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retirement trip??

Posted by (Groveland, MA, USA) on

After 43 years of teaching I plan on taking a 3 week trip to Europe in SEPTEMBER !!! WE have been to Europe (thanks to Rick) two times, once in 2002 to London & Paris and again in 2006 to Bavaria and Austria. In my rookie haste I only go to spend a few hours in Normandy before catching a train back to Paris. I am a WW II buff and felt cheated so I am going back this time and spend a few days.
Here is what I would like to do. Is the order of travel sensible?? If you have other suggestions I would love to hear them.

Fly into Amsterdam 2-3 days, day trips, etc
Train to Bruges 2-3 days, day trips.
Hurtgen Forest and Bastogne area 2 days (My Uncle won the Bronze star with the 9th Infantry Division fighting in the Hurtgen Forest. (are these two areas anywhere near one another and can it be done by train or do I need a car?)
Travel to Normandy (stay 3 days or so) Rent a car at the Belgium, France border. I forget the name of the town but it begins with "L" .
Travel to Alsace region of France -3 days.
Travel to Black Forest and western Germany 4-6 days. Fly home from either Frankfurt or Munich

Posted by
21107 posts

Huertgen Forest is about 60 miles from Bastogne as the crow flies. It is between Aachen and Dueren. A car would probably come in handy to visit theses sites. The city with the "L" is Lille. There are car rental spots at Lille Europe station.
In Alsace, there is Kaysersberg, with interesting memorials of WW II, and the Colmar Pocket Museum in Turckheim. The rebuilt village of Bennwihr is the poster child of towns that were completely destroyed in the fighting.

Posted by
672 posts

If you have time to travel from Amsterdam to the Nijmegen area, the National Liberation Museum (Groesbeek) is a great venue for the history of Operation Market Garden.

Posted by
101 posts

Thanks a lot. Part of the fun of traveling is the planning. Folks like you make it a bit easier

Posted by
14920 posts

"...felt cheated...." In this context i am quite aware of the feeling. Related to Hurtgen Forest there is the military cemetery at Vossenack. You'll most likely come across it. Since you'll be in Normandy, the car is needed to see areas west of Bayeux, better than relying on the local bus, # 70 which when I was there last had been taken out of operation. That ended my goal in that part of Normandy.

I assume you mean Lille, France, close to Belgium where you intend on renting a car. Drop it off in Alsace-Lorraine but use it to look around Metz, which was fought over three times, in 1918 and 1944 by the US as part of the Lorraine campaign. While there, see the town of Bruyères in Alsace, where the US troops from the 442nd RCT (Japanese-American Nisei outfit) were the liberators.

Posted by
8859 posts

Congrats on your retirement and thank you for your service to your community for all those years. Enjoy your Sept trip,

Posted by
2 posts

If you are going to the American Cemetery in Normandy, I would suggest getting there as early as possible. We were there before all the crowds and in time for the raising of the flag. It was incredible and an extremely humbling experience. We had enough time to visit the different areas, and were leaving the area as the tour buses arrived.

Posted by
101 posts

Thanks for your help..things are getting a bit clearer..

Posted by
338 posts

I don't have anything to add. But I do have a suggestion. If you have any interest in WWI, you might want to see if there are any events, special exhibits, or commemorations near the areas you plan to visit. It's the 100-year anniversary of that war, so there may something special going on that you can squeeze in. For example, the battles around Loos started in September, 1915, so there may be something in that area.

Have a great trip.

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