Day 29 (Friday, September 25, 2009)
After waking up extremely early at 6:30, I began the long three hour drive to
Verdun in order to visit the
WWI sights. Although many visitors to France make their way to Normandy, far less people take the time to visit Verdun. The battlefields in this area of France saw the loss of 800,000 lives during the war that lasted from 1914-1918.
Upon arrival in Verdun, my first stop was at a museum called
Memorial-Musee de Fleury. This museum was built atop the a village called Fleury which was destroyed during World War I. It is a good first stop for those touring the World War I battlefields as it provides a thorough introduction to the war. The entrance fee was 7 Euro, which I thought was a little steep. The museum was filled to the brim (literally) with a massive group of high school students, so it made it almost impossible for me to enjoy any of the displays or exhibits. There were lots of English descriptions, but between the students and having a lack of time, I didn't have the opportunity to get too in-depth with anything. I do recommend making time to watch the 15 minute movie that plays continuously as it has amazing footage from World War I which so many of us are unfamiliar with.
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| Exterior of Memorial-Musee de Fleury. |
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| Exterior of Memorial-Musee de Fleury. |
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| Recreated World War I battlefield scene at the Memorial-Musee de Fleury. |
Next, I drove over to
L'Ossuaire de Douaumont which is a tomb that holds the remains of 130,000 French and German soldiers. The tomb is adjacent to a massive cemetery, which contains 15,000 graves of soldiers. Unfortunately, I arrived just prior to the two hour lunch time closure, so I was unable to go inside the tomb nor watch the recommended 20 minute video. I found the cemetery itself to be very beautiful with a small rosebush planted in front of each soldiers grave but it did not appear as though the graves themselves were well taken care of which was disappointing, especially when compared to the cemeteries in Normandy. The reality though it that there are probably very few surviving family members or spouses of those that were killed in WWI, so it probably does not get the same level of attention it once did.
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| The cemetery at L'Ossuaire de Douaumont. |
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| The cemetery at L'Ossuaire de Douaumont. |
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| The cemetery at L'Ossuaire de Douaumont. |
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| The cemetery at L'Ossuaire de Douaumont. |
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| The cemetery at L'Ossuaire de Douaumont. |
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| The cemetery at L'Ossuaire de Douaumont. |
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| The cemetery at L'Ossuaire de Douaumont. |
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| The cemetery at L'Ossuaire de Douaumont. |
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| L'Ossuaire de Douaumont. |
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| L'Ossuaire de Douaumont. |
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| The cemetery at L'Ossuaire de Douaumont. |
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| The cemetery at L'Ossuaire de Douaumont. |
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