Not far from Versailles or Paris is the Lafayette Escadrille Memorial dedicated to the American pilots who volunteered for the French Army and formed the Lafayette Flying Corp during the First World War. The memorial is dedicated to the more than 200 Americans who flew for France during the war. This memorial was built by…
After visiting Verdun we headed about 90 miles north towards the scene of heavy fighting in the early days of the Second World War along the Maginot Line. The Maginot Line was a series of French fortifications built in the 1930’s to prevent another German invasion. Some of the forts were built with major infrastructure to…
While staying in Reims we took a 90 minute drive to see some of the memorials to the Battle of Verdun. The Battle off Verdun was the longest and deadliest of the First World War, lasting 302 days and with estimates of nearly 715,000 casualties (377,000 French, 337,000 German). The German strategy was to bleed…
While in Prague we made sure to stop at the Sts Cyril and Methodius Church which houses the National Monument to the Heroes of the Heydrich Terror. The church was the last redoubt of the Czechoslovakian Resistance fighters after the successful assassination of Reinhard Heydrich in 1942. The assassination was dubbed Operation Anthropoid and was…
Knowing we were going to Amsterdam for a few days to meet up with some of Julie’s family, we wanted to take a trip to Rotterdam beforehand for one night. This trip to Rotterdam was partially planned back in 2020. We wanted to see the city as it’s one of the few modern European cities…
Julie and I did a short run to Berlin to see a couple of friends in town for the Marathon. We didn’t stay for the race but it was nice to get a change of weather, food and see some people from the other side of the world. Food & Shopping Having been to Berlin…