KRATZMC

Well, my initial plans on doing daily posts went to the wayside after reaching France. The inability to get a good internet connection in Belgium, France and Luxemburg was frustrating. It sure makes me appreciate the infrastructure we enjoy in the States.

My digital camera quit working in Amsterdam, so I bought another and that one failed in Germany, when I broke the display screen. I was able to buy a replacement in Nuremburg Germany, so I am on my third camera for this trip.

My computer started acting up with IO errors, or registry problems. This prevented me from uploading pics to my site. During a back up process of my photos, I lost all my pictures from Polebrook, most of Normandy, Belgium and Luxemburg. Since Dan and Tony took pretty much the same pictures, I will get copies of theirs. The loss of the Polebrook images were most upsetting, as I’d captured images from a different perspective than my friends, due my personal connection to the site.

I will bring you up to date so far and will write a Page later with galleries of the things I have seen during this trip.  I have uploaded what I could for now.

After leaving London, we took a train to Portsmouth England for a day’s visit, seeing the HMS Victory and learning the History of England’s Navy. We also visited Spinnaker tower, rising almost 1000 feet above the ground. A storm rolled into the area, which threatened our high speed ferry ride to the Normandy coast the next morning.

As we hit the Ferry Terminal in Portsmouth harbor, the weather had let up but the water in the channel was still rough. When we checked in for the ride the ticket agent had a laugh and told us we would be in for a wild ride on the “Vomit Comet”. This joke would some come to fruition as a good portion of the passengers began vomiting in mass, less than 20 minutes into our ride. The crew was kept busy donned with surgical gloves, rolls of paper towels and mops. Fortunately us Americans did not join or British and French friends. Tony pulled his jacket over his head and buttoned down like a turtle for the 3 hour ride, trying to block out the surrounding mayhem.

This British Bird decided that it would be more fun to move into the empty seat next to us and fill her sea sickness bag in our vicinity.

We hit Normandy and visited the D-Day sites, museums and sites of some of the battles following the U.S. Armies route of march into Germany. Upon leaving France, we missed our train connection in Paris, having to rent a one-way car to make it to Belgium to salvage our trip. No one told us there were three train stations in Paris. By the time we realized this, we had no time to reach to other station for the transfer. My image of Paris was tarnished by the crowded conditions, body odor of its people and the smell of urine in every doorway. Note to self; erase Paris from your list of places to visit.

In Belgium, we visited Bastogne, site of the famous Battle of the Bulge. We checked out the museum and memorial and even located fox holes within the surrounding forests, previously manned over 60 years ago by the 101^st Airborne.

101st Airborne Division foxholes along the road leading to Foy, near Bastogne

The countryside surrounding Bastogne, Belgium.  Its hard to believe one of the largest battles of WW2 once took place in such a serene location.

The U.S. Military Memorial in Bastogne

The following day, we visited the U.S. Military cemetery and German cemetery in Luxemburg. The U.S. cemetery was immaculate and its grounds were extremely well manicured. I was able to locate Patton’s grave and the visit there was somber and allowed for some reflection. The German graveyard was in stark contrast, as the grave markers had a dark patina, compared to the bright white luster of the U.S. markers. As the German were not the most popular group of soldiers during their time, four soldiers were buried in each grave and thus not as well maintained.

The entrance to the U.S. Military Cemetery in Luxemborg

The German Military Cemetery, Luxemborg

From Luxemburg we made our way via train into Germany, to join the Shark Hunters 15 day tour. After two days in Munich, we made our way to Nuremburg. Nuremburg in an ancient city with it’s heart surrounded by a formidable wall. There we received a private tour by one of our members, Michael, Vice Mayor of the city. We visited the sites of the Nazi rallies and the spectacles put on in the Zeppelin fields and Stadium. We were taken into Hitler’s Chamber which is closed to the public and the courthouse site of the famous Nuremburg War Trials. Due to the over reaction of what the Nazi’s did and guilt of the German people, most of the historical sites of WW2 Germany were destroyed. As a student of world history, I found this disappointing.

Although the Nazi party is associated with some horrors, using the same logic would require you to destroy the Great Pyramids of Egypt because they were made with slave labor. Part of history in my mind is preserving all aspects of it so we do not repeat the same mistakes. There is a quote which says “Those who do not remember the past are doomed to repeat it”. I find this manifesting itself today in our own governments censorship of the “911” photographs from the American public. I thought we had learned valuable lessons from WW2 on this same subject but we are repeating the same mistakes. Sorry to get political but I cannot ignore the irony.

Anyway, Nuremburg is a gem of Germany and if you ever plan a visit to this country, you should plan at least a couple of days there. Today, we have boarded the bus and are on our way to visit Austria and the Alps. Due to the tech difficulties I have experienced, I will reserve posting my photos to a later time and format.

I can say I have made some new friends and my new associations will provide great contacts for my future travels. I hope you will revisit my site after I resolve my lap top issues, to enjoy some of the sites I have seen.

That’s all for now. Aufwedersehen.

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