Day 418: Trip home from Paris

We awoke late and after a leisurely breakfast we were on our way home.  It was proving to be a beautiful but cool day.  On the trip to Paris, we spotted two military cemeteries.  We decided that we would stop at one of them on the way home.  I did do some research and my husband decided that he wanted to see the one in Argonne because that's the area he had always seen and heard about in old war movies.  The internet did not give an address, just map coordinates.

There's no way for Julie to decipher those coordinates so I had to look at our coordinates and use directions to get us there.  While I was watching the coordinates, my husband drove.  He made the decision to go back and go another way even though  we were making progress.  I went along with him but we were getting low on gas.  We probably should have filled up before going off the A4.  We had no idea how far off the beaten path the cemetery was.

We drove for what seemed like hours but it probably was less than an hour.  While we were driving, I mentioned to my husband that we would probably be the only ones there.  When we finally arrived it was truly out in the middle of nowhere....only very small villages dotted the countryside.

I was pleasantly surprised to see some French people there  viewing the cemetery along with another group of Americans.  I signed the register at the chapel and read some of the entries.   I particularly wanted to read what the French folks had to say.  For the most part, they were totally heartwarming.  There were a few off comments (and they were NOT from the French people) and I am surprised those types of folks even bothered to go to a military cemetery.  They forget who and why these brave men fought.  They deserve honor and respect.

The French were very respectful and thankful to these honored men, many who are unknown or missing in action.  Over 14,000 graves in four rectangles.  It's a place of peace and tranquility...a place these men so richly deserve.

We went inside and this is what we saw...

This is the view from the reception building.

This is the view from the landing above the tranquility pool.

Another view of the tranquility pool.

Landing in front of the chapel. 

Interior of the chapel.

View of the grave markers.  This cemetery, like the one in Luxembourg, has both the Christian crosses and the Star of David markers with the name, rank, state of birth and date of death.

The promenade with trees and grassy area.











After stopping at the reception building, we took off to go back to the A4 that would take us back to Germany.  It's like Germany's autobahn but I would categorize it more like the turnpike because of the many tolls (seven from border to Paris).  Who knows what other tolls there are beyond Paris!

We were way out in the country and low on gas, we had Julie try to find us a gas station.  Because it was Sunday every station we went to was closed and required the European credit card call the  EC card.  My husband thinks it stands for Electronic Cash but I wouldn't know.  It doesn't do us a bit of good knowing that because we don't have one.  I wish we did at that moment.  It was the only flaw in driving around the French countryside.

We stopped at three gas stations along the route and none took our debit or visa card, nor were they open!  At one such stop, I got out and took a few photos of the scenery.  There was a beautiful river running right through the town.  I'm not sure but it might have been the town of Verdun.  We knew that on the main A4 there would be open gas stations.  We finally found the entrance to the A4 and got on.  Not long afterwards, we found a service area with gas.  My husband estimated how many liters we would need to get over to Germany because that's where our fuel card works...and where we get a better deal for our gas.  Unfortunately, the station has to be an Esso station.  After gassing up and buying a few bottles of water, we decided to have dinner since it was getting late and we probably would get home too late to have dinner at home.

It wasn't all that bad considering it was cafeteria food.  The best was the cream of mushroom soup.  Unfortunately, it was not as hot as I would have liked it.  We got back on the road again.  We thought we would make it over the border into Germany but again, the number of liters my husband estimated was wrong.  And Julie was taking us somewhere else.  We passed the exit for Karlsruhe which is in Germany and had to turn back wasting more gas.  My fear was that we were going to run out since the car was telling us we  were using the reserve gas.  Ted was very, very upset and lost his temper.  Of course, I cannot function under those conditions but I tried.  Julie said there was a gas station in 2 kilometers. But again we were no where near any big town and it was getting late and I was totally afraid that we would not have enough gas or that our card would work.  I prayed the entire time asking God to grant us mercy. We found the gas station and of course they were closed.  But, wonder of wonders (and this does NOT happen all that often), the window of the office said they welcomed Visa cards!  After a few false starts (because we don't read German and there was no option for English), the card was accepted and we were able to pump the gas.  At this point we were about 100 kilometers from home.

We still had to stop on  the base to pick up our car and drive home.  I drove our car home and Ted took the rental to gas up in preparation for returning the car to the rental place tomorrow.  I got home first and went about preparations for tomorrow.  It has been an incredibly long day!