Finally I came to reading this great novel about
the lives of the Meijer family between 1871 and 1945,
a wide but not unmanageable time-span. The family is
Jewish, the setting mainly Switzerland. In eBook format this book is about 1400 pages - but reading on my iLiad is really fast - so I am halfway already. It is a very gripping story - waiting to be a movie.
We stopped at Heidelberg for a good (German) meal and sleep before continuing our journey home. Heidelberg is a sweet little town with a huge castle on top of a hill overlooking the city.
Today's trip was the last of our WW I journey. But boy what a trip it turned out to be! We left Saint Die des Vosges in a little drizzle and knew from the weather forecast that riding any col to our last destination (Thann) was NOT a good idea - so we decided to take a detour. But every road out of the valley was blocked because of snow. We really had to ride 100 km or so to find an open road and at first it seemed OK and fun to drive - that is until a snow blizzard started and we a) couldn't see a thing because of our blocked visors, b) were almost blown of our bikes by the galls and c) couldn't ride the road because of the ice and snow. We had to wait for the snowplough to come through and after we followed it carefully continue our way. After hours we arrived in Thann and after a quick dip in the Jacuzzi and sauna started to feel human again. Thanks to our Rukka suits and Yamaha bikes we made it through. WE didn't see any other bikes on our way...
The weather isn't getting any better - but we managed somehow to keep it dry. We are now on our last part of the journey that brought us all the way from east Belgium to the coast and then back to East France again. All on the smallest roads you can find. The major battlefields are behind us. The Lorraine and the Alsace were old contested areas that were German since the 1870's and France wanted to have them back - so there was some fighting here as well. This area is getting more '' hilly" so riding the bikes is even more fun.
In the bathroom of our Hotel I found this satchel with a white/yellowish fluid in it. A gift from the previous occupant? It turned out to be bath foam - or at least I used it for that purpose...
Together with the big battles at Ieper and Hamel, Verdun has been one of the most deadliest. Every day tens of thousands soldiers died here. The French and Germans wanted to have Verdun and fort Douaumont what ever it took. In the Ossuaire the remains of 150.000 unknown soldiers are garthered (not buried, you can see the bones and skulls, just lying around). Lorraine itself is a very nice region and riding here is a joy.
Everyday at least one guy comes up to us to admire our bikes and to ask all kinds of questions about it. It usually turns out that they wanted to ride a bike for years, but are not allowed to do so by their girlfriends or wives. Poor lads, they really look sad :-) In villages were we pass through most of the time people are waiving, like we are on a real expedition and boys ask us to do some tricks (like wheelies). It's quite something else then your usual auto trip..
We have left the battlefield where the Belgians and British fought and are now entering the French and American fronts (Oh, yeah: and the Germans of course ;-) )
Lot's of monuments in the villages still - but some big ones from the Americans - usually on a hill overlooking the surroundings.
We had slept and had dinner at Lallement before - but now that the whole place is refurnised it's even better. In a very cool lounge (with lounge music) environment you'll get a fusion kind of top notch French food. It was one of the best dinners ever. I guess I have to go on a diet starting right now.
We have covered some 2000 KM now and seen a lot of the old front and battlefields. Thousands of cemeteries and a lot of monuments. But we had some awesome roads and views too. It's really pretty out here.
