Not only was the saxophone invented here, but as you can see behind Jeff in the picture below, there is a huge Citadel that sits on top of one of the "hills" surrounding Dinant that was used for many centuries to protect the small town from invading armies. Directly in front of the citadel is a beautiful, still in use for Mass each Sunday, cathedral. The first picture on the blog today was taken from the Citadel. You can see how high up we are if you compare that picture (where you can see the church spires below us) to this one.
We met up with our dear friend Pierre in Dinant. He was able to tell us a bit of the history of the city and the Citadel before our guided tour. Pierre is great to be around because he loves history, and knows a lot about it, especially World War II history.
This large urn below holds the ashes of 58 French and German soldiers who died while fighting each other during a particularly bloody battle at the Citadel.
At the end of the guided tour we went down into the Citadel's "basement" where the staff had reconstructed part of the Citadel and this room, which simulated what a soldier would experience if he received a concussion from a cannon blast. Patrick feels as though he is standing up straight, even though he is leaning. It was not perceptable to the body that we were actually leaning. Except Kathie, who got violently sick while in the room.
To get to the Citadel you had to either a) ride a very rickety old ski lift contraption up the side of the hill or b) walk up 408 steps. We all rode the ski lift up, but Jeff, Cecelia, Patrick and Pierre walked down those rain soaked, slick steps and thankfully made it to the bottom in one piece.
Although Patrick considered sliding down the rail at one point...
Morgan was treated to this sugary treat as her breakfast this morning. Yep, I am a great mother :)
After we left Dinant, we went to Pierre's hometown of Walcourt to visit with his family a while before we continued on with our day.
As we headed out for dinner, Pierre took us on a trip through some World War II history around Walcourt and Dinant. If you have ever seen the HBO miniseries Band of Brothers, we took a tour of some of the places that E Company stopped on their way to defeat the Germans.
This rock, tank and small restaurant are the exact site where the German army stopped their march through Belgium. The inn keeper's wife of the inn that stood at this site told the Germans that the road to Dinant (a mere 9 kilometers away) was full of landmines, which was a lie. The German Army sent out a scout car, which miraculously hit a landmine, and so the German Army believed the inn keeper's wife. The American and UK troops met the Germans there and defeated them in late December 1944.
One of the actual fox holes used by Easy Company in the Battle of the Bulge. Pierre says that there are foxholes like this one all over the Ardennes.
This is a memorial to Easy Company that was erected by Tom Hanks.
Another memorial to Easy Company, built by the Belgians, at the beginning of a large, star shaped memorial to the United States.
This marker is one of 1147 that mark the route the Allies took to stop the Germans. They start in Normandy and go every kilometer. This marker is the final one, which stands near the site of the above tank and restaurant, 9 kilometers outside of Dinant.
This train car was originally left by the British near Dinant after World War II. So many people came to see it that the family that lived near it decided to turn it into a restaurant.
Patrick ordered the beef tartar, which we all agreed was a raw meatloaf that they were passing off as an expensive dish :)
What a great day, full of so much history. Now I am going to have to force myself to watch Band of Brothers.
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