Verdun and Douaumont; World War I sites

We’d hopped a train to Meuse, France and then a bus to Verdun. Verdun is the site of World War I action that Lucian studied about in school. The fighting occurred in the hills outside of Verdon and around the town of Douaumont.  We thought we’d visit one battlefield one day and the other the 2^nd day.

We called a taxi and had the driver take us to Fort Douaumont, the furthest point from our hotel, and requested that she pick us up at the Ossuary at 2:30pm. We thought that it would be plenty of time. Well, it wasn’t until 4pm that we were ready to be picked up.

The fort is an underground structure built into a hill; 2 floors high. The fort was hit by armaments several times, causing many deaths inside. One explosion, inside the fort, which has not been explained, killed several hundred soldiers.

The fort is eerie inside, echoing, cold and wet. It is difficult to know how the soldiers survived. The sounds of artillery must have echoed so loud, especially the explosion that occurred inside the fort.

The Ossuary is a memorial to the soldiers who died. A room along the bottom is filled with bones of soldiers, stacked from floor to ceiling, collected from the fields or dug up by farmers. It is said that over 1 million people were killed.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Verdun

The forest has regrown with trees planted over 100 years ago. The trenches, for the most part, are filled in with mud, and grass. Ammunitions are still in the ground so whole areas are closed off. But mostly the trenches cannot be accessed because there is such thick brush.

We found one trail and I went to where it dead ended above a trench. Lucian went down another trail and we followed, walking along trenches until we reached the trench area filled in with mud, plants and live ammunition. But it was strange walking where so many soldiers fought and died so many years ago, and for so little reason.

We went thru the Memorial at Verdon where we saw many items from the war and films from the era. What was sad was the propaganda that people believed about their own country and distrust of other people led to so many deaths and so much destruction. And, unfortunately, it happens over and over again.

 

Grandkid Trip 2, Germany to Start

And now for Grandkids Trip #2. For this trip we are taking our middle boy’s oldest son to Germany, France, Switzerland, Austria, and more Germany.

The trip started out with just Germany and Austria, but then he asked if we could visit some battlefields which happen to be in France. Our son thought that CERN would be interesting so we added Geneva.

As it turns out this trip to Europe is totally different than any others we have taken. Lucian was studying world history and asked if we could see some of the sites. We have never bothered ourselves with the World Wars and the impact they had on Europe, or the sufferings of Jews (gays and women with mouths that call these guys out) and all of the other outcasts. Now with all of the hate that is going on in the US these issues are becoming relevant.

Our trip started, on Monday. I had reserved a flight for all of us to fly from CA on Wed, with a flight for us to fly from Vancouver to LAX on Tues afternoon. I thought there would be plenty of time to get from the ferry to the airport on Tues, but after 2 ferries in a row being late, I was not so sure. We decided to take the ferry to Vancouver on Mon, stay in a hotel, fly Tues to LA then from LA to Germany on Wed. Justin met us with Lucian on Tues.

Wed morning was like the usual morning of flying to an international destination. Lucian hasn’t been so far so this was a little new for him.

First stop in Europe was Frankfurt. We have flown in and of Frankfurt several times but have never stayed over so really didn’t know anything about it. I’m a bit surprised at ourselves for ignoring Frankfurt!

Our flight was super late into Frankfurt so we dropped our bags in our room and went out walking, I was starving.

Dale and I decided to go the right on the main street from the hotel and after walking thru green spaces found the Opera House. The restaurants just outside of the Opera House were way too fancy for the likes of us. Then, we by chance wandered down a side street, later learned that it was eat row or something like that. Rows of outdoor restaurants. We stopped at a little market/restaurant and found that nearly everything was gluten free. The owner told us that we should have the frankfurters, after all we were in Frankfurt. Sounded reasonable and tasted fabulous.

After an early night to bed, we had breakfast then got ready to do the Rick Steves city walk to orient ourselves. We bypassed the Junkies and the Red-Light areas, as we were not ready to encounter that.

It was fun, ducking into churches, watching, and listening to the local street performers play Vivaldi on accordions or dance and do acrobatics on the street. Those are experiences that just don’t happen everywhere.

We went looking for dinner as recommended by Rick Steves but the restaurant was closed for remodeling. We then asked some locals for a place without tourists, who recommended a restaurant that mostly locals eat at. And it was, we were the only ones who seemed to be from another planet.

After a dinner of sausages, sauerkraut and potato salad we were tired and happy.

Last Day; London

 One last day for this trip, before flying back to the states, and what a wonderful trip it has been.

I’d tried to get tickets for Harry Potter but couldn’t so we planned the next best thing, High Tea at Kensington Palace. Both boys love High Tea and where better than at a real palace.

It was Bank Day so everyone was out and about!

We started out by walking to Buckingham Palace so the boys could see where the king lives (or is supposed to live) and where the queen lived. We didn’t see the changing of the guard, nor did King Charles come out to wave at us, but we did walk along the bicycle race where people were riding for a cause. I’ve already forgotten the cause, but lots of people were riding on all sorts of bikes and even scooters, some with boom boxes and some with racing bikes.

The boys had more fun climbing the sculpture of Queen Victoria, along with lots of other people, and they did achieve their goal of climbing in the boat.

We then walked to Hamley’s, a 5-story toy store, with every toy possible. They have various toy demonstrations going on so there is lots of stuff, lots of action, lots of buzz. The boys got caught up with the remote-control cars. We didn’t even really get to see everything on the top floor but just as well, as we got out with our credit cards intact.

I thought we had to get across the city to Kensington Palace by 2pm and it was 1-hour away by foot so this was the perfect time to ride the double-decker bus. We were able to catch it just as it was starting its route so we all got upstairs, front row seats. Boys thought that they were hot stuff.

Well getting to Kensington was more complicated as Google led us down a road next to the one to the palace. I didn’t catch it until we were about ½ way down the street, so we had to go back to the main road and take the next street. By the time we got to Kensington we were late but I wasn’t too worried about the tea.

As it turned out, our tea was set for 4pm, we were really early, but there were lots of tables available. The tea was everything we’d hoped. Dale and I had champagne, then tea while each boy had 2 pots of tea. We left fat and happy.

What a trip!!!

London with 10-year-olds, The White Tower

 

Today was the day for the Tower of London. We were not sure how much time the kids would want to spend there but we figured we’d play this one by ear.

1^st stop was the Crown Jewels. This is what the boys really wanted to see.  We looked at the jewels from 1 side and then the other. Emilio loved the Orb and they both loved the crowns and jewels. They both loved the gold and silver platters, tureens and other serving pieces. Dale explained to the boys how he’d actually bought the huge Cullinan diamond for me, but then lost it, alas!

From the Crown Jewels we went to the White Tower. The Tower is where the royal family lived for a time. The tower is fun as there are displays for every age. Of course, Fynn had to sit on the Royal Pot! The top floor is a kid friendly area with experiments in archery, sword cutting, and shooting.

https://www.hrp.org.uk/tower-of-london/history-and-stories/the-story-of-the-tower-of-london/#gs.0hdpf1

After lunch we went into the Royal apartments, saw the carvings in the stones by people imprisoned there and the original apartments. Unfortunately, we ran out of time and were followed by a Yoeman Warder, locking everything behind us.

We’d eaten a huge late lunch at the tower café, which by the way, serves excellent food, so we had dinner in our room of leftover cheeses and sausage, bread and wine in our room.

 

 

 

 

Ever Onward; Paris and on to London

By the time we got into Paris and our motel, it was really quite late, like after 1 am but, the boys revived after seeing the room. The motel was like 1 big Pac-Man game, and in our room, we had a large bed, plus 2 sets of bunk beds, each bunk with its own sliding doors. So, boys were bouncing back and forth between beds and opening and closing the sliding doors.

Morning came too soon. The train for London was leaving at 4pm and we needed to be at the train station 2 hours in advance. This left little time for the city.

When we were in Paris 2 years ago, we had a wonderful picnic at the Eiffel Tower. We knew we had little time to tour but figured we could at least have a picnic. We found the Rue Cle, a pedestrian only street with many food stores, and bought cheese, baguette, sausage and a bottle of French wine. I’d brought a table cloth, napkins, plates and flatware for this big event. The boys said they didn’t really want to go to the top of the tower so we had our picnic and went on to the train station.

We got into London and dropped our bags at the hotel then took off by foot. The hotel was close to the one we normally get on the South Bank, Southwark, so we know our way around.

After watching a street performer along the Thames our goal was Big Ben.  We’d thought about riding on the London Eye but it wasn’t going and kids didn’t know if they really wanted to go on it. I suspect they would have gotten bored.

We stopped for Fish and Chips but the Fynn said it wasn’t Fish and Chips but rather, (as per the menu) Cod and Chips. We explained that Cod was fish but he wasn’t having it, so passed on London’s specialty.

The bed looked really good after a super long day.

One last day in Modena

 
We had a fairly early morning, starting out by walking to the Maserati Factory. This tour was actually easy to get tickets to, and I highly recommend it.

The tour goes thru every stage of the production, in this case the M20, a beautiful sports car. Both Dale and I could see ourselves driving this car. I think we need a larger garage though and lots more storms will help with the money.

The tour starts in the show room, then you walk to the old, original buildings in the back. The exterior of the buildings cannot be changed but the interiors have been refurbished to make way for modernization. There are pathways that go up and down the areas so that you can see the vehicle in the various stages, from a frame to the electronic instillation, the instillation of the various panels, and areas for all kinds of testing for each car. There is also an experimental area, experimenting with new motors and bodies.

We were not able to shoot photos so we must take the memories as we have them.

From the Maserati Factory, we walked to where we remembered the Balsamic Vinegar store to be located. This 25-year-old Balsamic from Enoteca Ducale is the best I’ve found in Modena. 2 years ago, I’d bought several different brands and taste tested them with our grandson, Elias. We determined that this was the best.

We didn’t remember that it was so far down the road, but we found it and I bought vinegar for myself and those who I promised to bring it to. This will be Christmas, birthday, and everything else for the foreseeable future. Unfortunately, too many family members love this vinegar. Additionally, I was out of the white balsamic and olive oil with truffles so it was time to load up!

At a park in Bologna

Now it was off to Bologna for the train ride to Paris.

Ferraris in Modena

Now for the very serious business of the cars. There are 2 Ferrari museums; one in Modena and one in Maranello. I’d gotten tickets to the Maranello museum so that we could try to get into the factory as we can get in free as Ferrari owners.

We hopped in a cab and got to Maranello; we had the driver leave us off at the factory. Dale was so impressed as there is a driveway that is in many photos and there he was, walking on the driveway. We asked about going into the factory and were told we had to ask at the museum so we walked there.

As it turns out, we could not take the boys into the factory as there is an age limit of 16. We were disappointed but at least we tried.

The museum in Maranello features the later cars mostly. But they are all so beautiful. And Dale loved looking at the motors displayed, although, he was disappointed by the fact that they were not put together as well as those in the actual cars.

After a lunch in the café, we wanted to go back to Modena, but it was just easier to give the cab driver the name of the Ferrari Museum. I thought we’d try to find the balsamic vinegar store and could find it from the museum. When we got to the Ferrari Museum, we thought, well why not see this one too.

The Ferrari Museum in Modena wasn’t as crowded as the one in Maranello, and didn’t have the people strutting around, trying to impress everyone with what they know and who they know, while wearing Ferrari gear.

In Maranello, the boys had wanted to drive a simulator, but the people running the photos and simulators were too busy to take any time to really help. In Modena, the woman running the simulators said “lets see if the boys can drive the simulators” brought some cushions to assist them and helped when they got stuck behind a fence. They were so funny to watch, driving across fields and landscaping, making U-turns on the track. But they did well for 10-year-olds.

The cars at the Ferrari Museum in Modena are older, for the most part. Some are from our car’s era, including a couple similar in shape to ours. A wonderful film was shown that included music from some operas. One included music from Pavarotti, music that we have enjoyed hearing at night at home. When we were visiting the Pavarotti house, a couple of years ago, we saw a photo of Enzo and Pavarotti so the whole presentation came together.

After walking back to our apartment, we found some dinner and ended the evening with nice wine.

Day 2 in Rome

We only had 2 partial days in Rome so had to make the most of them.

Today we had a tour of the Colosseum, Palatine Hill and the Forum. This was supposed to include the underground but apparently no one could go underground today so the tour started in the arena area.

 The arena is where the contests took place, man vs, animals in the morning and the gladiator against gladiator in the afternoon. Apparently, it was a convenient way to hold executions. Hungry lions that had not eaten for a day face a person. Sounds like a real equal matchup!

Boys were really interested in the lifts that lifted animals and people to the arena and the guide was great with explaining where they were located.

From the Colosseum we went up to Palatine Hill. We spent a whole day there last year so this quick tour was fine. But Palatine Hill is really a great place to learn about Rome and its beginnings and they were impressed with the Circus Maximus. We ended the tour in the Forum but I’m guessing that the significance was lost of the boys. They were becoming more interested in chasing the pigeons.

Before going to the Colosseum, we’d asked the boys if they wanted to go back to the Pantheon and they’d said yes. After touring the Colosseum and Palatine Hill they were not interested in walking back to the Pantheon. It was hot, we were sweaty and hungry and ready to go to Modena.

We started walking towards the hotel and boys had been behind us, usually running amok, when Fynn asked “where is Emilio”? We turned around and there was no Emilio. In a panic, I ran back to where I thought I’d last seen him, Dale went in a different direction and Fynn sat at a wall, just next to where he had last seen Emilio. No Emilio.

I found a security person in the security area who did not respond to me. I then went and found another staff who took me seriously. We walked back to the entry of the colosseum and the site of the police car where a small group of people were protecting Emilio. We were not separated for long but it was really scary. There were just so many people around.

From the Colosseum we picked up our luggage and headed for the train station. Now for the reason we came to Italy: the cars and balsamic vinegar.

After dropping off our bags I told Dale, "lets walk to the main street and find a restaurant". These places pop up in the evening. Sure enough, we found an outdoor restaurant that had cheap but great wine, cheap but good food and a plaza for boys to run until food arrived.

Grandkids in Rome

Our first flight was at 7am to Chicago so we got to the airport by 4:30am. As “Trusted Travelers” we sailed thru security. Of course, I’ve found that having no liquids or foods other than crackers, biscotti, muffins, is a major factor in getting thru easily. If we take a check bag, which we each get a free check bag, then everything questionable goes there.

Bekki joined us at the airport, as she only came up with Emilio. Her departure gate was right next to ours, so she saw us off.

The Dino in Chicago

Flights were long but Chicago was a nice break. We did not eat in Chicago though because we knew we’d get food soon on the flight, at least I was hoping I would. Gluten Free is always iffy, at least it was during Covid. Now, as per United, I can order 24 hr. before the flight. And, as it happened, Gluten Free food was an option, but I will call ahead from now on.

Because our flight landed in Rome at 8am, we couldn’t check into our hotel room right away, however, we were able to leave our luggage though and go off for the day. A tired day.

1^st order of business for the boys was gelato. We found gelato and Emilio got 2 scoops while Fynn got 1. It really didn’t matter how many scoops; the cones were topped about equally high. Gelato was on the ground, on the clothes, on the face and hands.

2^nd order of business was Iced Coffee at Tazzo d’Oro for Dale and I. This is the best in the world as far as we are concerned. Our favorite is a frozen coffee that is served with whipped cream on the bottom and on the top. I prefer ½ of the cream. The coffee is frozen and then scooped out into a cup.

Cannoli and Iced Coffee

The Tazzo d’Oro is just steps away from the Pantheon so kids ran around it between eating Cannoli. We were not able to get a reservation to get in as it was a weekend but the boys didn’t seem to care. I would have liked for them to see the inside but they will need to do that another time.

Walking back to the hotel, we found a little restaurant so the boys had their 1^st real Italian pizza. There was excellent wine with gluten free Lasagna and gluteny Lasagna for Dale.

I didn’t know how the boys would react to all of the ruins. I love them, but not everyone is interested. But the boys actually enjoyed looking at them, especially, when there were cats residing in them.

A favorite Ruin, 8 cats were counted in here

When we left the hotel in the morning, we knew that thunderstorms were forecast for the afternoon but we didn’t think it would be so bad. Well, as we walked back to the hotel, the rain started, and then dumped down. Fortunately, I had a rain jacket so I could cover my camera, but the others, well they got drenched. And the boys, well, they jumped in the puddles, kicked water in the puddles and carried on. Who says that rain puddles are just for little kids?

It was an early night after hot showers. We were all tired!!!

Grandkids Trip 1, Getting down to the States

 So, it is the beginning of Grandkids Trips season. This trip is with Fynn and Emilio, both 10-years-old. We are on the 1^st of 2 flights.

The trip originated after discussions over sports cars, of which Emilio is a super wiz. We thought that it would be fun to visit the super car area of the world, Modena, the land of Ferrari and Maserati. Plus, I am getting low on Balsamic vinegar so this was another excuse for visiting Modena.

We had really planned for a several things: hopefully visit the Ferrari factory, get to Modena in time for a car show, and see the underground of the Colosseum. Well, the reservations for the Ferrari factory were full, the Cavelino car show took place last weekend and we did not get tickets for the underground of the Colosseum. But we did score tickets for the Maserati factory, the Ferrari Museum, and tickets onto the Colosseum arena. And we will beg the Ferrari Factory for a tour, maybe Emilio can produce his large crocodile tears if necessary.

We came down to the States on Thursday, after Jen suggested that it might be less stressful than driving down on Friday. Was she ever right, well Thursday was a day hopefully not to be repeated for a long time.

As we were leaving Campbell River, we had stopped for a red light. There was the sound of brakes squealing. I looked in the mirror to see a truck partially sideways, nearly in the rear of our truck. That would have been an unfortunate delay.

Breakfast on the ferry

On the Ferry we were ready to offload. The 2 lanes next to ours offloaded, then the person in front of us took off in reverse. The person directing traffic was yelling “put down your phone”. Fortunately, for the person in front of us, stopped just before crunching into us, as they would have damaged their small trailer.

Once, back in the states, there were accidents going both directions. One with 8 cars northbound. After many delays we made it to Clayton/Jen’s. So glad to get out of the truck safe and sound.

Relaxing before a day of flying