Ardennes

[alaric99x]

During the last two weeks I've been up to Bastogne on two trips. The place is close to where I live and I drove separate routes to see the terrain where the Battle of the Bulge was fought.

On the first trip I drove through Diekirch, Clervaux and to Bastogne. I, and my wife, visited an amazing Bulge museum in Diekirch. We were kind of late in finding the museum by the time we got to Bastogne and it was closed by the time we got there.

On the second trip I drove to Arlon and then on to Bastogne. This time we were there early enough to see the museum. If any of you are ever planning to go to that area, I can tell you that the museum at Diekirch is definitely worth a visit. The museum at Bastogne is very interesting, but the one at Diekirch is much larger, maybe 8 to 10 times a big. It also costs less to enter, 5 Euro while the museum at Bastogne costs 8.50 Euro.

When I stopped at Clervaux, I didn't know that town also has a Bulge museum, there are quite a few in the Ardennes region.

In Bastogne they renamed their main market square "Place McAuliffe." There's a shop across from there that sells WWII uniform and equipment items, t-shirts, etc. I met an old gentleman who works in that shop who was a veteran of the 82nd Airborne and was present in Bastogne during the battle. He was a lieutenant at the time, but, stupidly enough, I didn't write down his name. He asked me if I'd seen "Band of Brothers" and if I believed it was true. I said, "Well, yeah, because it's based on the accounts of people who actually participated in the events." He said, "Good man, because it is all true." On the second trip I intended to visit him again and get additional information (like name, duh!) but it was a Monday and that shop is closed on Mondays. Well, I'll be back in that area again, I'd still like to see some other places like St. Vith, Malmedy, Vielsalm, etc.

If any of you guys really are planning to go to that area, let me know and I can give you some more specific info.