Tanks in Town

I attended a WWII re-enactment event in Mons, Belgium called “Tanks in Town”. This was a incredible event with dozens and dozens of armored vehicles. Many are extremely rare and most are fully operational. It was a great day.

I have decided that I need an M5 Stuart...no I NEED and M5 Stuart. I am told one occasionally goes on the market for about$50,000. It's worth that--that’s like a sports car only this is like an investment! Seriously I got to sit in every position of a fully restored Stuart, look through the gun site, play with the controls and hatches--it was a blast. To my surprise I actually fit inside one though it was tight going in...

The still photos speak for themselves, but here are some observations:

-There was a group of re-enactors who dressed like and had their campsite up like Kelly's Hero's. They even had a still from the movie of the campsite they rebuilt.

-Tanks not moving in heavy cover are very hard to see.

-The most unusual part of the whole day was walking around hundreds of people dressed as American soldiers and not being able to find anyone that speaks English to tell me how to sign up for a tank ride. Including the "GI's" that where doing the sign in sheets for the tank rides.

All Pictures are here.

Here is a move of an M18 Hellcat spinning around the track:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IBgWivabi48

Paris Day 2

Today we visited the Medival Museum and the Louvre. We foolishly only gave the Louve a 1/2 day and it really deserves 3 days at least. It was enough to see the major pieces, such the place of Sargon relics, the Mona Lisa, The code of Hammurabi, the Egyptian exibits.

Pictures are here.

Paris Day 1

It would be really difficult not to like Paris. The streets are very clean and there is more to take in this city than any I have ever been to--two days is not enough. We walked around the city and visited Notre Dam,

The armory at the old military hospital which is adjacent to Napoleon's tomb and the Eiffel tower.The selection of canon was absolutely incredible. They had hundreds of examples of cannons from around the world ranging from Chinese, ottoman, to the guns from fortresses around France. Many where ornately cast. The pictures tell it all. If you look closely you will note some serious damage on some of the guns from counterbatterfy fire--very cool.

The Medieval armory was great. They had a huge storage room with glass windows with hundreds of pieces of armor and weapons on racks and shelves. The section from 17th century on closed until 2008, so the entire extensive collection from the Napoleonic area is not open for viewing at this time.

Napoleon's tomb was impressive. There are several tombs including Josephine's, Nap's brother Jerome, and several French Generals from the last couple hundred years. The use of light and colored glass gave several of the rooms a supernatural atmosphere.

We walked up to the Eiffel tower, but declined to wait in line for 1 hour+ to ride the elevator up. Maybe another day.

Picture Galley is here.

Omaha beach, St. Mere Eglise and WWII remembered

We had about a day to spend on the WWII sites in Normandy. It was just enough get the full picture, but to actually see everything--to include all the museums would take 2-3 days. Still we saw a lot of country: The coastal batteries at Longues and Point du Hoc, Omaha Beach, St. Mere Eglise, and the American Memorial and Cemetery in St. Laurent. The following day, on our way back to Brussels, we drove through the Bocage country. Rolling hills crisscrossed with ancient mounds, overgrown with trees and undergrowth that denote parcels of land and where a nightmare for US forces as they advanced through South-West Normandy.

All pictures can be viewed from here.
Omaha beach is 6km (about 4 miles) long. We picked a small portion in front of the Colleville draw to visit the beach. This gave use a review of some the German defenses that remain, the monument to the 1st ID "the Big Red One" and was walking distance to American cemetery and memorial.
There was an excellent map detailing the defenses in this Sector. The American military classified this section of the beach as "Easy Red" and part of "Fox Green" sectors.
The cemetery was moving and the American memorial impressive. You have to see it yourself to really know what 10,000 white crosses look like. Perhaps surprising was the number of people that where there who really had a grave to visit. There where several families with 2-3 generations present who had brought flowers and where clearly focused on visiting a particular fallen soldier. I felt a bit of an intruder as I watched two men in there forties--clearly brothers standing over a grave when one of the pulled a handful of soil from his pocket and spread it on the grave. They spent a few more moments then walked away toward the beach. If today was like any other it's profound to think about the impact these events still have and still work to shape who and what we are as a country.
The cemetery was built and designed by the US government in the fashion of memorials that are found in Washington. Wide sidewalks and a liberal use of space. You might have to live in Europe to appreciate this fully, but everything over here is crammed in tight and is designed with an efficiency of space in mind. The architecture, the flag, and the undeniable presence of 10,000 countrymen all conspired to make this felt a bit like home--like a piece of the States uprooted and settled down into the soil of Northern France. I would like to think that it will always be so remembered.

On to Normandy

We stayed in Bayeux at the Liod d' Or Hotel. Great accommodation--I would recommend it. We went right for the tapestry. It was great to see it in person, and you get a good idea for the time and effort that went into it. Seeing it all at once I found the relative few colors used/available to be surprising and the stitches where not quit as close or small as they appear in pictures. Some of the reds where more "red" the others, but all where some version of Brown-Red. For the most part there was great consistency in the color. To our shock and surprise some new scenes from the tapestry have been recently discovered and can be seen here.

For more of this nonsense visit here and to create you own silliness go here. Real pictures of the tapestry are here if you’re interested.

We spent hours driving around the countryside in Normandy with visits to Cain, Falaise and their fortresses. Though we did not know it at the time we stopped and had lunch in the town of Harfleur. This was the city besieged by Henry V just before Agincourt and is included in the Shakespeare tale of the same name. At the time Harfleur was the major shipping port and control point for access to the Seine.

All pictures are here.

Imperial War Museum in London

I was in London for business meeting and extended my stay over Saturday which gave me a chance to see a bit more of London. I visited the Imperial War Museum which has some great equipment and collections. Really good stuff. The pictures speak for themselves.

Some of the more interesting pieces are; the eagle taken from the Reichstag in Berlin. A Jagdpanther with side armor penetrations and lots of other "lovingly" restored vehicles.