The Meier's German Adventure

This is inside the memorial that pays homage to the soldiers of the Bayonet Trench who were buried alive under enemy shelling. At least that is how the story goes... The story dates back to 1919 when a French Colonel returned to where his unit fought back in 1916. He noticed rifles sticking out of the ground, some of which still had their bayonets intact. There are 9 wooden crosses here marking where the soldiers are buried.

: From the museum we rode over to another memorial. This one was pretty different.

Inside, the first floor has two fighter planes and it retraces the history of the Battle of Verdun. The ground floor features a real-life reconstitution of the battlefield, with trenches, shell holes, barbed wire and lots of equipment.

From the Fort we drove over to the Verdun Memorial. It keeps the memory alive for both France and Germany, and above all serves as a museum of reconciliation.

This picture gives you a better idea of the current landscape. It was just unbelievable.

Following the fall of Fort Douaumont (pictured later), Ft. de Vaux became the next target and for 2 months it resisted a DAILY onslaught of eight thousand shells. But overcome with thirst - they had not had a drop to drink for 2 days, Major Raynal and his men surrendered to the enemy on 7 June 1916. It might be hard to see in the picture but the land is still full of craters from the months of shelling.

This morning we left the hotel bright and early to go visit the battlefields of Verdun. During World War II, the French were defending Verdun against the Germans, (genau). It became the sight for a long and furious battle. Although the Battle of Verdun began in February 1916, the region entered the conflict in 1914. The first fort that we visited (originally there were 19 forts)was Fort de Vaux. In the picture you can see the remains of 75mm gun turrets that the kids are climbing on.

After spending about about 1 1/2 hours at the cemetery, we drove into the city of Verdun and checked into our hotel, Le Saint-Paul Hotel. Then it was off to dinner at Le Clapier. There were 23 of us in the group so we took all the tables in a little restaurant within walking distance of the hotel. The food was great and of course, very French.

Everytime we visit one of these cemeteries it brings us to tears.

There are three Medal of Honor recipients buried here. There are also 26 sets of brothers buried side by side.

There are 151 unknown soldiers buried here. On the wall of the missing are listed the names of 444 soldiers who sleep in unknown graves.

This is the Lorraine American Military Cemetery near St. Avold, France. Buried here are 10,489 Americans from every state in the Union, that gave their lives during World War II. It is the largest American cemetery of World War II in Europe. Most of those that rest here gave their lives during the advance to the Rhine and the advance across Germany in the spring of 1945.

Today, the kids and I followed a group that Scott rides with, the American Legion Riders Group, for a weekend trip to Verdun, France. After the group was ready, our first destination was the American Military Cemetery of Lorraine, France.

We all had a big fun today at Legoland, Deutschland!

Legos of all different sizes made up all the decorations throughout the park. We also went on a small factory tour that showed how the Legos are made. Then Jake noticed some adults building with Legos in the factory - and realized that they get paid to play with Legos! I think a light bulb went on today...

This is just as we got on the Lego Extreme Racers rollercoaster - fun ride!

Here is the Lego version of Neuschwanstein Castle in the Alps!

Legoland is a really fun park. The rides were really cool! And they have this part of the park with places of the world created with Legos - AWESOME! Scott and Kaitlyn are standing next to St. Mark's, Venice.

Last night we had a nice dinner at a little Swabisch restaurant near our hotel in Ulm. Today, we got up and headed to our next destination - LEGOLAND!! As we were pulling off the Autobahn and seeing signs - Jake's face lit up!