Luxembourg - Mardasson - Bastogne - Rotterdam

Nice relaxed start to the day with an 8.45am, leaving our lovely Chateaux behind.

It was a funny day - there a couple of Plan Bs for the day and for once I didn't  have to worry about them!!!

Today's Journey

Our first stop was the American War Memorial at Mardasson. We were going to look at the war memorial, then the plan was to spend a few hours in the museum there which explained the American involvement in the Battle of the Bulge, which took place in this district of Bastogne. But as soon as we arrived, the manager came rushing out to say the power had gone out in all the district and would take over an hour to get back on again. Apparently many of the exhibits in the museum were multimedia based, so that wasn't going to work!

Whilst our tour Guide, Nathalie, worked on this we went over to the memorial which was on land donated to the USA Government to thank them for their involvement in saving this part of Belgium.

Large Statue entitled The Embrace of Peace

Mardasson War Memorial

Mardasson War Memorial

About the war memorial

By this time, there were no signs of electricity, so Plan B kicked in...

There was an actual war museum in the town of Bastogne, on the army barracks that were the headquarters of the US army during WW2. So we headed there, where we met Oliver  -  a Belgian army officer who also had a passion for restoring tanks and jeeps and guns and anything related to war usage.

They also had models set up to demonstrate what it would have looked like throughout the Battle of the Bulge...

It was here that US General McAuliffe, when approached by German Generals to surrender, said "Nuts!" The whole town of Bastogne is now commonly called Nuts!!

Invitation to surrender

General McAuliffe's response!!!

Here are some of the models set up to replicate what it would have been like in wartime..

Models of wartime in Bastogne

Models of wartime in Bastogne

Models of wartime in Bastogne

Models of wartime in Bastogne

Models of wartime in Bastogne

But then were taken to a shed where Oliver told us our eyes would fall out.... and I'm sure John Thorne's eyes would've fallen out when he showed us all these restored tanks and jeeps and guns etc...

Here are a few examples...

Restored WW2 tanks

Restored WW2 tanks

Restored WW2 jeep

Restored WW2 tanks

See above

Sign post

After that exciting experience, we were then taken to the actual village of Bastogne to have some lunch and a walk around.

Then we knew we had a big journey on the bus ahead, as we headed towards Rotterdam  (see map above).
What we didn't count on was the traffic jams!

Nathalie had promised us a "comfort Stop" along the way, and we passed by Brussels and were on way to pass by Antwerp, with the stop coming, in theory,  shortly afterwards. By this time we had been two and a quarter hours on the bus. But  then we hit this almighty traffic jam and Google maps was predicting a 2 hour delay. You could sense people on the bus were getting a little uncomfortable in terms of a loo stop. Our lovely driver Peter, took us on a diversion to avoid the traffic, but there were no places to stop...  The bus was getting quieter and quieter as people were concentrating on their bladder!!!!  For once in my life, thank you Jesus, my insides were not playing up, but I could sense others were really hanging out for a stop. When we eventually did find a roadside stop, it was nearly three and a half hours after we left Bastogne...

Roadside stop

Have to admit, there was a bit of a rush for the bathrooms!!!!

Anyway, we arrived in Rotterdam an hour after scheduled time, but our hotel is nice..

Rotterdam Hotel

Sunset from my window on the 8th floor

The group were invited to go for a 10 minute walk and go to some Market Hall and see stuff and find a restaurant, but I decided to just stay home tonight. And I'm so glad I did. I had my dinner on my own in the lovely hotel restaurant that looked out over the canal...

Hotel restaurant and canal in backgound

And I had the nicest steak I've had for a while with some real veggies and frittes  (French fries). All washed down with a couple of small (!!) glasses of Australian Shiraz. The tide was out!!!

So it's been a different day with Plan B kicking in a few times. And I didn't have to think at all!!!