Our hotel was a complete shit box and our room shook every time a train went past but for some reason, we saw the funny side of everything bad about it. On Tuesday, we drove up to Hartmannswillerkopf/the Vieil Armand in the Ballons des Vosges Regional Nature Park. At a height of 956m above sea level, you could see the Alsatian plain, the Black Forest, the Jura range, the Swiss Alps and part of the Vosges mountains.
During the WW1, the site was the scene of many bloody battles which killed tens of thousands of men. In addition to the national cemetery, a tomb which includes the remains of 12,000 unknown soldiers has been built on the site, in order to commemorate the events that occurred in the area.
It was so silent and peaceful up there, making it difficult to imagine the horrifying scenes that had occurred there almost 100 years ago. At the same time, it was amazing to visit a place which coincided with my Year 12 Modern History studies of WW1 - there’s a huge difference between reading about something and actually being in an area where those things occurred and being faced with the facts rather than just seeing words and numbers on paper.
Driving to the Vieil Armand, just before my camera battery died :(
Luckily, our two days coincided with Fךte de la Musique - World Music Day which began in France, where musicians, both amateur and professional, take to the streets and perform in celebration of music. It was so amazing to see such a variety of music in a completely different culture, but I think the overall vibe was universal. Unfortunately, a bunch of skinheads started a brawl which seemed to kill the mood so we went back to our hotel relatively early.
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