Hotel Montaulbain Verdun

... but then we aren't Japanese down under!! It was a bit like WW3 had started for a couple of hours in the pm with several fighter jets and helicopters doing maneuvers above us, just like a free air show. Don't know if we are near an air base or a manufacturing facility, the locals didn't seem to take any notice but for me interesting!!

Number One Son drove today all around the quaint villages of the champagne district. The tastings are not free, at least 5E each and there are hundreds of cellars, but the ladies managed to restrain themselves to just two samplings!! Apparently the champagne tasted good a few bottles were purchased and we ended up at Epernay which has the Avenue de Champagne. Local produce was bought for lunch which included some powerful smelling cheese that tasted good ...

Today after some home work by the kids we leave the house and head for Verdun and as usual it is raining so the tour of the city will be very fast ... a quick bite to eat and for a change of war and we are visiting some fortification from the "Maginot ligne" which is a piece of work dating from WWII it was never taken even after being pounded for days by German 88, 105 and 150 with countless direct hits ...

... husband Michel decided to let go some fire works... it went fantastic for the first 10min, until Michel thought it was getting to loud (lol) Patrice of course was making sure he was letting go the biggest one and Michel repeatedly yelled "no more bang, no more bang" when suddenly we heard Patrice said " too late" he had just lit one as big as a dynamite stick. What a laugh.

Now the real site seeing starts, so far it was more of a break for me than for the family, we all got up bright and early to go and do some sightseeing of the 1st world war starting with the "Memorial of Verdun" this place is amazing no matter how many times I have seen it, it always brings me goose pimples. I then took every one to ...

So far the weather has been pretty average for Europe... even in spring where it should be much nicer and warmer than what we have now. Unfortunately this morning we have to get up at 0545am to go gat Alex at Frankfurt airport and is raining like the proverbial deluge. So here we go for the next 3 hours in the pouring rain ... too bad as I really love the autobahn. On arrival we are told that the flight from London will be around 45 late (damn we ...

Got up this morning a little late as we were supposed to do breakfast with Manu and Isabelle but as we have a big "Bauchet family reunion at lunch we do not have the time so... sincere apologies to everyone I may have offended but we only have a limited time. So here we go on the road again for the next hour and half to a little place ...

Once we were on the road to Paris, and Attila was trying to put on a brave face and pretend he wasn't sick. I managed to see the Museum and Ossuary at the Battlefields of Verdun before Attila informed me that his symptoms were getting worse and he felt we should see a doctor. I punched "Hospital" into our GPS and found directions to the Hopital in Verdun. Now THAT was a true test of my French skills! None of the staff in the ER spoke English (other than "hot ...

... the Ossuary is to hold the unidentified remains of more than 130,000 more dead French troops. The carnage that happened at Verdun is beyond sobering. We watched a short film in a small theatre in the ossuary then peeked in the windows at the base of the building to see the bones of the dead stacked according to the sector they were found on the battlefield. After that we drove to the Verdun Memorial and looked at the displays and walked through some of the ...

... most of their big guns and men. The Germans just walked in and took it !!! They say that there are over 10 K's of tunnels built into the hillside, they have opened up around 1 of them. There were a couple of memorials for the dead inside. We walked around the top and there were little turrets that looked like little mushrooms everywhere. We ran around before we drove on. As we drove, we came across loads of trenches that were better preserved than ...