{"id":7542,"date":"2017-12-09T16:57:39","date_gmt":"2017-12-09T15:57:39","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/hastenteufel.name\/blog\/?p=7542"},"modified":"2025-12-12T06:01:16","modified_gmt":"2025-12-12T05:01:16","slug":"long-weekend-france-part-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/hastenteufel.name\/blog\/long-weekend-france-part-2\/","title":{"rendered":"A long Weekend in France \u2013 Part 2"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Today’s plan – a circle from Douaumont to Reims and Auberive, after that over Souain-Perthes-l\u00e8s-Hurlus to Sainte-Menehould. Visit a few more cemeteries and see some French countryside.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Douaumont Ossuary<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
\"Douaumont <\/picture><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A memorial built within the Verdun battlefields. It contains more than 130.000 fallen soldiers of the French and German sides. In front of the memorial is a big graveyard with more fallen soldiers. The Battle of Verdun was the longest in human history and lasted 303 days. In 2000, it was estimated that the battle took 714,231 soldiers. Recent estimates go up to 976.000 casualties during the battle, with 1.250.000 suffered at Verdun in the First World War.
When you drive to the monument, you pass trenches and smaller memorials. A whole village that was destroyed and not rebuilt after the war. You drive through a peaceful forest that was planted here in 1930 – still 100.000 missing soldiers under that forest. And every time they find the remains of one, they bring them into the Douaumont Ossuary.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"The <\/picture>
The largest single French military cemetery of the First World War with 16,142 graves.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Muslim <\/picture>
Muslim part of the grave yard<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"10 <\/picture>
10 soldiers in one grave<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Grave\" <\/picture><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Douaumont <\/picture><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"At <\/picture>
At last, 130.000 soldiers are buried under the building<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"All <\/picture>
All of them unidentified combatants of both nations<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Mitterrand <\/picture>
On September 22nd 1984, the German Chancellor Helmut Kohl (whose father had fought near Verdun) and French President Fran\u00e7ois Mitterrand (who had been taken prisoner nearby in World War II), laid down wreaths in memory of the fallen soldiers. They were holding hands for several minutes in the rain as a gesture of Franco-German reconciliation. And there are some mad monkeys that think Europe is a bad idea! This is the longest time we have had no war with the French. In fact no war at all in the European Union since WW II.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Memorial <\/picture>
Memorial for the Jewish soldiers<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Why <\/picture>
Why could they not ask for a German translation?? Forbidden lawn?? <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"La <\/picture>
These stones mark the furthest points the Germans reached during the 1918 offensives. This one in La Pompelle was paid for by the Mexican Association of War Veterans. 200 Mexicans fought in this sector!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Fort de Vaux<\/h1>\n\n\n\n

This was the second fort that fell into German hands after Fort Douaumont.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Flags <\/picture>
Flags over Fort Vaux<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Memorial <\/picture>
Memorial for Rayand’s last pigeon<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Hospital <\/picture>
Hospital in Fort Vaux<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Canon <\/picture>
One of the Canons<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Enough of the war for today!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Reims<\/h1>\n\n\n\n

\"Breakfast <\/picture>
Coffee break before we hit the city<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Cathedral <\/picture>
Cathedral Notre Dame in Reims. The first church was build here in 401. In 816 the first King of France was crowned here. After that it was remodel, it burned down and rebuild a few times.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Cathedral <\/picture>
The main entrance in the front<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Cathedral <\/picture>
A fire destroyed the towers in 1481<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Cathedral <\/picture>
Inside the Cathedral. The 3 windows all the way in the end are designed by Marc Chagall<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Cathedral <\/picture>
This is pretty amazing<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Cathedral <\/picture><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Cathedral <\/picture><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Public <\/picture>
Public library – one of the many Art Deco buildings in Reims. After the First World War, 80 percent of the city was destroyed. So a lot of buildings were built in the 1020s. I have to go again next year and have a look!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Louis <\/picture>
Louis XV in front of the Place Roya<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"What <\/picture>
What a nice house<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"500 <\/picture>
500 years Jeanne D’Arc<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Reims\" <\/picture><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"The <\/picture>
The town hall in Reims<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"H\u00f4tel <\/picture>
H\u00f4tel de Ville, Reims<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Detail <\/picture>
Detail of the town hall<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"A <\/picture>
A horse looks out of a wall<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Sube <\/picture>
Sube Fountain<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"A <\/picture>
A living wall<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Auberive<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

\"Road <\/picture>
Road in Auberiv<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"French <\/picture>
French national cemetery Le Bois du Puits<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"They <\/picture>
They put them 6 feet under, head to head, which is quite unusual<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"5359 <\/picture>
5359 German soldiers – 3124 that could not be identified were laid in an ossuary at the end of the graveyard<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Book <\/picture>
Book with the names – in case you want to find your great-grandfather<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Name <\/picture><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Now <\/picture>
Now it looks quiet and peaceful<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"The <\/picture>
The dramatic sky with the clouds made the visit even more intense<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Flat <\/picture>
Flat land and a wide sky<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"We <\/picture>
We drive to the next place<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Souain-Perthes-les Hurlus<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

\"Souain <\/picture>
La Crou\u00e9e War Cemetery is the name of the French side, with more than 30.000 graves<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Under <\/picture>
Souain German War Cemetery is the name of the German side. Under this “Unknown soldiers” memorial are 11320 fallen German soldiers buried<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Names <\/picture><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Another <\/picture>
Another 1900 graves on the German side of the graveyard<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"The <\/picture>
The Jews got different stones<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Today’s plan – a circle from Douaumont to Reims and Auberive, after that over Souain-Perthes-l\u00e8s-Hurlus to Sainte-Menehould. Visit a few more cemeteries and see some French countryside. Douaumont Ossuary A memorial built within the Verdun battlefields. It contains more than 130.000 fallen soldiers of the French and German sides. In front of the memorial is…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":21,"featured_media":7553,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_kb_optimizer_status":0,"_kad_post_transparent":"","_kad_post_title":"","_kad_post_layout":"","_kad_post_sidebar_id":"","_kad_post_content_style":"","_kad_post_vertical_padding":"","_kad_post_feature":"","_kad_post_feature_position":"","_kad_post_header":false,"_kad_post_footer":false,"_kad_post_classname":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[683,679,224,30],"tags":[686,463,366,685],"class_list":["post-7542","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-reims","category-douaumont","category-europe","category-france","tag-douaumont","tag-europe","tag-france","tag-reims"],"featured_image_src":"https:\/\/hastenteufel.name\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/12\/ggg.jpg","author_info":{"display_name":"Marc Hastenteufel","author_link":"https:\/\/hastenteufel.name\/blog\/author\/marc\/"},"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/hastenteufel.name\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/12\/ggg.jpg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/hastenteufel.name\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7542","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/hastenteufel.name\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/hastenteufel.name\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hastenteufel.name\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/21"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hastenteufel.name\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=7542"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/hastenteufel.name\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7542\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":14355,"href":"https:\/\/hastenteufel.name\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7542\/revisions\/14355"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hastenteufel.name\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/7553"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/hastenteufel.name\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=7542"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hastenteufel.name\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=7542"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hastenteufel.name\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=7542"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}