Chalons sur Marne

We got into town at Chalons-sur-Marne and it was really quite nice for a small town. I remember us having a nice dinner and then in the morning we asked directions for a local church to take Dad to mass.

We got directions that there was a chruch behind this wall at the end of the street but I saw nothing but storefronts as we walked towards it. We noticed there was an entrance that people were going in and it looked like a modern storefront but as we pass through it suddenly opened up into the interior of a very medieval looking church. That in itself was mind-blowing like being teleported from modern times storefronts into and an ancient world. I am guessing that perhaps one side of the church may have been damaged in previous wars and required this sort of side support but I am not sure since the other side of the church was completely exposed like a more typical medieval cathedral.

From what I can tell this church was Saint Etienne's cathedral, including parts of the first Romanesque cathedral built in the 12th century. It was mostly a Gothic style cathedral. As I recall there were very interesting tombs placed within the church and the altar area almost looking like medieval knights with swords across their chests,etc but we really didn’t have time to investigate too much. We enjoyed a basic mass service with some of the people from town in this surrealistic surrounding. I would have liked more time to have explored and really learned the city’s history but we needed to move on.

 

 

Next: Getting to Paris

France Again and Its Getting Late

After Bingen we take a few highways West and head towards the Southeast part of Luxembourg where Dad was stationed to guard the city for almost a full month between November to mid-December 1994 right before he was attached to Patton’s Army to help relieve Bastogne. I did not know it at the time but they were partially stationed there to attempt to shoot down V-1 rockets although V-2 rockets were now flying and were at a much higher altitude impossible to shoot with artillery. There units official records mention a significant number of V2 rocket sightings.

 

We discuss stopping but agree that we will try to get closer to Paris so we can get an early start there the next day. We drive on towards Metz enjoying the scenery as we pass the city of Luxembourg. Around Metz we catch the A4 highway which heads us pretty much straight back towards Paris but its getting late and at this latitude the summer sun stays up late enough to fool you into thinking its really early. We have no hotel reservations again. This is also the era of no cell phones so we are beginning to get a little worried. We are all getting a little restless because we have been in the car so long today. We have likely been driving 6-8 hours and counting.

We pull over to a gas station to fill up, grab a quick snack, and we grab a few pamphlets. We are nearing Reims which is a large city but I really do not know this area of France at all from previous travels so we discuss what to do. Basically its between “head to Paris” arrive real late and take our chances or find something nearby. I see in the pamphlet something about a a town Chalons-sur-Marne and it looks like a good shot as its a short way of the highway. Here we go as we get off A4 and head towards Chalons-sur-Marne I see a bunch of cafes lining the highway with people outside and large buckets of empty champagne bottles turned upside down. O.k., looks good! It turned out this was their nearby grape harvest celebration and we are in the Champagne district region. Chalons-sur-Marne has been renamed since we visited by the government to Chalons-en-Champagne. Maybe a smart Chamber of Commerce move to attract tourists?

If anyone is curious check out the the Charlie Brown Great pumpkin episode where when Snoopy is shot down by the Red Baron he crawls past a sign indicating its 70km to Chalons-Sur-Marne. Nice!

 

 

Next: Chalons sur Marne

Koblenz to Bingen the Wonderful Mosel

Its the same day and we decide to try and drive all the way back to France, Luxembourg. For the afternoon, we have planned to drive from Koblenz to Bingen along the Mosel river. This was a great choice as its a beautiful drive through German wine country of the Mosel. The river winds its way down a valley between beautiful gentle hills each populated with local family run wineries and old castles (well at least at the time we went in 1994). We have less pictures from this period of our trip as we ran out of film.

The drive is fun and relaxing and we pick a winery about halfway to stop and eat lunch at. They have a nice biergarten atmosphere there and we enjoy a nice lunch and a few drinks as we overlook the river and the rolling hills surrounding us. Its a rest stop to beat all rest stops!

We take a few hours slowly making our way to Bingen and we finally exit the Mosel valley and enter more of a flat plains area.

 

 

Next: France Again and Its Getting Late

Goodbye Belgium into Germany: Where's the Remagen Bridge?

Well we head back to the Inn at Aywaille and drive and drive and drive from Aywaille through Bastogne to Remagen, Germany and points beyond as the day progresses.

One of Dads missions was to protect the bridges near Remagen, he claims it was Remagen itself but the platoon protected a large swath of bridges including those to the Southeast on the Ahr River surrounding the Remagen Rhine area. All these passages were important to support the later swift movements across the Rhine perhaps shortening the war by weeks. They would basic dig foxholes for the M15 and M16 halftracks on the banks or hills over the river in order to provide AAA protection for the bridges.

This is a photo of an M15 in action along a river bank.

Of course we had seen the old movie “Bridge at Remagen” but couldn’t remember the details.

So here we were and of course and we wanted to walk across that damn Remagen bridge that had been captured and saved. John’s looking around and making me circle back and forth in the car and he asking people where the Remagen Bridge is? They keep pointing and giving directions.

Well the Remagen bridge from 1944 no longer exists! As it collapsed several weeks after being captured by the Allies killing many.

See the following for the interesting related stories:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Remagen#The_Bridge_at_Remagen

 

 

Next: Koblenz to Bingen the Wonderful Mosel