WWI weekend

The 9th - 11th was a class WWI trip.  I'll try to get my photos up soon and will add more details in the photo descriptions; below is just an outline of what we did.

We started in Amiens the first day with an overwhelming and difficult tour about reconstruction in Amiens after WWI (with little tidbits about WWII thrown in).  It was difficult because it was completely focused on architecture - namely styles and vocabulary with which I am not well acquainted (particularly in French).

We were on our own for lunch (I had a Popeye crepe) before the second 2.5 hours of our tour started back up.  This time the guide focused on the huge cathedral and I learned a lot about cathedrals in general.  We had a little free time before dinner to settle into our rooms.

Dinner had it's ups and downs.  On the way, I discovered that my umbrella was broken :-(!  The appetizer was delicious and huge, the meal was less good.  I ate dinner with the professors and got to talk a lot in French.  I really enjoyed the meal and getting to chat with my professors (really it was one professor and two other NYU employees who are young).  It was a really great evening (even with some sub-par food and interruptions where I had to repeat words over and over to correct my pronunciation!!!).

Saturday, we visited the Lochnager Crater, a German cemetary, the Thiepval Memorial and a few other places too (including real WWI trenches)!  We had a quick lunch before going to a museum in Peronne about WWI.  It was a very interesting museum.  We finished the day with a very long bus ride to our hotel for the next night.  Once again, I put myself with the professors for dinner to get more French exposure.

Sunday we went to a Veterans' Day ceremony at the American Cemetary of Romagne sous Montfaucon.  It was a very moving visit.  I was on American land surrounded by thousands of dead soldiers - many whose identities were never discovered.  After the ceremony, we went to Verdun (a place I tried to visit last year, but it's too hard to visit by train).  At Verdun, we once again visited a number of memorials and war sites.  It was hard to believe the damage that was done during WWI, even the land still bears its mark.

We had about an hour in Metz to wait for our train and I ended up in a cafe with the professors (literally - it was me and the 4 adults).  We had a nice time talking before heading back to Paris.

I got home, had dinner, and went straight to bed!  It was a good, but long weekend.