Day 36 – Bremen
Travelling from Bruges to Bremen via Ardennes
If you’ve watched Band of Brothers then you may remember the time E Company spent in the Ardennes near Foy. It was something that stood out in our minds, so Kylie and I decided to take a lengthy detour and check out the area. We left earlyish and although it was a little chilly the sky was clear, it was a nice day to drive.
With the Tomtom the trip to Foy was easy and thanks to some pre-research on the interweb we knew what small road to take to get to the E Company monument built by HBO.
Also, thanks to that research, we learnt that it was possible to get to the area where they fought with only a little tresspassing.
Yesterday’s time at the Menin Gate and Essex Farm Cemetary was a moving one, it was hard to fully comprehend the scale of loss involved. Today’s experience was a totally different one. To walk in the same place they did with the snow on the ground, to be able to climb into the foxholes they used and look through the trees; it was all very strange.
I don’t know how they did it, but I guess in part it was because they had to and they were tough enough to make it. It was a very different experience to the more sterile and removed visits to memorials, yet it still made me feel much the same thing.
After we made it back to the car it was time to get to Bremen, so we made our way to the nearest autobahn. Apart from the frequent roadworks and snow the trip was uneventful and we made it to the hotel by nightfall. It was minus 6 degrees by this time, and the wind made it even colder, so what was the most obvious thing to do? Wander the streets with no map and no idea of what to do of course.
After the wandering and some ok pizza we turned in for the night, ready for another day of sightseeing tomorrow.
