A Three Way Border
There's a border in the Ardenne, near Gemmenich, where the borders of Holland, Belgium and Germany meet - a three way border. If you drive five kilometres down the road into Belgium, the road signs are in French. Drive the other way, into Holland, it's Dutch. And into Germany... well, yes, they are in German. I know this shouldn't be remarkable, but to my island-bound mind it is so.
Even more remarkable is how this forested area was fought over so bitterly in the War. Adjacent to the border, near to the cafes and the tourist labryinth and the high tower that you can climb for an exorbitant sum is a memorial to Peirre Roiseaux, a resistance fighter in the war.
More information is here: Places of Memory
You'd never know, walking through this late summer forest, full of blackberries and rowans and great tall beeches, that once men and women had fought and died here. Layers of history lie quiet on the land.
And now, a kiwi makes his own history...(this is from my son's blog!)
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