Last month, I took a National WW2 Museum tour ("D-Day: The Invasion of Normandy and Liberation of France"), which covered the major D-Day sights and museums, and devoted one full day to the Falaise Gap. We then spent one day in Reims on our own, followed by two days with a private guide (one full day devoted to the Battle of Verdun and one full day re-tracing my grandfather's footsteps during the Meuse-Argonne Offensive), with stops at the site of Sgt. York's heroic actions and where the "Lost Battalion" held out surrounded by the Germans from 2-8 October 1918 . On the last day of the trip, we took a half-day champagne tour out of Epernay, with stops at two champagne cellars and Hautvillers (home of Dom Perignon). All three guides were outstanding and I HIGHLY recommend each one: (1) Mr. Christophe Gosselin (christophe.gosselin0437@orange.fr; website), whose grandfather was in the French Resistance and who is an expert on D-Day and the Battle of Normandy; (2) Mr. Guillaume Moizan (guillaume.moizan.guide@gmail.com; website) who also was featured in an episode of "Travels with Darley" on PBS (one of the two Western Front episodes) and also was seen on American TV (CSPAN3) during the centennial of the Armistice (November 2018). He took us into woods to see trenches, we went inside bunkers and forts, visited memorials, saw sites of mine warfare (including going 45 meters below ground into the German tunnels at Vaquois), the Verdun Ossuary, and the Meuse-Argonne American Cemetery. Lastly, we spent a very pleasant afternoon with Ms. Isabelle Rousseaux (contact@aychampagneexperience.com; website, who has personal ties to the champagne industry and was very knowledgeable about the product and the area.
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