Today was another light day, giving us time to relax, unwind and actually enjoy the town in which we’re staying. We are at Nancy in France, which was the home of Duke Stanislas, father of Marie Leszczyńska who married Louis XV. A statue of Stanislas stands in the center of the square on which our hotel, La Hotel Reina, is located. This hotel was built in the 18th century, along with the other buildings around the square. It’s a beautiful place - third most beautiful square in Europe, according to a lady from the Netherlands I met yesterday.
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| You can see the moon rising between the two buildings. |
Speaking of light, Nancy is home to a light show during the summer. Every night at 10:45, lights cover the buildings on three sides of the square, set to music, making interesting patterns and designs. I went the first two nights we were here - the first night to get the overall sense of the show and the second to get a few photos, now that I knew what to watch for. Unfortunately for the manmade light show, the full moon rose between two of the downtown buildings and upstaged the lights.
Today we had one stop on our agenda – Lorraine American Cemetery. This is one of those places that just takes your breath away. When you come across the plaza and see the rows upon rows of simple white crosses stretching down the hill, across the valley and up the next hill, it’s heart-rending. Every one of those markers represents a young man who never got to live up to his potential, never got to be what he wanted to be when he grew up, never came back home. Words and pictures really don’t do it justice. You have to feel it. And if that doesn’t bring a tear to your eye, you’re not letting yourself be touched.
After we laid the wreath at the chapel, we visited the grave of Charley Havlat. Charley was the last American killed in the war. He’s from just down the road from me in Dorchester. We also visited the grave ot Thomas Higley. His nephew and wife, Tom and Kathy, are on the tour this summer (they raised the flag at Flavigny Bridge) – Kathy sanded his grave. We then divided into groups and headed into the cemetery to sand the graves of our Nebraska National Guard boys.
After spending a little time wandering the rows of markers, reading names and wondering who they were and who they might have been, we headed back to Nancy. We had most of the afternoon off, so some of us found an open cafe and had a light lunch. We got to meet the mayor of Nancy, Mathieu Klein, for a brief ceremony and then met for dinner.
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| Jerry Meyer, left, presents a couple coins to Mathieu Klein, the mayor of Nancy. |
I did not go to the light show tonight, although if I leaned out my hotel window I could see it. It was kind of cool to see the lights in profile, as it were.
Tomorrow is more of a travel day again with stops at Luxembourg American Cemetery, Lutremange and the museum at Bastogne. We’ll finish up at Spa, where we’ll end our tour in a couple days. It’s gone fast, and there’s so much more I could say. I’ll try to get it said in the next couple days.
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