Tag 1: Our journey can begin - Arrival in Verdun

With a one-year delay, we start our vacation. Our destination is Northern France. Thanks to mom, we use her California bus with the opportunity to camp. The car is fully loaded, and so we start punctually on Sunday morning at 8:30 am. We have 6 hours of driving ahead of us with a distance of 588 km. Fortunately, the highways are clear, and shortly after lunch, we reach Luxembourg after a short transit through the French border. There are no border controls, so we travel without any problems across 3 state borders. In France, we leave the highway and find ourselves on the country road in a rural agricultural area. The towns are small, and hardly anyone is to be seen. Around 4 pm, we reach Douaumont, a memorial site near Verdun. This is where the longest and most devastating battle of World War I took place.

In total, the encounter between Germans and French claimed 167,000 casualties.

The region was permanently changed. After the war, a memorial site with a chapel was built.

The Douaumont ossuary is a 136m wide burial place for the many unknown dead. A film is shown and the monument contains many grave plates with names and dates. Many young men between the ages of 20 and 30 were killed. We climb the 46m high tower and see the region, which is mostly covered in forests. The war left no room for the towns nearby.

Unfortunately, there is no time left for the museum and the surrounding paths.

Our campsite is located in Verdun and we settle in. After dinner, we make extensive use of the pool with a slide. The children are happy to splash around.

We end the evening with cider. The children are excited about their sleeping place on the roof and can be heard for a long time.