Touring the Western Front

by Sean McLachlan on

With the recent death of the last veteran to fight in the trenches of World War One, one of the twentieth century’s most convulsive events has passed into history. From 1914-18, great armies battered at each other across a hellish landscape in which millions died. Old empires fell and new countries were born.

This photo gives an idea what it was like. A member of the Cheshire Regiment of the UK army keeps watch while his buddies sleep in the mud during the Battle of the Somme, July 1916. Not only did he and his friends have to deal with enemy fire, but they had to contend with rats, lice, cold, damp, and disease.

Several companies offer tours of World War One battlefields, including Valor Tours, which recently announced a tour of many of the major WWI battlefields in France. It runs from May 4 to 11, 2010, and stops at Verdun, Champagne, Chateau-Thierry / Belleau Wood, the First and Second Battle of the Marne, Blanc Mont, St. Mihiel and the Meuse-Argonne Offensive. These last two are of special interest to Americans, because this is where the American Expeditionary Force got its baptism of fire in 1917. A young Harry Truman was among the tens of thousands of Doughboys to fight there, serving as an artillery officer.

The tour is run by Mike Hanlon, who has been doing these for many years. While I’ve never taken one of his tours, I’m acquainted with his work through the Great War Society. He edits the society newsletter and has written extensively on the conflict. I’ve heard through other members that his trips are very informative and can be personally tailored to detour to places of personal importance. Many people take advantage of this to visit spots where their ancestors were wounded or earned a medal.

The Western Front wasn’t the only theatre of war. World War One was the first truly global conflict, with battlefields in Eastern Europe, the Pacific, Africa, and the Far East. Valor Tours is planning a tour of the WWI battlefields of Italy in 2011. Several other organizations offer tours, such as Bartletts Battlefield Journeys Ltd., Battle Honours Ltd., and The Salonika Campaign Society. Tours generally take in one or more battlefields, several museums, graveyards, and monuments. They vary widely in price and what’s offered, so shop around. Questions to ask include whether there will be a translator along, how much time is set aside for personal detours, and what alternate plans are in place in case of bad weather. Also check to make sure your guide to published on the subject. That shows a level of expertise beyond the usual tour guide. You’ll also want to read up before you go and while there’s a whole library of books on the subject, a good single-volume history is The First World War by Hew Strachan. A Top 100 list of WWI books is available here.

Belgian family recreates “Home Alone” – son left behind on rest stop bench

by Scott Carmichael on

Next time you run through your checklist of things you don’t want to forget when you go on vacation, be sure to include your kid(s) on the list.

That is where a Belgian family went wrong last week, when they left their son on a bench next to their caravan.

The family had stopped at a French highway rest stop and set up their caravan for the night. When the young boy got too hot indoors, he decided to sleep outside on a bench.

When he woke the next morning, his family was gone, and he was on his own without any money or a phone. His family made the mistake of leaving the rest stop, without making sure their son was still with them.

The boy eventually made his way to a gas station where the police were contacted. His family was stopped about 200 miles away and immediately returned to the gas station to pick up their child.

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List of World Heritage Sites grows by 13

by Kraig Becker on

The United Nations Educational Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) World Heritage Committee just wrapped up its 33rd annual conference in Seville, Spain, where they added 13 new sites to their list of amazing locations around the globe, and made the unusual move of dropping one. The new list of World Heritage Sites now stands at 890.

Of the 13 new sites, 11 are cultural sites and 2 are natural. The two new natural sites are the Wadden Sea on the border between Germany and the Netherlands and the Dolomite Mountains in Italy. The cultural sites include such places as the Tower of Hercules in Spain, The Sacred City of Caral-Supe in Peru, and Sulamain-Too Sacred Mountain in Kyrgyzstan. For a complete list of the new sites, check out the official press release here.

The former World Heritage Site that was dropped from the list was the Elbe Valley in Dresden, Germany. The committee expressed concern over the fact that a new four-lane bridge was being built through the Valley, and even attempted to give warning of this action, placing the site on the Danger List back in 2006. When construction proceeding anyway, they felt they had no other choice, but to drop the Valley from their list.

Three other sites have also been put on notice that they could also be dropped in the future. The Belize Reef Reserve System in Belize was put on notice mainly due to the harvesting of mangrove trees and excessive development in the area. The Los Katios National Park in Columbia was added at the request of the Columbian government to help mobilize international efforts to protect the region and The Historical Monuments of Mtskheta in Georgia were listed as “in danger” over concerns with the preservation of the edifices located there.

Despite reports earlier this week, the Everglades National Park has not yet been placed back on the danger list. The committee intends to study the situation and make a more informed ruling in the future.

The new additions to the list are excelent, and it gives us an amazing life list just pursuing these World Heritiage Site. Forget the “1000 Places To See Before You Die” and just focus on these 890.

UNESCO adds sites to World Heritage list, and drops one too

by Sean McLachlan on

The UNESCO World Heritage List has just gotten a lot longer. Officials meeting for the 33rd session of the World Heritage Committee have added more than two dozen sites of great cultural, historical, or natural value to the list, and they’re considering more.

Among the new entries are an aqueduct in Britain, a stately home in Belgium, and a sacred Buddhist mountain dotted with monasteries in China.

Two lesser-visited countries got sites onto the list. The ruins of Loropéni in Burkina Faso, a massive thousand-year-old fort that guarded the Saharan gold trade, was added, as well as Cape Verde’s Cidade Velha, a 15th century Portuguese colony that was the first major station for the transatlantic slave trade. Cidade Velha includes a fort, ruins of houses, and a grand cathedral, the slave traders being devout Christians.

There have been some losers too. Several sites have been moved to the endangered list, and the Germany’s Dresden Elbe river valley was dropped from the list entirely after “developers” put a four-lane highway through it. Ironically, the old city of Dresden was Germany’s most historic city, but was leveled by Allied bombing during World War Two. The nearby historic landscape dotted with castles and palaces escaped damage, but now the Germans have destroyed that themselves. Nice going, guys.

UNESCO’s website is posting up-to-date information on new additions and changes.

Trivia questions: What does UNESCO stand for? And what World Heritage site is pictured above? Click “Read More” to find out.

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1. United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization

2. That Chomsi Stupa, Mount Phu Shi, Luang Prabang, Laos. This center for Buddhist learning contains a giant gold statue of the Buddha and was a religious center for the first capital of Laos when it was built in 1804. It was designated a World Heritage Site in 1995.

Blogger Kendra Bailey Morris

by Kendra Bailey Morris on

Where was your photo taken? At the 17th Street Farmer’s Market in my hometown of Richmond, Virginia. I’m a produce stand junkie. As soon as market season begins, you can find me sifting through piles of fresh veggies, meats and other locally made delicacies nearly every week.

Where do you live now? Richmond, Virginia, where I spend the majority of my days writing, cooking, and planning where to go next and what to eat.

Scariest airline flown? Can’t remember the airline, but you can bet I remember the flight. Went like this. Hopped a flight from Richmond to Newark. Plane takes off late at night. Enter massive Southern-style electrical thunderstorm. Plane gets tossed around like dice on a craps table. White knuckle it for about 10 minutes before huge lightning strike creates a power outage inside the plane. I begin bawling like an infant-complete with moments of hyperventilation. (I’ve never been a great flyer.) Plane finally lands. Exit aircraft, knees still knocking. Greeted by a cabbie, who takes me to a nearby bar, where I promptly buy a six-pack of Miller High Life and drink it in the backseat of the car. Note to self: check weather status before flying.

Favorite city/country/place. My grandmother’s kitchen in Bluefield, West Virginia.

Most remote corner of the globe visited. Spent the night on Arthur’s Seat, an extinct volcano which overlooks the city of Edinburgh, Scotland, with nothing but newspapers to sleep on, and a decent bottle of Scotch to keep warm. Woke up in the middle of the night to the distant sound of bagpipes and discovered a wild red fox sleeping next to me. Legend has it that Arthur’s Seat is the original home to Camelot, so to this day, I have always thought that fox was the ghost of some noble knight sent to protect me.

Favorite guidebook series. Been a big “Let’s Go” fan ever since college.

The most unusual food I’ve ever eaten is…raw monkfish liver. Tastes like a fishy foie gras.

When I’m not writing for Gadling, I’m…cooking, eating, or thinking about eating.

Favorite foreign dish? Restaurant? Poached beef marrow with coconut bread (served straight from the bone) at Poleng in San Francisco. Steak frites in Brussels. Doner kebab while walking the streets of London at 2 a.m. A bottle of cheap Bordeaux, a baguette and any park in Paris. Stewed Opihi’s (snails) at Paolo’s Bistro on the Big Island in Pahoa, Hawaii.

Favorite trip: Eloping to the Turks and Caicos to marry my husband, Tim, on Grace Bay in Provo, with an Italian couple and a handful of locals serving as our witnesses. Truly magical.