousin jean-claude for diner. I will not bore you with the menu but a lot was homemade like fois gras etc...Etc...

... re fillet of beef etc...Etc I am just wondering if we ever going to eat again as we have been sitting down from lunch to dinner nearly every day since we have arrived. I suppose as we are not coming that often my family is really please to see us and extend their hospitality. I nearly forgot, as we were getting ready for dessert the kids helped with Patrice and Anne-Marie ...

... the Jewish and Muslims fighters on each side. Take a look at the windows and be surprise with piles of bones from the unidentified soldiers. Even today when a body is found in the field or forest and cannot be identified the remains are deposited at this sacred place. On the way home we did finally visit one of the WWI fort "fort de Vaux"

... when they sent millions of troops to different countries to blow each other up. We went to the top of the tower and there you could really see less then the third that died. There were so many but less then a third DIED. Outside we saw windows full of bones of the 130 000 unkown soldiers that died there. Today when they find bones they can't identifie they put them there.

... have stay in bed longer). Got a park and got out of the car park on the wrong side... that was it for the rest of the day, I was not to be trusted with directions anymore lol. We finally collected Alex; he did not look to bad considering the 36 hours flight and transit time he had to endure. We went back in the car ... back to Etain (yep another 3 hours on the road. Arrive back to base this afternoon where we just chilled for the rest of the day.

... Etain 20km from Verdun in the Meuse area. On arrival it was amazing... I did not think I left France so popular (lol).the last time I saw them all together was for my mum's funerals. We had a typical French lunch lasting for hours... more conversations than food (thanks god for that) it was a lot of fun to catch up with them all.

... entirely buried from the devastation and only found three years later when someone in the sector noticed rows of bayonets sticking up from the mud. The memorial stands but many of the bayonets have actually been stolen. After the trench we moved to the Ossuary. Imagine pulling up to a monument and seeing arrayed before it some 30 thousand crosses and markers for French troops killed at Verdun. Now, before that concept fully sinks in think now that the purpose ...

... for brekkie as you do when you are in France, then went driving. Before WW1 not far away from where we were, was part of Germany as the French had lost that part during the Franco Prussian War. Because of this, they built a whole series of forts around the area, and they believed that that part of France would one day come back to them. Eventually, as we all know, they did. Fort de Douamont is huge, and the French not having their heads screwed on ...