WWI Museum, Champagne Cellar, and the Phantoms

On May 2, we visited the Musée de la Grande Guerre (The Great War Museum).

It was inaugurated in 2011, and we had never been there before.

Benjamin had to write a "what I liked best over spring break" paper at school, and this is what he picked.

The boys had swim practice that afternoon, so Don, Aaron, and I went to visit a champagne cellar. We had called ahead this time to be sure to get the tour in English... but when we got there, the tour guide tried to con me into letting him give the tour in French while I translated. I politely told him I probably didn't have the right vocabulary for it, so he had to do it in French and in English since another small group came at the same time.

On the way to the champagne cellar, I saw signs for the Phantoms, which we had looked for the day before but hadn't found. So on our way back, we took a detour to see these imposing fellows, sculpted by Paul Landowski.

I wonder how many Americans (or French people, for that matter) have ever seen this monument. It is in the middle of nowhere, as you can see in the picture.

And on the way home, we drove by these chapel ruins. We've driven by this spot a couple of times before, but can never seem to remember where it is to go take pictures.

Rainy May Day

Don and Aaron Mellor came to visit us next.

On May 1st, we started with a look around Puiseux's flea market and a walk through the village.

After lunch, we headed for the Aisne-Marne American cemetery at Belleau. In the rain.

I guess if we let the rain stop us, we'd never get to visit anything, given where we live! But look at the beautiful, rich greens we get as compensation.

And then we went behind the cemetery to Belleau Wood, an important WWI battlefield. We saw some German cannons, and you can still see the trenches, 100 years later.

We continued on to the monument in Château-Thierry, which we had never visited before. The two women represent Franco-American friendship.

Noah worked on his budding photography skills with Aaron's camera (he was the only one brave enough to lend his camera to Noah).

and the Parental Mythology photo.

The Representation of Reality photo... 

Reims

We made a trip to Reims to do a little sight-seeing. We started with the Mars Gate, a gate that has been around since around 200 AD.  

Then we went to check out the Cité du Chemin Vert or something-or-other, a sort of early experiment in socialism in the 1920s, but it looked like a pretty normal neighborhood now, nothing very exciting other than maybe this pretty church.

We made a quick stop on Boulevard Lundy, where the Protestant Reformed church is located.

And we had lunch in a park, with an uninvited visitor.

How could we tell Benjamin didn't want to go to bed?

He left an army to tell us so...

 

What to do with a visiting grandmother:

	1. Jump on her right as she comes in the door to make her come out and watch your "tricks" on the swingset trapeze, and follow up with a rousing game of Connect 4.
2. Verify just how tall (or not) she is, to figure how long it will be before you catch up.
	3. Celebrate Easter with an egg hunt and lots of chocolate and candy.
4. Let her supervise your work in the yard, as you prepare the fence line for sunflowers.
	(5. Pretend to be working together nicely instead of trying to whack each other with garden tools, so Mom can have a nice Parental Mythology picture.)
6. Let her read to you in English. While your brother smushes you on the couch.