Just outside of Reims is a little town called Epernay that lives for champagne. Home to growers, houses, cellars and co-operatives, Epernay and the surrounding…
“Remember gentlemen, it’s not just France we’re fighting for, it’s Champagne!” – Sir Winston Churchill Couldn’t have said it better. Reims, France is the capital…
On the way to Reims, we stopped off at Verdun, WW1’s longest and costliest battle. The battle for Verdun began in February 1916 and continued until…
One of the things we have done on these travel adventures is cross the path of one of America’s greatest generals, General George S. Patton….
A little less than an hour from Metz is the country and city called, “Luxembourg”. With a population the size of a small city in…
Battle of the Bulge – the costliest action ever taken by the US Army, 108,347 casualties! Civilian deaths – 3,000 due to military action and execution…
Whatever name you use, the Cathedral de Metz (nicknamed, “God’s Lantern) is one of the most ornate we’ve seen on our tour. The cathedral stands where the shrine…
Quick intro to the Maginot Line. The line is a series of forts and fortifications that formed a defensive “line” between France and Germany, Luxembourg,…
Here we are on Sunday morning and I’m finally getting around to writing about our travels to Metz. Woke up this morning to the unusual…
As part of our UNESCO funded history tour, well, I wish. Anyway, Lyon has been an important location for centuries. After Julius Caesar received the working…
Sounded kind of interesting. Take a bike and put an electric motor on it that helps when you pedal, cruise around a foreign country in…
First and foremost the French people have been wonderful. Everyone we’ve met has been helpful and understanding. Our limited French vocabulary hasn’t been too much…
Trying to catch up on the fattening side of the WW,Too tour. Throwing in a few pictures of what Collette has eaten. I’ve had a croissant….
Packed it in for Bordeaux and headed out for the eastern side of France, Lyon. Shame to leave all that wine behind! What we know…
One last adventure in the Bordeaux area was to tour St. Emilion. Very well known for excellent wines, we visited during the week to avoid…
Dordogne (pronounced, “Dordonha”) is a department (county?) in southwestern France. It is one of the original 83 departments created during the French Revolution, 04 March…
On Saturday, 10 June, 1944 at approximately 2:00pm, soldiers of the Der Furher Regiment of the 2nd Waffen SS Panzer Division entered a small French…
You knew there had to be a WW2 part to this WW,Too city we visited. The submarine base or bunker or pen was erected primarily…
Wine! That’s all that I have to say about this town. Not really, there are many great things to see in Bordeaux. The wine region…
Our time in Caen (pronounced, “Cone” in case you forgot) has come to a close. The apartment was perfect, close to everything, clean and had…
Taking a break from the war, we visited the town of Bayeux to see the 11th century tapestry. Sorry no pictures were allowed although that…
Located on a 247 acre island approximately 1 kilometer from land, Mont St. Michel has been a strategic fortification since ancient times, and since the…
On 8 Jun 1944, the Allies are moving into France with Carentan as their objective. On the road to St. Come-du-Mont the first tank arrives….
The Caen Canal Bridge (renamed the Pegasus Bridge after D-Day) has the honor of being one of D-Days first battle scenes. On the night of…
So a little background on the beach names. Prior to the invasion, the British & Canadian beaches were named after fish; Goldfish, Jellyfish and Swordfish….
We’re off to Juno and Sword beaches. Juno was assigned to the Canadian’s (Canuck’s) who had ~14,000 troops ready to assault the 6 mile beach….
Not much remains of Gold Beach as it was in 1944. Today there are vacation homes, beach huts and a hot spot for tourists in…
Pointe du Hoc is situated on a promontory with a 100′ tall cliff facing the English Channel. This point was a strategic advantage for the…
Situated on a bluff overlooking Omaha Beach in Normandy, is the 172 acre cemetery for American soldiers killed in action during the D-Day invasion. The…
The morning of June 6th saw 34,000 US troops descending on Omaha Beach. This was the first wave of soldiers from the 29th Infantry Division,…
A little about the area: Utah Beach was the first beach to have Allied troops land and engage the enemy. On that day, 6 June…
So, now that Adolf has a group of guys wanting to help him bring Germany back from economic disaster (army, navy, air force, death squads, etc.)…
So real quick and not too much detail. Once, long ago, there was this guy I’ll call Adolf who had a plan. Adolf wanted to be…
With an uneventful and somewhat relaxing flight, we begin our tour of France. Something big is going to happen, just know it since the flight…
So back at the drawing board for the next adventure. This 1-month stay in France will include WW2 sites, wineries, champagne cellars, city tours and…
Made it home after 4200 miles of touring the Pacific Northwest and a week in Hawaii with the family. Pretty nice time, saw quite a…
Up in the morning and off to Colorado. Our first night on the way home ended in South Shore Lake Tahoe. This should have been…
Bob, das Father-in-Law, had rented a compound that consisted of 4 homes situated on 2 acres of land with 2 swimming pools. The homes were…
Our shuttle bus picked us up at 6:15am for the ride to the Oakland airport. Final tally of the family was 16 loving, warm and…
We made it to Gilroy with only minor (well maybe more than minor) traffic complaints. As an ex-citizen of the Bay Area, I can honestly…
So after a short writing break, we’re back. Time to finish the Hawaii road trip and move on to our WW,Too tour. When we last…
While on this road trip, we had to take time to stop by and see a couple of friends that we haven’t seen in years….
Once again in keeping with our plan the drive to Bandon is about 5hrs along Hwy 101. And again, a really nice drive. The Oregon…
After leaving Seattle, our drive took us along the Pacific coast on Hwy 101. Little longer drive than down I-5 but certainly more picturesque. The…