France Road Ways Two on the Loose TRAVEL HUMANITIES PHOTOS

Paris. Napoleon's Tomb, Les Invalides; Napoleon Timeline

2011-11-11T17:27:00.002-05:00

Hotel des Invalides. This was originally a hospital, and dates from 1676. At that time, work ordered by Louis XIV was completed to house and care for 7,000 wounded, crippled, soldiers. Napoleon's brothers rest here, and later a son, as does Napoleon himself.

Napoleon's Tomb, Paris, Les Invalides

Napoleon as a man and a concept is a lifetime for research. For Napoleon's tomb, this narrow bit, see http://www.ibiblio.org/wm/paris/hist/invalides.html .
See also http://www.bbc.co.uk/history/historic_figures/bonaparte_napoleon.shtml , He conquered most of Europe. BBC cites these main events:

1769 - Napoleon born, Corsica; military training
179697 - Commander French Army in Italy; forced Austrians and others to make peace; Napoleon conducts campaigns, crosses Alps, see http://www.historyofwar.org/articles/campaign_napoleon_italy_1796.html. Road signs crossing the Grand San Bernardino Pass show his hat, see Swiss side at http://switzerlandroadways.blogspot.com/2009/11/swiss-side-gran-san-bernardo-pass-great.html ;
Appreciate the terrain with a continuance to the Italian side, at http://italyroadways.blogspot.com/2009/11/italian-side-alps-gran-san-bernardo.html
1798 -Conquered Ottomans in Egypt (trying to impact British trade routes there); then British defeated his fleet, Battle of Nile
1799 - New alliances against France: British with Austrians and Russians. Napoleon conducts coup and becomes Consul
When? ______: Napoleon marries Josephine de Beauharnais
1800 - Defeats Austrians at Marengo, Italy, see http://www.napoleonguide.com/battle_marengo.htm; negotiates general Europe peace with French as major power. Marengo: also the name and myth of his horse, http://www.napoleon-series.org/reviews/biographies/c_hamilton.html
1802 - Napoleon becomes Consul for life.
1803 - Britain institutes war against France, with allies Austria and Russia
1804 - Napoleon becomes Emperor, centralizes government, creates bank, reinstates Catholicism as state religion, institutes reforms in law, the Napoleonic Code, sets up Holland and Westphalia (see the Bonaparte Docks at Antwerp, probably connected, http://belgiumroadways.blogspot.com/2006/07/antwerp-worlds-greatest-host-pan-earth.html
1805 - Napoleon sought to invade Britain, but British navy defeats Napoleon at Trafalgar. Napoleon then turns on Russia and Austria and is victorious at Austerlitz, now in Czech Republic.
1808 - "Peninsular war" and then follow a series of defeats
1810 - Napoleon has marriage to Josephine annulled on grounds of her childlessness; and marries daughter of Austrian emperor
1811 - Napoleon and new wife have son, also named Napoleon
1812 - Napoleon invades Russia, disaster.
1814 - British, Austrians and Russians ally and take Paris (or were there other allies by that time?). Napoleon is exiled to island of Elba
1815 - Napoleon escapes, reorganizes for march on Paris, is defeated at Waterloo. Napoleon is imprisoned, island of St. Helena
1821 - Napoleon dies

Then comes Napoleon's annexation of Prussian lands, the dissolution of the Holy Roman Empire, apparently Holland and Westphalia were created (how? - Prussian lands?); and Napoleon installs his friends, relatives, in power in Spain, Italy, Naples, Sweden, Holland and Westphalia.

See also http://www.parisdigest.com/monument/napoleongrave . For music for the Dome Church where he lies, listen at http://www.geocities.com/intrepidberkeleyexplorer/Page16B.

Arras. Battle of Arras. Logs. WWI. 2nd Royal Scots Fusiliers. Lt.Col. Maurice Edwin McConaghey

2011-09-17T07:13:00.002-04:00

Arras

Battle of the Somme
The Nivelle Offensive

McConaghey fell.

Little Village, Neuville-Vitasse;
.

Enormous WWI Events for so Many
.
This, no strategic effect on the Western Front as a whole, as it turned out.

"20th April 1917. The Nivelle Offensive, which includes the Second Battle of Aisne and the Third Battle of Champagne ends in French Failure."
The History of the Royal Scots Fusiliers (1678-1918) by John Buchan

This summarizes the technical result of the battle in which Maurice McConaghey died. It is from http://www.worldwar-1.net/ Memorializing the dead. The issue here is how and who gets recalled, in all the deaths of a conflict. If cultures and families let people fall unnoticed, will the battle myths of glory perpetuate unhindered. Racism. Another issue, in looking at comparative mortalities -- more died in the Congo than in WWI, is that so? Vet it. Personalize war. Here, the logs of th 2d Royal Scots Fusiliers at Arras, where distant cousin McConaghey fell.

1. France was a site of much of the combat of WWI. Does it matter how many died, comparative mortalities, in weighing wars. Conflicts produce huge numbers, military and civilian. It is culture, however, that determines whether people are remembered or not. Numbers killed do not determine impact on history or people.

More died in the Congo than in WWI. See the other 20th Century stats. FN 1. Iraq, modern US warfare, has seen far smaller numbers at http://antiwar.com/casualties/ But is there a deliberate exclusion of civilian casualties, or the effort to catalogue them?

By any measure, however, World War I is enormous in its loss of life, 8,500,000 military killed, not counting civilians, see http://necrometrics.com/20c5m.htm#WW1; With that devastation of place and family, turn now to details of some battles in France and bordering Belgium.

2. The Nivelle Offensive. The Battle of the Somme. The Battle of Arras. France. Get behind the statistics.

What was it like for a specific officer at the Somme, a relative from Devon, England, who served in the Boer Wars and then at the Somme, near Arras, where he was killed. See http://belgiumroadways.blogspot.com/2006/07/ieper-wwi-and-arras-france-finding.html FN 2.

Read John Buchan's book, History of the Royal Scots Fusiliers (1678-1918). Buchan's book is online in pdf at http://www.rhf.org.uk/Books/BUCHAN'S.doc. Find Buchan at http://www.johnbuchansociety.co.uk/thewritingsnf.htm. This work cannot be under copyright after all these years, so here we offer a fair use excerpt, from the chapter entitled, "The Close of the Battle of Arras." This book was found in the Records Office in Ypres, by special search by a dedicated clerk. See We are following only the Second Fusiliers.

.................................................................................

From The History of the Royal Scots Fusiliers (1678-1918) by John Buchan --
[p.380][1917 April 13-23]

"*** The 2nd Royal Scots Fusiliers were out of the line till 19th April when they returned to occupy a portion of the Hindenburg Line on the south side of the Cojeul River.

"The first stage of the battle of Arras concluded on 11th April, and thereafter for more than a week our front was improved only by small local movements, while the enemy showed vigour in his counter-attacks. On the 16th came Nivelle's great adventure on the Aisne, and it was incumbent on Haig ro press his advance so as to divert the German strength. So far as the British armies were concerned, the main task was finished, and their duty now was subsidiary -- to distract the enemy from Nivelle rather than to win their own special ojectives. Accordingly at dawn on the 23rd Haig attacked on an eight-mile front on both banks of the Scarpe against the line Gavrelle--Roeux--Guemappe--Fontaine-les- Croiselles.

****

[p.381][1917 April 23-May 3]

"On the 23rd, too, the 2nd Royal Scots Fusiliers were engaged with the rest of the Thirtieth Division in an attack on the high ground overlooking Cherisy in the Sensee valley. The batallion advanced at 4.45 a.m. on a two-company front, and was immediately caught and checked by a terrific machine-gun barrage. At six a.m. the enemy counter-attacked, but was held; at six p.m. the 21st Brigade attempted to repeat the morning's attack, but it too suffered disaster; at nine p.m. the survivors of the Scots Fusiliers were withdrawn to reserve positions. The day depleted the battalion by more than one-half. The commanding officer -- Lieut.-Colonel M. E. McConaghey -- fell, and with him Second Lieutenants J. Spears, J. McLeod, T. Leishman, H. F. Smith and J. C. Cameron, and 55 other ranks; 4 officers and 195 men were wounded; 4 officers and 209 men missing. On 26th April Major W. L. Campbell took over command.

"The close of April marked the end of the battle of Arras as originally planned. It was an action complete in itself -- that is to say, it attained completely its immediate objective; but owing to events outside the control of the British Command, it did not produce a strategical effect upon the Western front as a whole which was its ultimate design. *** "

............................................................................................................
3. Family Trees. As any tree, the perspective depends on the looking post. No tree can all be seen all at once. Ours has widely veering branches including those in colonies, relative peacetime, or war. This branch has roots in colonial India. After Maurice Edwin was killed, his widow, Cynthia Estcourt 1886-1981, what happened? where did she go? She was from the Isle of Wight, he, from Westward Ho!, Devon, but born in India. Did they return to India for their marriage? Colonial ties: economic, family, roots taking hold.

If we think that any of us are unconnected to the larger globe, think again, is that so?

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FN 1 Congo Free State 1886-1908: 80,000,000
World War I 1914-1918: 15,000,000
Russian Civil War 1917-1922: 9,000,000
World War II 1939-1945: 66,000,000
Peoples Republic of China, Chairman Mao: 40,000,000

See http://necrometrics.com/20c5m.htm

FN 2 Maurice Edwin McConaghey is buried at London Cemetery, named for the Division, near the village of Neville Vitasse, in the department of the Pas-de-Calais, and some five miles south of Arras. There, the Royal Scots Fusiliers fought in 1916, including Lt.Col. Maurice McConaghey 1877-1917. With the "e".

Maurice Edwin had served in the Boer Wars in 1899, was wounded and returned to Great Britain on a hospital ship; all those are available online. He was wounded in March 1917, and returned to battle a month or so later at the same place, near Neuville-Vitasse, and was killed.

His cousin, Major William McConaghy RAMC 1881-1918 (Maurice added the "e" arbitrarily to keep their records separate) served in the Royal Army Medical Corps. William was the son of Martha something born 1842, of Westward Ho, Devon, England (no wonder, see http://www.devon-online.com/towns/westwardho/Welcome.html and a late Surgeon General, William McConaghy. Matthew

This Regiment, the Second, was founded in 1678. The Colonel-in-Chief was H.R.H. The Prince of Wales, Edward, son of King George V; but Edward's position was that of staff officer of the XIV Corps on the Somme position, see http://www.iwm.org.uk/server/show/nav.2208. The Prince of Wales was not involved in the fighting either there or at Arras.

However, Prince Edward's preface is given at John Buchan's book, History of the Royal Scots Fusilers (1678-1918). Buchan's book is online in pdf at http://www.rhf.org.uk/Books/BUCHAN'S.doc. Find Buchan at http://www.johnbuchansociety.co.uk/thewritingsnf.htm.

The 56th London Division attacked Neuville-Vitasse on April 7, 1917, and captured it two days later. The 56th (London) Division itself made the cemetery, and it was extended after the Armistice, with remains brought from other burial grounds. The London contains 747 burials or commemorations: of that, 318 are unidentified. Others, graves destroyed by shelling, appear on a panel representing other areas nearby.

Rouen - And Early Slavery

2009-04-24T17:31:00.003-04:00

Rouen, France, gate

Rouen apparently was a favored shipping point for slaves from the 8th to the 11th Centuries. From Rouen, Irish and Flemish slaves were sent to the Arabian areas.

Part of the booty for Vikings - slaves. Vikings operated at that time and became known as Northmen and then Normans. See The Vikings, a History, by Robert Ferguson 2009.

Vikings took Irish and Scots slaves for sale as far as Constantinople, Spain, Russia, Scandinavia.

See this site, with its history of White Slavery in the British Aisles, the enslavement of Irish, Scots (names in early days often used interchangeably) and the Alba and Picts, at ://www.electricscotland.com/history/other/white_slavery.htm.

We love slavery here in the West. Stop the trade in laborers; and let it continue with human trafficking. And all the while, enslaving - and this is a rational analysis - other sentient beings for profit, our animals. Slave cages for chickens. We are not vegan. We think any living creature deserves health in life and dignity in death. Too much for civilization to handle? Bring on the slaves.

Loire Valley - Amboise - Castle and Leonardo da Vinci Residence. Hats of the World

2009-04-10T06:55:00.005-04:00

I. The Castle at Amboise; St. Hubert's Chapel where Da Vinci is buried;

II. The Manor House, Clos Luce, home of Da Vinci, in the Town;
and
III. The Da Vinci Hat and the Afghan Pakul: Hats of the World

I. The Castle; St. Hubert's Chapel

Sleep in a little place by the castle walls here, and wake to the brightest array of flags in your face as ever wakened any traveler. Chateau d'Amboise, with its St. Hubert Chapel. See ://travel.webshots.com/photo/1543070216034271123WFtCsV

This is the place where Leonardo da Vinci is buried, at the chapel on the grounds inside, and his house is in the town. That is fitting because St. Hubert is the patron saint of many things, including mathematicians, opticians and metalworkers, see Hubertus at ://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Saint_Hubert/

Leonardo - he is among the greats and the unsung as history's unofficial children,born out of wedlock, see that bit of trivia at Bogomilia, Shadow Children. See the castle at ://www.castles.org/castles/Europe/Western_Europe/France/france12.htm/ And there are the flags. We are still asleep beneath them.

Leonardo da Vinci, bust, Amboise, France

II. DaVinci Residence, Le Clos Luce, Manoir

Leonardo was invited here in 1516 apparently just for the pleasure of his company, by the King of France. Leonardo was given a pension and lived nearby at Clos Luce Manor House, see ://www.castles-france.net/vinci-clos-luce/ Find there a splendid little museum of recreated inventions - all those yellowybrown sketches come to life. Best in show: the personal tank. See it at Da Vinci Biography at ://www.leonardo-da-vinci-biography.com/da-vinci-invention-tank.html

III. The Leonardo Chapeau. Fashion.

Hats of the World

Look back at the sculpture, located on the castle grounds here.

Focus on Hats Through the Ages. Our modern heads largely flap out there uncovered, except for the baseball bit, or the chapeau du jour in the catalogues for the sun-smitten. Renaissance cap like a pakul, Afghan pakul. Look at its history. Pakul from Nuristan.

But we hardly would pose for a sculpture of ourselves wearing any hat, unless the hat is tied to our Persona, our Reason for Being, like a jockey.

The Leonardo hat fits flat on top of the head, like a narrower brimmed beret, and hat is highly unstable against the wind. It perches. It does not "fit."

So we see the little flap 2/3 the way around
The little flap is not tight so as to crip the coffure or restrict or distract thought; but lightly drapes, a courtesy perhaps, an apology for being, just coming to the top of the ear, but with a purpose. That little flap gives added stability -
I regret inconveniencing you like this Mr. DaVinci, Dr. DaVinci, says the little flap, but being here holds your cap on better. You won't mind in a little while. Just go about your business.

Is that a little sticky-up ornament in front, like a jaunty starched ribbon? Or is that part of the tree behind. Looks more like a pin decoration. See? I did not look closely enough.

He is frowning. Displeased. Chin jutted and set. And he is set with a pension and a house? Smile, man, smile!

Hats of the World.

The Afghan Pakul. World's most flexible, useful, comfortable hat. Fine for many weathers: the Afghan pakoul, most commonly worn by men. It has a splendid Renaissance look. Travel opens up the world. Follow the thoughts.

Imagine Da Vinci's hat with a snug, deep, deep rim-band that can be rolled to the satisfaction of the wearer about the forehead, then a flat crown supported by an under ring like a facing, that extends maybe 2-3" out from the band all the way around, to be tilted, perhaps, shoved back on occasion, and all in comfortable, breathable wool.

When the rim of the pakul is rolled, it can extend out to the same diameter as the crown.

The wool, like on the bias, stretches.

The hat used to be sold in the J. Peterman's catalogue and we ordered one for a niece, so we have tried one on.

Bring it back. We wish we could just enjoy clothing for clothing, apart from messages other people ascribe. The pakul brings with it many ways to individuate, find function for. Do an Images search.

Women also can wear it, an embroidered version. Depending on the culture in the area.

The pakol, or pakul, originated in Nuristan, an area of the Hindu Kush populated as early as 4200 BC by the Aryan peoples, a term long predating Hitler. Aryans then split to the Indo-Iranian, moving even into Hungary; and to Iran; then see the pre-Sanskrit languages group.
Then there are eras of sequential displacements. Many, many languages there, not always intelligible one to the other. Respect peoples and their history. The area is of particular interest to scholars, researchers, students of history and humanity.

All that is from an illustrated video lecture by Richard Strand on YouTube at ://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-1143391428692281347/

Learning about Afghanistan: We listened for the full lecture. Anthropologist, historian, respecter of peoples. Be one. See the pakul - worn by most everyone, apparently.

For the hat and other items, see the Afghan-Web shop at ://www.afghan-web.com/shop/ See it also at Zarina's, at ://www.zarinas.com/pakols.shtml/ Find also that burqas come in colors.

Then back to France. France as well as everywhere else is now home to people of all cultures. So this bit on Afghanistan is not totally out of place.

Normandy - Normans - Northmen - Norse - Vikings? What's In A Name

2009-02-25T20:40:00.002-05:00

Rollo the Ganger

Hrolf Ganger

Follow up here: an interest in William the Conqueror, at France Road Ways, Caen, Bayeux Tapestry, and William the Conqueror. He was Norman, or a Northman, and he invaded England successfully. Norse at the time were on both sides of the English Channel. Harold, the King there, is itself a Norse name and the Norse having raided and settled in northern and eastern England.

Who preceded William the Conqueror?

1. Rollo. A Norman leader in 911 AD, the Normans being the Northmen who stayed in France after a period of raiding and marauding all the way up the Seine, into Paris, into Burgundy, etc. The King of the Franks, (tribes going by a variety of names themselves) gave the Vikings the area of Normandy if they would just desist going further upstream.

Rollo had to become Christian to complete the transaciton, and so he did, and Rollo is his Christian name. He had been Hrolf.

In time, this Norse-derived group was governed by one of their own, who became known as the Duke of Normandy - a people apart. Enter William. William was their most famous Duke, William the Conqueror, at The Normans, at ://www.spartacus.schoolnet.co.uk/MEDnormandy.htm/ Not nice as neighbors or conquerors, but those were the times? Or were the Normans fiercer than others.

Meanwhile, other Norse were settling in Northern England - where "Danelaw" and not Saxon law would prevail. There, even the word "thorpe" is Norse for "village." The Yorkshire dialect in early times was "pidgin Norse." See ://members.tripod.com/HistoricalNovelists/norman.htm / Harold or Harald, and Canute (Knut) are Norse.

Migrations of peoples - no boundaries. See also ://www.economicexpert.com/a/Normans.html

Our group seems to have ended in Ireland, where Red Scariff fathered many near St. Lazerian's in County Carlow, branches then all over east, west, down under. This string suggests the Norman connecton, perhaps not a direct Norse settlement. Now back to fixing dinner....
Hrolf Ganger, he is called at ://members.tripod.com/HistoricalNovelists/norman.htm

What's in a name: Try Otkell, son of Skarf, and that surname with its Norse derivations, and this site suggesting either

a) the name appearing in Ireland as part of Norse-Viking settlers; or

b) the name coming with the Normans-Norse to England, and from there, to Ireland through Strongbow. See

Are we Norman? See Finding New Roots, Surname.

Les Saintes Maries de la Mer. Sara la Kali, the Gypsies, Gitans, the Three Marys

2009-02-13T18:36:00.000-05:00

Sara la Kali - Traditions of Faith

Patron Saint of the Roma, or Gypsies

Not the same Roman Catholic Saint Sarah

But another

We may head here, if the Euro and the Dollar balance out better. Airfares are good.

We have a yen for southern France, Pyrenees, whatever.

Aim perhaps: the gypsy festival for Sara la Kali, by tradition, the handmaid who accompanied the Three Marys after the crucifixion, to France, see ://www.interfaithmarianpilgrimages.com/pages/les-saintes-maries-de-la-mer.htm/. Sara la Kali is represented as black, dark-skinned, whether Egyptian, Ethiopian, or other origin - nonwhite. In southern France, at Saintes Maries de la Mer, Roma (Gypsies) collect and offer tribute over several days at least, at the end of May - to celebrate the landing of the Three Marys. Mary Magdalene, Mary Jacob, Mary Salome. Sara-la-Kali, or Sara the Black, with them.

See also ://www.worldeventsguide.com/event/418/Saintes-Maries-de-la-Mer-France/Gypsy-Pilgrimage.html/

See what we may or may not know or think we know about the Sara la Kali tradition, and Mary Salome, from a portrait in Gdansk, Poland, and at these sites - Poland's Black Madonna; and Gdansk Church St. Mary the Black; Black Madonnas, Possible Roma Origin.

The Fleur de Lis - Symbol; Edwardian Hatpin

2008-11-11T06:59:00.000-05:00

The Fleur de Lis

or "Flower of the Lily"
.

There is a long history to this symbol, that we connect with the history of France. However, it originated with the Roman Empire, see ://www.anthemflag.com/itemdetail71.htm This one is a long Edwardian hatpin from our collection, see Hatpins Collection Tour, Fleur de Lis. Some believe it looks more like a lotus.

Stories:

1. An angel presented one to the medieval King Clovis, founder of the Merovingian dynasty, when he converted to Christianity, some say at his crowning as an annointing vial of oil. That led to the idea that French kings were annointed directly by God, no intermediary such as a pope required. See history and flag at ://www.anthemflag.com/itemdetail71.htm

2. King Louis VI adopted it for his shield (or Louis VII?)

See ://www.fleurdelis.com/fleur.htm

3. English kings used it to demonstrate their claim to the French throne. George III finally removed it in 1801 when he gave up that claim. See ://www.anthemflag.com/itemdetail71.htm

4. Knights appropriated it without any bona fides, so heraldry controls were instituted.

5. We see it in Politics: Joan of Arc used it/ And in Religion: The Roman Catholic Church connects it to the Virgin Mary, that it was a gift blessing in an apparition, see://www.anthemflag.com/itemdetail71.htm; or to the Trinity (the three "arms"); and in War: Some US Army divisions incorporate it to show martial strength.

6. Coats of Arms - for Quebec since 1948, see http://www.anthemflag.com/itemdetail71.htm, many countries, noted families, the Boy Scouts, and a Navy Blue Angels flight pattern. Same site

Chinon Castle - The Templars' Confession

2008-09-29T03:10:00.001-04:00

The lovely, now elegant ruin, castle at Chinon, see France Road Ways, Chinon Castle, Joan of Arc, has more to its history than Joan of Arc spotting the Dauphin in the great hall, while he tested her and tucked himself among his courtiers. This is also where Templar leaders were held in the early 14th Century. In 1308, Pope Clement IV was allowed access to them by the French king, Philip the Fair, and the records of that have only recently (2004? or was that the date of the larger book here?) come to light. With the papal absolution of them, asks the article, after the long trial against them, should the roles of the principals, including Clement be reappraised. New area for us. Go look.

"The Chinon Chart, Papal Absolution To The Last Templar, Jacques de Molay,: article by Barbara Frale, see abstract at ://www.sciencedirect.com/science?_ob=ArticleURL&_udi=B6VC1-4CC314K-3&_user=10&_rdoc=1&_fmt=&_orig=search&_sort=d&view=c&_version=1&_urlVersion=0&_userid=10&md5=eb11ba2331e1ac4ee0213459a6f71283

Places for Next Trip

2008-01-24T11:14:00.000-05:00

Planning. From book,"The Discovery of France - A Historical Geography from the Revolution to the First World War," by Graham Robb, W.W.Norton 2007. See The Grand Canyou of the Verdon. This is a deep cut in Provence's Alps, where the river rushes madly into Lac de Ste. Croix. Is sixty miles from Marseille. Second largest gorge in the world. The book is the result of Mr. Robb's 14,000 bike journey and what he finds. Read how disparate the populations were in France through the 19th Century - languages, customs, Parisians had little idea. Also see the heath of the Landes - shepherds used to travel on 10 foot stilts, 75 miles a day, Picardy and Artois areas. And the Marais Poitevin,a marsh.

Helene Deschamps Adams. The Distaff Side of the French Resistance, WWII

2007-12-19T19:20:00.001-05:00

Helene Deschamps Adams. War hero. Died 2006. In New York. She was a spy, against the Nazis in France, resisting them, and their collaborators, and also spied for the United States. Read the New York Times also for its obituaries - this one August 24, 2006.

Understatement: she was said to be gutsy. She observed and reported German positions, was captured carrying fake German papers, see a book from 1985 entitled, "Women in the Resistance," by Margaret L. Rossiter (Praeger), was nearly executed, hid in a closet while drunken German soldiers searched, and saw her work as just a necessary job.

Put this lady on your list of people to get to know. French Resistance. Quit the jokes about defeatists, surrenderers. Do your own research.

Normandy, Pointe Du Hoc- World War II

2007-09-28T14:28:00.000-04:00

The memorial shows the Rangers climbing ladders to try to get to the top.
Pointe du Hoc, Normandy. Jon and Dan just back. Where the Rangers scaled the nearly perpendicular cliffs, Germans and firepower at the top.

Additional sites for World War I and World War II battle sites.

Please visit World War Sites, Europe; and Studying World War.

Battle of the Somme World War I - A Springboard

2007-09-19T11:50:00.000-04:00

Newspaper yesterday. Young people are not learning the history of the world wars, for lack of school time and other priorities being set. So, help teach them. For an overview of the major battles, go to www.ww1battlefields.co.uk/somme.

Check your own geneology to see if someone fought there. Visit the places they were from. For us, there was a connection to the Royal Scots Fusiliers and the Atholl Highlanders - see Scotland Road Ways. We found the grave of one of two McConaghey/ McConaghy brothers (one was killed in the Sudan), at Arras, France - see France Road Ways, Arras.

E's in names come and go. For the Canadian branch, an E was added by one of our gang in 1900 or so, just to help the postmaster keep the many related farm families separated.

Amiens - Somme WWI; Cathedral

2007-04-01T02:06:00.000-04:00

Amiens. North of Paris. Known most for its high gothic cathedral.

It also is a World War I site, as part of that horrendous Battle of the Somme. See www.spartacus.schoolnet.co.uk/FWWamiens.htm. And map at www.1914-1918.net/MAPS/amiens8aug.gif.

We focused on the town's echoes of medieval times. Half-timbers, at the square in front of the cathedral. Here is a site for digital images of various architecture categories and eras: www.bc.edu/bc_org/avp/cas/fnart/arch/15arch_europe.html. For the cathedral itself, see www.mcah.columbia.edu/Mcahweb/index-frame.html. And see Amiens in the images sections of search engines.

Amiens is a UNESCO World Heritage site, probably more for the cathedral. See www.bc.edu/bc_org/avp/cas/fnart/arch/15arch_europe.htmlwhc.unesco.org/en/about. The list is handy while traveling without an itinerary. See the list at whc.unesco.org/en/list/162. Also see thesalmons.org/lynn/wh-france.

Do a search in your browser's images category for Amiens Catheral - find many sites.

There is a Labyrinth inside the cathedral. See www.labyrinth-enterprises.com/amiens. Labyrinths originated in ancient mythology, and have continued in later religious traditions as part of the pilgrim's path. See examples at www.ashlandweb.com/labyrinth/.

See this site explaining High Gothic: www.taschen.com/pages/en/catalogue/books/architecture/all/facts/00248.htm.

Taking pictures of the obvious and already over-photoed. Conflicting thoughts. More like taking or counting coup? See www.westernartprint.com/cgi-bin/WAPASP/vw_1.asp; or encarta.msn.com/encyclopedia_761570777_38/Native_Americans_of_North_America.html.
Taking photos should not feel obligatory, but sometimes is. Here, no photo of Amiens. The tourist rebels.

Arras - Somme WWI. Royal Scots Fusiliers. McConaghey fell. Pocket cemeteries.

2007-03-30T03:21:00.003-04:00

World War I. Battle of the Somme, near Ypres, Belgium;
Maurice E. McConaghey, buried near Arras, France

A focal point of any trip where war casualties and deaths are in the family history, can be, in part, a burial site for a relative. Learn the history, as you look for the person. See Studying Wars at Lens on Boer Wars, August 2011.
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Lt.Col. Maurice Edwin McConaghey, WWI, name changed from McConaghy to keep other family records straight, buried near Arras, France

Finding old graves is a tribute for us, not depressing. And, it gives a focal point to wandering around with a little map.
We found a relative who died in World War I, buried at Arras, near the Belgian border. Meet Royal Scots Fusilier, Lt. Maurice McConaghey.

Most British war graves are easy to locate through the British Graves Commission online at http://www.thegoodwebguide.co.uk/index.php?rid=4039. Ours took delving because of a spelling change in the last name.

Your route to finding someone: British War Graves, then go in person to Ypres, Belgium, to the documentation center (see Belgium Road Ways). The clerk found the narrative record by the commander, and the book told the story of the activity of the regiment. In the book, after earlier references, there was this one battle with the words,"McConaghey fell."

The life and death of a career military man in an era of uniforms, rank and codes. Maurice earlier had been wounded in South Africa, we found in the record of the hospital ship returning him, and brother was killed in the Sudan. WWI killed a million military in one 5-month period --and the guidebook gives it 2 pages. With amnesia, we enter into more of them.

Maurice E. McConaghey, on the far left, with his brothers in Devon, England. Maurice looks about age ten.

Lt.Col. M.E. McConaghey, while still he spelled it McConaghy, age 10 or so, Devon, England

This was cemetery number six hundred something. Not easy to find up the back roads. Bury near where you die. All meticulously maintained.

This memorial to all the WWI Scots regiments is near Bapaume.
Read how the Scots pipers played "Scotland The Brave" during a battle at Loos, and also at a parachute landing. Go to history.sandiego.edu/gen/ww1/loos.html. Barbed wire, gas, smoke screens, think screams.

British country pocket military cemetery - Somme WWI

2007-03-29T10:13:00.000-04:00

A tiny cemetery up a little road. In WWI, combatants often were buried close to where they fell. There are hundreds of these vest-pocket cemeteries, marked by tiny signs on main roads, guiding you through the farms to where they are still.

To find a specific person, go to ww1cemeteries.com/.See map of area and overview at www.ww1battlefields.co.uk/somme. At Verdun (and probably elsewhere), the Muslim soldiers were buried facing Mecca, a large patch of diagonal stones amid the other right angles. Respect.

Orbit view. Scan.
Spy: stones' rows by wall.
Graves small set on farm.
Country road. Old hard fall.
Little tractor there, patient tending.
Somme one's son. Somme of all fears. Somme where.
Handsomme once, maybe.
Look up. Mind pictures - Flares. Aviator leather ear flaps.
Look down. Fly on, dear boy, written.
On another, from your wife, your father,
And your little son, Blymp.
Tendered, still manicured.
Man not cured.
Obit.

Vimy Ridge, Verdun - Battles WWI

2007-03-29T08:35:00.000-04:00

Vimy Ridge. 1917. A Canadian forces victory. See www.civilization.ca/cwm/vimy/index_e.html.
See the picture gallery at www.schoolshistory.org.uk/images/vimyridge/. That is an informative curriculum approach.

The trenches and no-man's land, and the uprooted trunks and root systems of huge trees blasted out of the ground, now a hilly set of knolls where sheep keep the grass short. Sheep may safely graze. Think Bach for a few seconds at play.rhapsody.com/johannsebastianbach/abachcelebration/sheepmaysafelygraze?didAutoplayBounce=true.

The memorial plaques help, but for later generations, removed from anyone remembering at a dinner table, it takes more. Go online. See www.ww1battlefields.co.uk/others/vimy.

Verdun - 1916. See map at mapsofworld.com/world-maps/world-war-i-map. For the battle accounts, see www.pbs.org/greatwar/maps/maps_verdun.html. See contemporary photographs at www.greatwardifferent.com/Great_War/Verdun/Verdun_00.htm. We saw Vimy part of a later trip focusing on Belgium, and Ypres there; when we took a sudden side trip to Arras, France, and Verdun. Since these places are in France, we put them here.
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Verdun. At Verdun, you can walk through trenches, even see some preserved with a roof construction over, where one caved in on some 20 soldiers, their bayonets still protruding. See the Bayonets Memorial at www.worldwar1.com/heritage/bayonet. The best WWI museum we found was at Peronne, called the Historial, in the Somme area. See www.greatwar.co.uk/westfront/Somme/museums/historial.

American Cemetery at Montfaucon. Verdun is widely visited, but at The American Cemetery at Montfaucon, some 25 miles northwest, no-one was there. See map showing the location at www.webmatters.net/maps/ww1_map_verdun_gen. Verdun and its large ossuary, where bones and bones are interred, and extensive graveyards (the Muslims are together, in rows diagonal to the rest, facing East; and the Jewish soldiers are also together) does get more attention.

Take time to visit. We trucks of wreaths at holidays to Arlington here, we can do more for our people in European graves.

Rancourt - Somme WWI. The German Jewish soldiers.

2007-03-29T07:49:00.000-04:00

This is a German cemetery, at Rancourt on the Bapaume-Peronne road, then just behind the German WWI front lines, Battle of the Somme. See http://www.webmatters.net/france/ww1_friedhof_rancourt.htm. We did not do the battlefield tours that are available, example at www.battlefield-tours.com/index.htm. We use local maps instead, and find our own.

The website photo shows no Jewish headstones. So, here is Ernst David, a musketier whose stone's shape and Star of David set him apart from his crossed brethren.

Some German graves in the German graveyards mark two - with names on both sides. We found noone sharing a Jewish stone. We found none with a cross on one side and a Star of David on the other.

In some graveyards, the Jewish soldiers are set apart in a special location. But Jewish German patriotism, seen in military service, was clearly an integral part of the war effort.

What happened to Musketier David's family by the time the next war ended?

Le Sars - Somme

2007-03-27T13:41:00.001-04:00

Le Sars, France (Somme area)
This silliness about the name of the next town, Le Sars, was a break at the time from the serious Somme Valley subject.

An overview for visiting the Somme area is at www.webmatters.net/france/ww1_thiepval_exhib.

We found later that this Le Sars also was part of significant battles. See photos and chronology of Somme battles at www.ramsdale.org/timeline.htm.

Mouquet Farm, Thiepval - Somme WWI.

2007-03-26T13:45:00.001-04:00

Mouquet Farm. 1916 and contemporary.

Following the Battle of Pozieres, nearby village
Australians for the Allies hold their ground

Mouquet Farm was the focal point of years of back and forth battling. Today, a glowing series of yellow fields of grapeseed, or rapeseed; then, mud and more mud, with tunnels beneath, and slaughter with the front moving in bits, then back again, over years. Australians for the Allies. See ://www.ww1westernfront.gov.au/battlefields/mouquet-farm-1916.html/

The front moved no more than a mile or so over all that time. For an idea of the scope of the battlefields that we think of as the Battle of the Somme, see http://www.pbs.org/greatwar/maps/maps_somme.html. Australian regiments served there. They called it Moo Cow Farm. www.diggerhistory.info/pages-battles/ww1/france/mouquet-farm. Or mucky farm. www.webmatters.net/france/ww1_mouquet.htm.

See also ://www.diggerhistory.info/pages-battles/ww1/france/somme-1916.htm/ Little history is taught today, so this is to head you in informative directions.

Distant nations joined in. This looks true: International acknowledgement of a cause, and broad participation to achieve its goals, legitimizes a war, if war is ever legitimate.

The caption here, at our Washington D.C. memorial for World War II reads:

"The heroism of our own troops...was matched by that of the armed forces of the nations that fought by our side... They absorbed the blows...and they shared to the full in the ultimate destruction of the enemy." President Harry S. Truman. Photo spring 2007.

Fast forward. See us lose sight. If nobody else is sharing to the full, the cause may not be justified.

The bright yellow crop is rapeseed. Look it up at www.ext.colostate.edu/Pubs/crops/00110.pdf; or eat it as canola oil. See more of it, with an "images" search for rapeseed.

Perrone area- Somme. WWI. The Historial, VE Day

2007-03-26T13:15:00.000-04:00

WWII Victory in Europe Day. May 8. Observed with great reverence in France. See www.macksites.com/PART8 for VE Day remembrances. Be sure to have these holidays in mind when you go to Europe. Not to know is a huge faux pas.

There are several Normandy beaches that were part of the Allied landing areas in that push that finally led to the end of World War II. Many Americans landed at Omaha beach. D-Day is laid out at this website, complete with film: www.britannica.com/dday.

You can look up the German defense locations at Omaha Beach at www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org.There is a little hotel and restaurant right on the beach. Try there first for a room. Eat mussels this way there: use the top shell to loosen the mussel in the bottom shell, then slurp. Best while gazing adoringly in your tablemate's eyes, under other circumstances.

This is Arromanches Beach, Gold Beach - British and Canadian forces, with the pier, near the town of the same name. See www.tompgalvin.com/places/fr/normandy_gold.

You can see here the remains of part of the bridge/ port called "Mulberry," that was constructed at Churchill's direction, see www.tompgalvin.com/places/fr/normandy_gd. Mulberry Port was a floating and then concrete anchored port, to unload the tanks and munitions and soldiers needed for the Normandy invasion follow-up. See more n Mulberry Port at www.tompgalvin.com/places/fr/normandy_gold.htm.

The American beachheads are quiet, undeveloped, contemplative. The British beachheads are crowded destination-entertainment areas, with rides and vendors, like a boardwalk. Restaurants. Your pick. We preferred the quiet.

WWII Victory in Europe Day. May 8. Observed with great reverence in France. See www.macksites.com/PART8 for VE Day remembrances. Be sure to have these holidays in mind when you go to Europe. I lost track of the date for VE Day, and had to ask what the parade was , and it was an inexcusable faux pas.Peronne. And the Dogs of War. The chateau there is now a museum, The Historial of the Great War, in the Somme area. See the excellent exhibit for the Somme area battles, at the Historial at Perrone, a converted castle. See www.historial.org/us/home_b.

There are recreations of scenes of battle, and exhibits of the sketches and artwork of those in the trenches. There is a poster there called "The Dogs of War," showing a map of Europe with each country represented by a dog on the attack. "Cry havoc and let slip the dogs of war," orated Anthony in Shakespeare's Julius Caesar, see www.phrases.org.uk/meanings/105600.html.

World War I swept up poets and artists. See www.firstworldwar.com/poetsandprose/index.htm; and www.archives.gov.on.ca/English/exhibits/war_artists/index.html. I remember one especially in the exhibit, "that I recalled as meeting a madman in the trenches. I found it here, as "Meeting a madman at night." For any who thing war is glorious, go to annotatedlife.blogspot.com/2006/04/otto-dix-der-krieg.html. This is someone's socialist website, but even if you disagree politically, see the art. World War I and World War II.

Rouen - Joan of Arc - the ending

2007-03-25T16:42:00.001-04:00

Medieval cathedrals dominated towns. At this site is an old map - see the height of the churches and the steeples, the insignificant little streets then.
See historic-cities.huji.ac.il/france/rouen/rouen.

Rouen still has fine old medieval sections,. Not far are the reminders that Joan of Arc was burned at the stake here.

For background:

A clearly written narrative biography is at the "Distinguished Women" site at ://www.distinguishedwomen.com/biographies/joanarc.html.

For an online archive, including trial manuscripts, family tree, letters, timeline, portraits, biographies about Joan of Arc, go to this Joan of Arc Info site://www.joanofarc.info/.

There are also religious-oriented books, of course, since Joan's inspiration was religious. Our sites focus rather on the historical, but we found at the religious "Maid of Orleans" site (book by Ben D. Kennedy) information about authors, playwrites, composers, others incorporating the Joan of Arc story in the arts - Mark Twain, Tchaikowski and audio-videos of his opera, a link to Scottish knights fighting in her army, George Bernard Shaw, Shakespeare, Friedrich Schiller's play - see more at the site map at ://www.maidofheaven.com/maidofheaven_sitemap.asp/

Additional overview of links: See the International Joan of Arc Society, at Southern Methodist University, http://smu.edu/ijas/links.html/

Recent news 12/16/06 (NYT) says that remnants that had been claimed to be from Joan of Arc's body from the pyre after her burning at the stake at Rouen 5/30/1431, are not. Instead, the bits seem to be from an embalming, and Joan was not embalmed. News of interest never ends.

Here is the tower in Rouen where Joane was imprisoned for a time. The narrow, tall windows in castles, or isolated towers, are for archers. Later openings for archers have a small angled cross opening, and slants, for maneuvering the bow from side to side and up and down, the better to get anyone hovering about. See castle windows discussion at elfwood.lysator.liu.se/farp/castles/.

There is a modern chapel at the place where Joan was burned, and the place is marked in a larger walking-garden area. See historical overview at perso.orange.fr/musee.jeannedarc/indexanglais. The stake spot is identified, and a museum-chapel, and the tower where she was held. Death by burning -in case we take anything for granted, read about this form of dying at www.answers.com/topic/execution-by-burning.

I read somewhere else that religious persecutors favored this method because the interval between the lighting and the death made recanting possible. But was putting out the fire then also possible? Twisting thinking to justify, etc.

On a happier note, Rouen is also the home of the Rouen duck. See www.ansi.okstate.edu/poultry/ducks/rouen/index.

Roadside chateau

2007-03-25T15:04:00.000-04:00

Chateau, Normandy area. A chateau is a castle-like, or even a castle, often centered at a vineyard or other agricultural complex. More at en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chateau. Varying degrees of grandeur, and fortifications if any. Search for "chateau Normandy" and up come all the inns and B&B's.

Caen, Bayeux, Tapestry and William the Conqueror

2007-03-25T10:05:00.001-04:00

Caen. William the Conqueror.

William led the Norman invasion of England in 1066, and is buried at St. Stephen's Abby at Caen. See www.royal.gov.uk/output/page18 for chronology, William the Conqueror. He is another of history's unofficial children, greats, born out of wedlock, see that bit of trivia at Bogomilia, Shadow Children.

This site says he died at age 59, in 1087, after ruling Normandy for 21 years and England for 31 more. He led the Battle at Hastings that led to the Normanization of England. Those figures make him a ruler of Normandy at age 7? See penelope.uchicago.edu/%7Egrout/encyclopaedia_romana/britannia/anglo-saxon/hastings/williamdeath. Maybe so. Have to check. This modest burial site does not match one so great. Then, he may not be here at all.

See these sites for the visceral side of William's demise, a blow-by-blow, at penelope.uchicago.edu/%7Egrout/encyclopaedia_romana/britannia/anglo-saxon/hastings/williamdeath. ; and home.nycap.rr.com/useless/william_the_conqueror/index. An undignified end.

William's Normans. The Normans are apparently descendants of the vikings who marauded up and down the Seine so much that the French (whatever tribe it was) bought them off by giving the vikings Normandy. So evolved the Normans. www.viking.no/e/france/contribution. See also www.scandinavica.com/culture/history/normandy; www.pbs.org/wnet/warriorchallenge/vikings/time for PBS on Warrior Challenge.

Modern Caen. See en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Caen. WWI devastated Caen - now restored.

Bayeux. A town to the west of Caen, near the Normandy beaches. See en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bayeux. To stay overnight there would be just another night. To go on and try to get a room at the little hotel right on Omaha Beach - far better. Plenty of local places at the beaches if that hotel is full.

The Bayeux Tapestry. Woven needlework mediaval work of art at Bayeux. The story of the Battle of Hastings, William's invasion from Normandy to England, including the arrow in King Harold's eye and the drowning soldiers in the Channel. Fabulous website showing the whole thing and its history is at hastings1066.com/. See also the full tale and pictures at www.bayeuxtapestry.org.uk/. Both are compelling, and a fine history review. A smaller site, but with the history of tapestry-making if you navigate for it, is at www.tapestry-art.com/catalogue/medieval/bayeux.

Avranches: Patton, and the Bishop's Forehead

2007-03-23T15:52:00.000-04:00

Here is Oliver Hardy in his bowler hat, of Laurel & Hardy fame, front of Avranches famous church. We are in Avranches, some 20 miles from the island Mont St. Michel. The famous Mont is visible across the waterway. See little map at xenophongroup.com/montjoie/st-mont.gif

Oliver is amid other famous people here: Aubert, Bishop of Avranches in medieval times; and General Patton. Seeville-avranches.fr/english/histoire/histoire_abrincates.htm.

Bishop Aubert - in 708 - is said to have been visited by the Archangel Michael and ordered to build a monastery on an island across the waterway - now Mont St. Michel.

He must have dawdled, because on a subsequent visitation, Michael is said to have poked an insistent hole in Bishop Aubert's forehead, and the skull is apparently on view here at St. Gervais, Avranches. See en.wikipedia.org/wiki/St._Aubert. We were there on a Sunday morning, eager to see The Skull Hole, but the place was closed until services some hours later. We'll never know. Unless you check.

Do a search for Laurel & Hardy in a browser's images section. There. One's resting place in death is not always dignified. A legacy is not created by the one seeking it.

The English used the idea, of the monastery on an island, in its Mount St. Michael near Cornwall. See England Road Ways.

General Patton and his army liberated Avranches in 1945 as part of the Normandy invasion.

Patton's resting place, at Hamm Military Cemetery at Luxembourg City, see Luxembourg Road Ways, is dignified, but so far away from Normandy as to seem like an abandonment.

Mont St.Michel and Black Madonna and Child

2007-03-22T10:33:00.004-04:00

Cloister, Mont St. Michel, France

Mont St. Michel is not just a monastery on an island, with a surrounding small town that built up around it. It is also a place of fine, quiet views, like this cloister area. It is a UNESCO World Heritage site. See http://whc.unesco.org/en/list/80
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Mont St. Michel (this by way of update) had two causeways for access: one, underwater at high tide, passable at low tide, an undefined area (no cobbles as I recall); and an elevatted causeway for buses and cars and people. It is phasing out its elevated causeway-auto entrance, with the big parking lot. Instead, parking will be remote with shuttles across a new pedestrian-shuttle bridge to the monastery. This bridge instead of causeway allows the tides to slosh in and around the island again, as in old days when the location was a defense.
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Mont St. Michel, France

The dangers will remain: low tides still leave inviting "dry" walking areas to get there; but incoming tides come in fast and wash away those left too far from safety. See http://www.burger.si/France/Normandija/MontSTMichel/index.
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The old causeway interrupted the flow, but looking over the walls, it is common to see people still walking over.
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At Mont St. Michel, you will climb up a narrow street with tempting restaurants on second floors, where the cooks at your level are whipping fabulous omelets in great copper pans, right and left.

Costs. Go up to the restaurrant. but you may find that you (for two) are paying $35 for a serving of omelet, and a couple of other things. The pate was indeed excellent on the side. Here is your own omelet recipe, costing under $35: http://www.ehow.com/how_8478_make-carnitas-black. Note it is not cooked as long as usual American omelet-type eggs.
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See http://www.burger.si/France/F_Index for an Interactive map, major castles and towns, France.
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Mont St.Michel was the model for the English St. Michael's Mount on the way to Cornwall. See England Road Ways ; http://www.burger.si/France/F_Index. We walked over the pedestrian causeway there to the monastery, but had to take a motor launch back.

Black Madonna, Mont St. Michel, France
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Black Madonna at Mont St. Michel. Do an internet search in some browser's images section for Black Madonnas. A whole new world.

Here is a history of the faces of Mary, at www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/ent/arts/art/4420939.

There are many explanations for Europe's medieval Black Madonnas -- fire charring, buried, or whatever. No one explanation fits all. Think about it. A skin tone from the middle east should be dark. The internet lists where most of these are found, and many are in southern France as well. We found them at Guadalupe, Spain, see Spain Road Ways; and Altotting, Germany. See Germany Road Ways.

Black Madonnas. A bridge from paganism to Christianity, old representations of the Madonna, what else. See Vierge Noir at http://www.cassandraeason.com/vierge_noir/index.htm/

There will always be explanations. Add this: that the Black Madonna suggests her Egyptian ancestry, Scota, Egyptian Queen of the Scots, by Ralph Ellis. The Black is for her skin color.
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At page 17 there, see an overlay of another topic, whether the dark-skinned Mary seen in churches (but with no child or other attributes of a "madonna" is really Mary of Egypt, a saint of the early church.

Find a representation of this later Mary of Egypt, centuries after the crucifixion, at a Danish medieval church, clearly not a madonna. Bjernede Kirke, Mary of Egypt For the Scota and her Egyptian connection, and Mary as an Egyptian, the Black Madonna, See http://books.google.com/books?id=OYCMF5JPv9wC&pg=PA17&lpg=PA17&dq=public+domain+queen+scota&source=bl&ots=opCiJ1PsXi&sig=pJS2YEx0GuaWxBQeLvqP94fM8K0&hl=en&ei=L3RyToKjJNOftwe0g -niCQ&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=4&sqi=2&ved=0CDQQ6AEwAw#v=onepage&q&f=false
And a further question, at page 17 of the site above, laid out here just because:
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That the mystery person who by tradition accompanied the two Mary's from the Holy Land to France after the crucifixion was Sara la Kali but not a servant, not a gypsy, but the daughter of Jesus and Mary Magdalene, Sara Princess, that explains the crown seen at many shrines and churches but without explanation. http://denmarkroadways.blogspot.com/2011/07/bjernede-inside-round-church-rundkirke.html
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Here is what we think is Sara la Kali, the patron saint of the gypsies, but also perhaps, well, you decide. This from Gdansk, Poland: but this looks like a mature woman, not a young girl. See at
http://polandroadways.blogspot.com/2007/09/gdansk-church-of-saint-mary-black.html

Normandy and Omaha Beaches, Arromanches (Gold), VE Day - WWII

2007-03-22T08:14:00.000-04:00

There are several Normandy beaches that were part of the Allied landing areas. Many Americans landed at Omaha beach. D-Day is laid out at this website, complete with film: www.britannica.com/dday.

Look up the German defense locations at Omaha Beach at www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org.There is a little hotel and restaurant right on the beach. Try there first for a room. Eat mussels this way there: use the top shell to loosen the mussel in the bottom shell, then slurp. Best while gazing adoringly in your tablemate's eyes, under other circumstances.

This is Arromanches Beach, Gold Beach - British and Canadian forces, with the pier, near the town of the same name. See www.tompgalvin.com/places/fr/normandy_gold.

Here are the remains of part of the bridge/ port called "Mulberry," that was constructed at Churchill's direction, see www.tompgalvin.com/places/fr/normandy_gd. Mulberry Port was a floating and then concrete anchored port, to unload the tanks and munitions and soldiers needed for the Normandy invasion follow-up. See more n Mulberry Port at www.tompgalvin.com/places/fr/normandy_gold.htm.

The American beachheads are quiet, undeveloped, contemplative. The British beachheads are crowded destination-entertainment areas, with rides and vendors, like a boardwalk. Restaurants. Your pick. We preferred the quiet.

This is the memorial at the American Military Cemetery, Omaha Beach. See also www.abmc.gov/cemeteries/cemeteries/no.php.

Angers - the Plantagenets; Tapestry

2007-03-21T10:52:00.000-04:00

Angers is the old Anjou, the historic capital, and home to the Plantagenet royalty. Here is the dynasty account - including Richard the Lionheart - at www.iol.ie/~edmo/plantagenet; and at www.plantagenetorganization.com/history. Angers is a gateway to the Loire Valley with all those castles on the tourist routes. See www.castles-france.net/loire-valley/loire-valley-castles.
We tend toward the less bussed castles, for ease of getting in and more freedom in asking quesitons. This at Angers is a 13th century, open-air castle or chateau, and exhibit rooms. There are exhibits of tapestries there, see www.centralia.ctc.edu/~vfreund/FrenchResources/Frenchslides/Loire/Angers/Angers. Look up how they were made. Start here: www.io.com/~tapestry/.

Angers is south of Mont St. Michel, and a good destination point before heading into the rest of the Loire Valley. The chateau is 13th Century. See more on Angers at www.burger.si/France/Angers/uvod. Click on the word "France" on that site and a map will appear with other castles and links to them.

Loire Valley - Saumur Castle; A History of Sleeping Beauty, and other tales /

2007-03-21T10:49:00.000-04:00

Famous castles throughout the valley of the river Loire. The Loire area is a UNESCO World Heritage site. See whc.unesco.org/en/list/933.

This is Saumur. See www.loireholiday.com/saumur. This is one of the several in France and Germany that claim to have inspired Sleeping Beauty. There are so many tour buses in the big castle sites that we preferred the smaller castles, privately owned if possible. For the roster of castles, see www.castles-france.net/loire-valley/.

Revisionism. And, as for the Sleeping Beauty story, this site dates the original at 61 years before the 1697 publishing by Charles Perrault of his "Tales of Times Past," soon better known as "The Mother Goose Tales." Think 1636. In 1636, the Sleeping Beauty tale was earlier written down by Giambattista Basile - these tales not original, but retellings of the olds ones passed down.

Basile's original retelling as retold at the site: This is not for the faint-hearted. Go to home.nycap.rr.com/useless/sleeping_beauty/index. Summary: King was told that a flax splinter would destroy his daughter, Talia. King bans flax. Princess gets some anyway. Stuck. Poisoned. Dies (really asleep). Grieving King lays her out, leaves body in castle, departs. Enter Prince. Has his way with the body. Princess has twins, Sun and Moon. Fairies take care. Princess sleeps on. Boy twin happens to suck out splinter. Princess revives. Prince returns. I am Dad! Surprise! Relationship ensues/resumes, whatever. Prince goes back to wife. Boy, is she mad when she finds out. Orders that... and this happens... and then that....

Is Walt listening?

Then go back to the original Basile, and the tale there has differences, but is pretty close to the one here. These early tales are analyzed at college levels and beyond - See www.northern.edu/hastingw/talia. Here is more about Basile himself, same site: www.northern.edu/hastingw/basile.

For the full fairy tales, go to www.surlalunefairytales.com/pentamerone/index. Click on story number 29, and you will find Sun, Moon and Talia.

My own Grimm's Fairy Tales, from about 1910 (have to go look) has Rapunzel also having twins, in the wilderness, and re-meeting a blinded Prince. Why not just give us the real tales? Who is authorized to tidy up reality so they can sell us something else that benefits them? Can kids handle a reasonable degree of complexity? Are we raising little non-thinkers? What is reasonable? Is anybody reasonable? Who decides what they are allowed to see or not?

Loire Valley, Chinon - Joan of Arc finds the Dauphin, and Motivational Statue

2007-03-20T13:49:00.001-04:00

Loire Valley, view from Chinon Castle, France

This is the view from the castle at Chinon, over the river Vienne, see www.37-online.net/gb/castles/chinon_gb, and perso.orange.fr/chateauxdelaloire/chinone, in the Loire Valley, where so many castles are located.

Some chateaux or castles, like Chinon, are not reconstructed, but are left an cared for as they are, with pathways outside between sections, and informational signs, and mostly in the open air.

Joan of Arc and the Oriflamme, Medieval Monarch's Battle Pennant

Joan of Arc in 1429 identified the Dauphin, heir to the throne, amid courtiers, in the main hall here and asked for and got her army.

Romans, Visigoths, the place of death of Richard the Lionheart, the place where the Knights Templars and their Grand Master, Jacques de Molay, were imprisoned

Here she is, in a motivational pose.

Ruin of Chinon Castle, Loire Valley, France: Room where Joan of Arc identified the Dauphin

Joan of Arc went to this room in the castle (the flooring is gone, but there is the fireplace) in 1429 to find the Dauphin (later on he was Charles VII). The holes in the stone would have held the timbers supporting the floorboars. Find more on Joan, later sainted, at www.stjoan-center.com/topics/Arnold. To find out how people get "sainted," see people.howstuffworks.com/question619. Father McGivney, at this site, provides a more formalized account: see www.fathermcgivney.org/sainthood/index.

What is a Dauphin? Not a dolphin, sounds silly but the words are different. The Dauphin is the name for the heir to the French throne, usually the eldest son. See europeanhistory.about.com/od/referenceencyclopedia/g/gldauphin.

The Dauphin here, as a test for Joan, had disguised himself among others in a group, and she went to him anyway. She "knew." And, she got the army she asked for. She was an outstanding military commander, says www.stjoan-center.com/military/johnegan.

We followed her from there to Rheims, see her letter to the citizens of Rheims at archive.joan-of-arc.org/joanofarc_letter_aug_5_1429, and to the cathedral there where the Dauphin was crowned.

Tonnerre - and Fosse Dionne spring without end

2007-03-19T17:00:00.000-04:00

Tonnerre is in Burgundy, along an old canalway. See burgundy-canal.com/v/tonnerre. We went here on the way to Alesia and Dijon. We could have gone to Versailles, but we had had enough of gilt and mirrors, on a smaller scale, in the Loire castles.

The unsung. Marguerite Pajot was burned as a witch here in Tonnerre in 1576. What did she do? Heal? Use bad language? Conjure? For a list of those who were burned as witches through the centuries, start with whisperingwood.homestead.com/BurninTimes. Some people do remember.

This spring is in the great traditions of watercourses without known source. It just doesn't quit. Water without end. So much that nobody, apparently, has found where it comes from - like Loch Ness? - strong bursts, currents, spooky. It was an 18th century laundry center.

Story is that a serpent lives in the depths. Again, Nessie?

Vercingetorix and Dijon

2007-03-19T13:55:00.000-04:00

Alesia - here is where Vercingetorix, Chief of the Gauls, was defeated finally by the Romans. Read about the battle at ancientworlds.net/aw/Article/165505#1. There are large areas of Roman ruins there, from the army camp. The field and mountain area are near Dijon, and we also wanted mustard. We learned later that Dijon mustard refers to the process of using sour unripe grape juice instead of vinegar, and not really to the town. See perso.orange.fr/wiencis/mustard_story for a history of Dijon mustard. Make your own honey dijon at www.fabulousfoods.com/recipes/sauces/mustard/honeydijonmust.

The face of Vercingetorix, complete with handlebar mustache, was modeled after Napoleon III who asked for it. See www.livius.org/a/battlefields/alesia/alesia for the Vercingetorix battle and memorial.This is a fine beefcake statue. Great gaitors.

We chose to come here instead of to the gilt and parking lots of Versailles.

Abbaye de Fontenay and chimney pots; Cistercians

2007-03-18T19:44:00.000-04:00

The Abbaye was a Cistercian Monastery. See abbayedefontenay.com/abbayedefontenay. Cistercians are active today. Here is a Cistercian monastery and school in Texas. See cistercian.org/abbey/history/index. It is a UNESCO World Heritage site. See abbayedefontenay.com/abbayedefontenay.

I believe these chimney pots are from this monastery, but we saw so many. Am checking.Need to figure out differences in monastic traditions: Francistan, Cistercian, Benedictine, on and on. Here is a Cistercian history: cistercian.org/abbey/history/cistorder. They appear to have been Benedictines who found the couse of the Benedictine monasteries not in accord with the simplicity they thought St. Benedict required. Is that so?

A chimney pot is a topper for a chimney that improves the draft, leading poisonous fumes from coal (other fuel?) burning, away from the people doing the cooking. The bigger the kitchens, the more chimneys and chimney pots. See ah.bfn.org/a/DCTNRY/c/chimpot.

Here is the history of chimney pots. Now, you won't miss them - you will be a pot spotter. At this site, look up all the styles through the centuries. See chimneypot.com/history. The greening of the culinary arts, and ordinary heating. Some function as rainguards. Know your pot.

Sedan - near Belgian border

2007-03-15T03:57:00.000-04:00

This 15th century castle is enormous. Last used in the Franco-Prussian war: Napoleon III in 1870. See www.answers.com/topic/battle-of-sedan. A large medieval jousting festival was being set up when we were there - see www.trekearth.com/gallery/Europe/France/North/Champagne-Ardenne/Sedan/ for more history. One of the best parts of these castles is how they are set up to teach you about the life and times of people who built it, and defended through the years. Great climb-around.

Marseillaise! And Sedan through coins; Translation site

2007-03-15T02:15:00.000-04:00

It is September 2, 1970. Turn up the volume and go to www.roth37.it/COINS/Sedan/index. This site is by a numismatist (read "coin person") who takes us all over Europe and presents history through countries' coins. You are at Sedan with Napoleon III and there is the battlefield drawn for you, and the faces on the coins.

It is mostly in Italian, but I found English at the Luxembourg section. Even with Italian, try saying-reading it aloud, and you may find you understand far more than you expected. Go ahead. Close the door, stand up, and elocute.

There is a fine preface on using coins to tell history, and in English, at www.roth37.it/COINS/GENERAL_INDEX/Anteprima/index.

Look- here is a translation site offered by www.roth37. Try it - go to www.humanitas-international.org/newstran/more-trans.

Epernay and how to make "champagne" yourself

2007-03-10T09:51:00.000-05:00

These fine people will tell you how to do it: Making Your Own Champagne by Bernt and Bjarne. I have not tried it (yet).

Epernay is in champagne country - the real thing. See Champagne. And, as you sip, Champagne taste, do not expect a bargain. Pick any cafe, sit in the waning sun and just order.

Reims - Joan of Arc

2007-03-09T04:06:00.001-05:00

Joan of Arc, Reims

Joan of Arc at Reims. See more at www.fotosearch.com/AGE040/a91-350037/. Reims in 1429 is where Joan of Arc caused the dauphin, Charles VII, to be crowned. It is a World Heritage site. See whc.unesco.org/en/list/601.

The cathedral is the equivalent of Westminster Abbey in England, in that the kings were crowned there. See en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Reims.
It is a UNESCO World Heritage site. See thesalmons.org/lynn/wh-france. Scroll down to France, and click on Reims.

The Reims Cathedral sports happy, smiling angels with open wings on the facade. See goeurope.about.com/cs/france/l/bl_reims_1; and photos at community.webshots.com/album/125124022iWMfCF/2.

Paris: Pere Lachaise Cemetery - Edith Piaf, Heloise and Abelard

2007-03-08T20:47:00.001-05:00

Grave of Edith Piaf, Pere Lachaise Cemetery, Paris

Pere Lachaise. This cemetery opened in 1804 and now holds some 70,000 dormantes-permanentes residents, awaiting or not. The Cemetery is unparalleled for the French famous, and well-to-do who pay (according to Rick Steves) some $15,000 for a plot of some 21 sq ft. See http://www.paris.org/Expos/PereLachaise/pl.index. The history of the cemetery is at http://www.northstargallery.com/pages/PereHist.

When you arrive, get a map at the gatehouse. The plan of the place is a tangle of paths and headstones and steps.

We aimed first for Edith Piaf, the singer from WWII, the "little sparrow" singing her heart out in a throaty voice in World War II. See a brief biography at http://ww.literarytraveler.com/literary_articles/edith_piaf.aspxis. She died in 1963 at age 47.

From ages 8-10, she lived in a brothel, abandoned by her mother. The NY Times Arts section 7/2/06 says in a review of a pending film on her life, "La Vie En Rose," that the brothel was run by her paternal grandmother, and that Edith went blind for a period of time, and began to then sing on the Paris streets. Her only child died, she was married twice, and was involved with the French Resistance, says the article.

She is well remembered. An anonymous donor keeps fresh flowers on her grave, for the WWII "Little Sparrow." Hear and see her in her later years at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4Hqc-NWlNJQ for "Non, Je Ne Regrette Rien." And for her youth, see and hear "La Vie En Rose" at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XPp29GcsLNE&feature=fvwrel.

"She planted her feet at a microphone as if it were a stake or a mast and she was about to be either burned at it or swept away." New Yorker, Critic at Large Judith Thurman 6/25/07, page 49.: Edith Giovanna Gassion. A cricket, a phoenix, rag-doll features, "une piaf" means in common language, a sparrow.

Grave, Heloise and Abelard, Pere LaChaise Cemetery, Paris

Heloise and Abelard are also here, the student and the teacher, the love story with a micabre development, and questionable ending. Did they really want this closeness at the end? See http://www.classiclit.about.com/cs/articles/a/aa_abelard, both now buried together at Pere Lachaise Cemetery. Together at last, but some say that was not really desired. Am looking for that site, that gives "evidence" that they burned out. For their situation in the context of the Middle Ages, see http://www.ship.edu/%7Ecgboeree/middleages. Scroll down a bit to get it.

Peter Abelard gave up his inheritance in the 1100's to become a philosopher. He was the "preeminent philosopher and theologian of the 12th Century." See http://www.plato.stanford.edu/entries/abelard/.

Abelard popularized a scholastic method about 1100 AD, where both sides of a point would be examined, argued, and a new and presumably correct position resulted. This recapped older ideas, and was not the new exploration of new facts that came later.

Letters by Heloise are at http://www.home.infionline.net/%7Eddisse/heloise. She became an abbess. More of their story: see http://www.rage.thebluesky.de/history2.

Also at Pere Lachaise: Gertrude Stein, Chopin, Moliere, Oscar Wilde (mourned by so many, including the "outcast men" of the homosexual community) and rock legend Jim Morrison.

Wilde: see his biography at http://www.oscarwilde.com/story.html. He was imprisoned, sentenced to hard labor, for his orientation. See his grave, covered with heavily lipsticked kisses, at http://www.poetsgraves.co.uk/wilde.htm

Paris - Joan of Arc, Driving

2007-03-08T17:51:00.000-05:00

Joan of Arc, remembered with bling.

Notre Dame.

Place de la Concorde - where the guillotine once made its many severances.

Ile de Paris - the island in the Seine where it must be lovely to live. The Seine banks are a World Heritage site, UNESCO. See worldheritagesite.org/sites/parisseine.

The obligatory photo of the Eiffel Tower, in Paris, when it drizzles.

We made the mistake here of making an advance internet reservation. Bad idea. Cities always have plenty of hotels, and the map, that shows where the internet hotel is, may be misleading as to distances.

Just go and stop at a hotel near where you would like to be. Walk right in.

Driving: Rule of ears. Focus on those in front and at your sides. Let the people behind beware on their own. And go five times around the Arc de Triomphe, if needed, sidling slowly each round toward the lane where you want to go. Let the other guy win. Always.

Itinerary After the fact

2007-03-02T06:52:00.000-05:00

The picture is a sample side street turn, and sudden view near Chaumont.

1. Paris

2. Northeast to World War I site areas:
Beauvais, Amiens, Abbeville, Arra, Perrone, Le Sars

3. Start to follow Joan of Arc: West to Rouen,

4. Circle for Medieval and World War II themes: Lisieux, Caen, Bayeux the tapestry), Coutances, Avranches,

5. Traditional French and historical: Mont St. Michel, Rennes,

6. South and west to start on Castles and Cathedrals: Angers, Saumur, Tours, Vendome, Blois, Orleans,

7. South to find the Romans and Vercingetorix: Auxerre, Tonnerre, Chablis, Dijon,

8. North to World War I sites (my father's family involved) Metz, Verdun,

9. North again to castle at Sedan,

10. South and east: Joan of Arc again at Reims,

11. South to Champagne country at Epernay, Meaux,

12. West to Paris.

Links, posts, archives

2007-03-01T09:00:00.000-05:00

We write out the references to third party sites,. Please copy and paste in your own search bar to get the the site. See www.bitlaw.com for copyright issues.

Dates of posts initially reflect the chronology of the trip, but later change if we change the post. The date of post is not necessarily the first date the topic appeared.

Archives - do visit. These continue the trip.

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