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Belgium, Lux, North France Travel Planning: Which Historic Site & Battlefields Would You See?
NA | 16 July 2015 | RACookPE1978

Posted on 07/17/2015 12:32:02 PM PDT by Robert A Cook PE

My daughter (A research librarian) and I are planning a 1 week north France-Belgium-Luxemburg trip later this fall to see the historic battlefields and "general sites" across the area. Would fly into Paris, go the the "usual" tourist sites there by tour bus, but then she wants to drive across the area looking at the area of the battlefields and sites across the region.

Over 2000 years since the Roman conquests, there are obviously hundreds - if not thousands - of interesting sites. Equally, we want to go to the more interesting architectural and battlefields just to "see" what each one really looks like: the Paris buildings, Mont St-Michel, Crecy, Agincourt for Medieval.

Waterloo (south of Brussels).

The trenches of Loos, Ypres at least. The Somme valley itself? Probably not enough time. Verdun is also too far to reasonably drive unfortunately.

Normandy (while over near St-Michel), Dieppe, Calais, Falais, the Eben-Emanual ruins, Bastogne, the Ardennes.

---

What else would you add? Which have you been to, and would recommend skipping?

I know the written histories of these from many different sources, and I know this can't be a very in-depth tour at any of the places, but we want to get to a realistic number of the sites.


TOPICS: History; Hobbies; Military/Veterans; Travel
KEYWORDS: belgium; france; historicaltravel; luxemburg
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To: Dr. Ursus

Yes, it is a must see. Just make sure you have your walking shoes on. My husband quit counting at 100 steps!


21 posted on 07/17/2015 1:32:04 PM PDT by KYGrandma (The sun shines bright on my old Kentucky home.....)
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To: Robert A. Cook, PE

Agincourt and Crecy.


22 posted on 07/17/2015 1:33:40 PM PDT by 17th Miss Regt
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To: Robert A. Cook, PE

I know you’re looking for a real answer, but these things popped in my head, and I could help myself...

Luxembourg.
The episode of M*A*S*H where they thought the Luxembourg soldier had died. What do you call them Luxembourgians? Does anyone know what their flag looks like?
While their playing the Luxembourg National Anthem and the “dead” soldier walks out of the hospital to salute his flag.
Radar: “He got better”.

Arthur (Dudley Moore)
It’sss a small country...They had the whole country carpeted..We’re talking small...


23 posted on 07/17/2015 1:34:17 PM PDT by rikkir (Anyone still believe the 8/08 Atlantic cover wasn't 100% accurate?)
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To: Robert A. Cook, PE
If you are in the vicinity of Chamery (due west of Paris) and have an interest, you can visit the original grave-site of 1st Lieutenant Quentin Roosevelt, youngest son of Teddy Roosevelt, who died in aerial combat on July 14th (Bastille Day) 1918. While his remains were reinterred at the US Cemetery at Colleville-sur-Mer to lie next to his eldest brother, BG Theodore "Ted" Roosevelt III, MoH, there is still a French Battlefield Monument marking the spot where his plane crashed and he was buried. The monument was restored by the Theodore Roosevelt Association in 2007 so it should be in good shape.

On the more artistic side in Paris, you might consider the Musée Rodin at the Hôtel Biron in central Paris. It has originals and copies of some of the most famous modern sculptures by Auguste Rodin (The Kiss & The Thinker) and is less crowded and more accessible than many of the more famous museums, i.e. sculptures in outdoor gardens.

24 posted on 07/17/2015 1:49:57 PM PDT by SES1066 (Quality, Speed or Economical - Any 2 of 3 except in government - 1 at best but never #3!)
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To: Robert A. Cook, PE

If you like old quaint towns with lots of water try Ghent in Belgium.


25 posted on 07/17/2015 2:20:40 PM PDT by Timocrat (Ingnorantia non excusat)
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To: Robert A. Cook, PE
The fortifications around Liege and Namur, and the Meuse valley battlefields tracing the 1914 invasion, through Charleroi and Mons; Flanders Field American Cemetery and Memorial (not very far west of Waterloo, IIRC); The German Right, seaside anchor for the long WWI front where it violently stabilized during and after "the race to the sea" starts at waters edge, north of Diksmuide, east of Dunkirk.

Frankly, that's just off the top of my head, and just one war. Their's Bastogne, of course, plus a whole lot more. I could spend half a year on the eastern frontier of Belgium just visiting the memorials for the Franco-Prussian War, around Metz and Sedan. Just tracing the movements of one French division over the first month of that war takes you to places where memorials for that war, WWI and WW2 are all cobbled together in the same half-mile.

And that overlapping goes back millennia... But, no doubt you already know that Belgium is a Battlefield.

26 posted on 07/17/2015 2:25:57 PM PDT by Prospero (Omnis caro fenum)
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To: Robert A. Cook, PE

Douaumont Ossuary and the Trench of Bayonets, both in Verdun. I can guarantee that images from both places will stay with you the rest of your life.


27 posted on 07/17/2015 2:31:16 PM PDT by 109ACS (If this be Treason, then make the most of it. Patrick Henry, May 1765)
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To: Peter W. Kessler
1. Cemetery at Colleville sur Mer; visit between 8:00-9:00 a.m. You may be lucky enough to be alone there. Bring Kleenex.

It was almost surreal as I went up to each Cross/Star of David and read the names I felt like I was having a conversation with the person, as if I knew them, although it happened well before I was even born. I tried to imagine what their life was like before the war, and how their last moments must have been like (keep in mind, most there were killed well after D-Day). You will be a changed person after going there.

28 posted on 07/17/2015 2:32:20 PM PDT by dfwgator
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To: Robert A. Cook, PE

I see only one response among the ones here about the Romans. The Roman sites I visited when I was serving in Germany were quite well-done for documentation and I expect the ones in France would be the same. The recommendations you’ve received are all great on the more recent sites but I wouldn’t want you to overlook a Roman site by running out of time.


29 posted on 07/17/2015 3:10:56 PM PDT by T-Bird45 (It feels like the seventies, and it shouldn't.)
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To: T-Bird45

>>I see only one response among the ones here about the Romans<<

Roman sites can be fantastic! But I have the impression that the really impressive Roman sites in France are mostly in the southern part of the country.

And I second all the recommendations about Normandy.


30 posted on 07/17/2015 3:39:09 PM PDT by Hawthorn
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To: 109ACS

I saw the Trench of the Bayonets and Fort du Vaux when I visited Verdun in 1966. When we got back to the parking lot, we saw a guy with a pile of 75 mm shells that he had apparently dug up.


31 posted on 07/17/2015 3:46:17 PM PDT by Fiji Hill
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To: Robert A. Cook, PE

In Luxembourg, go pay your respects at Patton’s grave. For that part of Germany, Trier to see the Roman structures.


32 posted on 07/17/2015 4:03:21 PM PDT by omega4412
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To: tet68

Great movie!


33 posted on 07/17/2015 4:06:04 PM PDT by TADSLOS (A Ted Cruz Happy Warrior! GO TED!)
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To: KYGrandma

Verdun!


34 posted on 07/17/2015 4:10:15 PM PDT by Forward the Light Brigade (Into the Jaws of H*ll Onward! Ride to the sound of the guns!)
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To: Robert A. Cook, PE

Get a tour of the Maginot line bunkers, they are hauntingly amazing.

Tour Anne Franks home in The Netherlands, not to far a drive. Remember this is what socialists want to do to us here.


35 posted on 07/17/2015 4:34:30 PM PDT by Caipirabob (Communists... Socialists... Democrats...Traitors... Who can tell the difference?)
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