Hotel Restaurant Le Quai 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

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 ...

... 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"

... 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.

... a large place but the people are super friendly, we got ourselves another really nice room for a great price. After dumping our gear we took a stroll around the town, bisected by the Meuse River, and had a tasty meal at one of the quai side restaurants. There are a handful of huge monuments to the war, photos were taken. The next day we headed first to the citadel, a stronghold of the French army in the town itself. Most of the battle actually took place about ...

... talking. Maybe they didnt like my shorts, pink cheeks or wooly hat. Or maybe they just thought I was a freak. I drank a couple of hot chocolates while the owner fed his tropical fish and mended a broken telly. Arriving in Verdun not expecting much, I realised the Rough Guide had got it wrong. There was a nice waterfront, the sun came out, and the man at the E35 per ...

... and French, sat down and started talking. On the 11th of the 11th, armistace came. The railway carriage where the documents were signed, went on a tour of France before returning to Compiegne. It sat in a shed for a few years, then on the 22nd of June 1940, Adolf Hitler brought the French here, and using the same carriage, the French signed France over to Germany. He then packed up the carriage and took it back with him to Berlin. It sat there until ...