We left our bad hotel in Reims and headed for an area that was key to my trip to Europe – the Battle of Verdun. This catastrophic site of conflict cost the lives of 1 million men total for both the French and Germans and the struggle for the French became as symbol of their national will and so the memorials here are special. They also helped usher in the modern concept of listing names on memorials to remember all those who were lost not just key leaders or officers. The destructive power of modern warfare also rendered human remains into piles of bones and decayed flesh in enormous quantities across the battlefield. The weather was cold and misty and reflected the solemnity of what we would see. 
The first stop was the memorial to the Sacred Way – the road from Bar-le-Duc that the French fought to keep open as the only way into the fortresses at Verdun; this road cost countless lives. The memorial looks over a beautiful section of countryside that has recovered nicely from the ultimate destruction that was rained down upon this place.
We now drove up towards the old Fort Douamont site that today is home to the unusual and awe inspiring large ossuary. The ossuary is used to house the bleached bones of over 130,000 French soldier’s remains from this battle site. It is a somber and reflective place both inside and out. The structure is massive and bleak and inside it is softly lit with mainly amber light. The names are etched all around the interior walls and in some locations are pictures donated by families of those who were lost.
We now drove up towards the old Fort Douamont site that today is home to the unusual and awe inspiring large ossuary. The ossuary is used to house the bleached bones of over 130,000 French soldier’s remains from this battle site. It is a somber and reflective place both inside and out. The structure is massive and bleak and inside it is softly lit with mainly amber light. The names are etched all around the interior walls and in some locations are pictures donated by families of those who were lost. We were able to traverse the stairs to the top of the ossuary tower and gaze down in the mist upon the huge cemetery below – that for those who could be identified. There is a large section of the cemetery dedicated to Jewish French troops as well. On the outside and back of the ossuary are small clear windows and within one can view the piles of bones held inside. It is a startling and sad site. The area around the ossuary and Ft Vaux as well are today lovely, green and wooded and bear no resemblance to the destroyed wasteland of 1916-18. I could not imagine the horribleness of this place or the suffering on such a tremendous scale and all really for just a few square miles of territory. This place became a nationalistic struggle between France and Germany, and while France ultimately won the war, the meat-grinder here sapped French strength and their desire for war and helped lead to their defeat in WWII. Two other interesting notes: 1) there is no mention here anywhere of General Henri Petain who ultimately saved the battle for the French by relieving over burdened troops and rallying the French to fight on; after his surrender and collaboration with the Germans in WWII, he has been almost erased from his role in WWI; and 2) there are almost no signs or cemeteries in the area to remember the Germans; only the flags flying over Ft Vaux even remind one that men of another nation also fought and died here. Such a very sad place and not a tribute to the intelligence of man but rather to our ability to destroy. 
As we drove out of the area, I stopped to photograph the memorial to Andre Maginot who fought at Verdun and was so moved by this place and experience that he vowed this would not happen again to France. He developed the concept of a stationary frontier defensive line to be built across northern France and protect from future invasion – the Maginot. 
So we set out in our time remaining before heading to Metz to find parts of the Maginot Line that run across France just north of Verdun. We did go into the town of Verdun to have lunch at a nice little bakery/coffee shop. Using one of my maps we headed toward Longuedoc and sure enough I began to see monument signs (they look like little bombs on the roadside signs) and ambled down a small road toward a farm house. There just to the side of the home was a partially crumbling section of the Maginot Line and it as guarded by two French donkeys. I snapped some pictures as the donkeys came quickly ambling toward our car – they were little photo hounds as they stopped by the fence right next to the car window. Back on the main road, we soon saw signs for Fort Fermont and after a little bit of driving found the turnout. We parked and began walking through a clearing in the forest. We did not have time to take the 2 hour underground tour that sometimes runs at 3pm in the afternoons but we soon came across a large section of the line and snapped our photos both from a distance and along the rails. It is hard to imagine the size and scope of this defensive structure that ran across northern France, and which ultimately the Germans rendered moot by simply bypassing it. All those millions of francs and tine proved useless in protecting France in 1940. 
We had just a few hours before we had to return the rental car but since we were only about 2 kilometers from the border we decided to drive across into Luxembourg. It was filled with people mainly lining up at the gasoline stations for the cheap gas! It was advertised about .25-.30 euros cheaper than France. Unfortunately, they do not seem interested in selling postcards or such and so we found no place to shop. We headed to Metz instead. 
. We arrived at the train station after filling with diesel and now had to try and find the car rental return location - - remember in a nation that is horrible with signs! Finally after our 4th trip around the block (large block) we found the entrance which was just the beginning of the trek. We had to drive around a tiny spiral drive to the top of the train station and then try and understand the return guidance signs; we finally made it through the gate, parked in the correction location and then unloaded all stuff (it has grown during the trip), manage to catch the elevator down and return the keys to the car rental counter with 15 minutes to spare!
Now we had about 5 ½ hours until catching our night train to Berlin. We ambled over to a restaurant across the street with all our luggage. The nice waiter served us some drinks and then we had a leisurely dinner (one of the times we enjoyed the very very slow wait service). We returned to the train station in which most everything closed at around 8pm. We managed to find a large bench and then proceeded to be good professors and graded our online student’s work! Love my little netbook computer and laptop connect card. Train info is only available about 20 minutes prior to leaving so we had to wait to learn which platform we had to access.
The night train was great! Actually better than hotel room in Reims LOL! The car attendant was so friendly and we were served small bottles of sparkling white wine and water before heading to bed. I took the top bunk! Our 1st class car had a private bathroom with shower so we could awaken and clean up before breakfast and our arrival in Berlin. I really enjoyed the night travel although the train swayed quite a bit at the beginning. We were slightly delayed the next morning as we had to detour around a section of the track that had been vandalized apparently by folks after the copper. We pulled into Berlin that morning!
