Gaminari, Ambosel -Your thoughts please. We are traveling with 13 yr old WW1 %26amp;WW2 scholar - this trip is a gift to him.
Bastogne -4 nites -Base, Hotel Melba in town - see it all incl Luxembourg
Verdun - 2 nites - Le Coq Hardi - in town
Ostend - 4 nites - Die Prince -Base, On the Sea Wall( see Ypres, Atlantik Wall , Brugges, etc
Brussels- 3 nites - Le Meridien - Drop off car and walk the city
We will be traveling the last 2 wks of June. I am hoping the temperature drops at night- no A/C until Belgium.
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I think your WW scholar will be delighted with your plans, but as regards my only area of expertise, you might not want to walk the whole of Brussels, although you can certainly walk from your hotel to the Grand%26#39; Place, Galeries St. Hubert, even the Sablon. But you will probably want to take the metro to Mérode for the Military Museum, and for city transport you can get 1-day passes for €4, 3-day passes for €9, or if you won%26#39;t be taking more than 10 bus/tram/metro trips between you, a 10-trip card for €11, using which each stamping in the orange machine in the first bus/tram/metro you get on allows 60 minutes travel per person. The Military Museum itself is free and from it you can take a lift to the top of the Cinquantenaire archway.
Also, I wonder whether you might want to include Breendonk (near Mechelen) concentration camp in your itinerary: http://www.trabel.com/mechbreendonk.htm
And if you have time, perhaps while you are in the Bastogne area, the citadels at Namur and Dinant (especially the latter in my opinion) have interesting WWII connections.
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While in Luxembourg, you might want to visit the American WWII Military Cemetery, which is near the airport. On the same note, the WWII German Cemetery is quite close and also quite interesting. Where the US cemeteries are all white marble and sunlight, the German cemeteries are dark marble.
I think you will find it interesting to see the contrasts. The ages of the dead soldiers on the German crosses are shocking - how young they were, I think I remember seeing one as young as 15 or 16!
Are you planning on visiting the Normandy Landing Beaches, too?
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We did Normandy etc 2yrs ago. Last year we did Italy. What a difference...they do not have the wealth of memorial sites you find in France and Belgium. Of course they were on the wrong side! We did Salerno, Paestum which is below Salerno and the site of very well preserved Greek Temples. We have pictures of the GI%26#39;s looking at them in astonishment...they did not expect to land that far south of Salerno. We did Anzio, Nettuno, Monte Cassino, and Rome.
I imagine you can return to these sites many times and find something
new %26amp; moving. I am glad that we can do this now. Who knows what the next year brings. Thanks for you input. BK
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I am sorry I meant to reply to your post regarding the cemetaries. We will be visiting many in Belgium and Luxembourg and France.
I agree that the age of the boys sent to war is disturbing.
Look at the age of the Jihadists now! Many are children as well.
It disturbs me that they look forward to dying. BK
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I%26#39;m not sure the WWII German soldiers were looking forward to dying, especially at that stage of the war. I don%26#39;t think they had much choice.
Enjoy your trip through Belgium. It is a beautiful country and we love living here.
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I was referring to the jihadists, suicide bombers, who look forward to dying not the young germans. bk
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