Lorraine American Cemetery

Toward the end of last school year we were getting ready for the Memorial Day weekend, and Maddox's Teacher Aide told us that she'd be helping to place flags at Lorraine American Cemetery. We decided to go for a visit, to see the Cemetery with all the decorations, and to show the kids around. There was very strange weather that day, so we didn't stay for long- but I took more photos the next time we went.  Marshall and I have started to volunteer for Findagrave.com, which is a website where people can request a picture or information regarding the burial place of their loved ones, all around the world.  If you've never heard of it- check it out!  So far we have provided over 200 photos for families back in the States, just from Lorraine American Cemetery- and there are many more American Cemeteries all over Europe, that we haven't even seen yet.

There are over 10,000 Americans buried here, making it the largest number of graves of American military members from World War II.

The layout of the land is really beautiful, and they provide maps at the Visitor's Center.

Along this wall are the names of 444 missing soldiers.

This is the chapel inside the Memorial Building.

There are some interesting maps showing the path of the war.

This map is huge and very high on the wall.

We found a few Medal of Honor Recipients that are buried here.

Here's something amusing- I was standing at the top of this viewpoint, which is right at the end of the cemetery, and a gust of wind blew my paper out of my hand and down into these bushes.  Marshall had to scale the wall and climb through to get it.  I have him a hard time for trespassing, and he gave me a hard time for littering.

If you ever find your self in Southwest Germany, or Eastern France, definitely take the time to visit this really impressive Memorial.

Eat, Drink, and be Merry

You want to make a ton of money in America?  Open one of these: a walk-in, fill your own container, wine shop.  "Take Away Wine!"  We passed this on the way to our apartment, and went back a few times!  Genius, no doubt about it.

There is a bar with all kinds of wine on tap.  You can bring your own bottle, or purchase one there.  Or you can buy a glass of wine and stroll down the street with it!

It says "No Self Service" because there is an attendant there, and it seemed like he would have let us taste as much as we wanted!

There was also a decent bottled wine and beer selection.

 We also ate at this sidewalk pizzaria.  Maddox loved taking pictures with Marshall's camera.

I got the veggie pizza.

Marshall got one that the waitress said was horse...we thought it surely couldn't be- but it really was!  He said it wasn't that great, and tasted like jerky.  Although we don't eat horse in America, there are many other cultures who do (clearly Italy being one of them).

The kids were so happy we were sitting down for a while.

Mdx would have been fine staying here all day.

Marshall was still happy about the take away wine.

So I said "Show me your grumpy faces!"" and this is what I got. Ha!

Of course, we had some Gelato....many times!

And pizza a few times too!

That's about it for Spring Break- there are some museum photos, but not enough to make up a blog.  Now I need to move on to Memorial Day, and my parents visit in the early summer!