Weekends in Belgium & Luxembourg

One of the Troc Stores we visited

On the weekend of May 5^th and 6^th Ryan and I made a spur of the moment weekend trip to Belgium with another couple. This was my first visit to the beautiful countryside of Belgium. We spent most of our Saturday going to Troc stores in and around the city of Liège, which is just across the German border. Liège is the third largest city in Belgium and a two-hour drive from our home. Ok…. So what is a Troc store? These are Europe’s second hand stores. You can find anything from lamps to couches and antiques to modern furniture. We found several pieces for great prices. One of our best purchases was and antique cabinet we purchased for €20 or $25 USD. 
 On Sunday we made our way over to the city of Tongeren. This is the oldest city in Belgium where we could see the old Roman wall around parts of the city. Here we walked thru an antique flea market. This flea market runs every Sunday year round. We enjoyed looking at all kinds of neat items and even made a couple of purchases. One of our purchases was an antique buffet made of solid Oak. We spent €60 or $77 USD on this piece of furniture and found it to be in excellent condition. The only problem was we found it to be too large to fit in our car. We were able to make arrangements with the seller to hold it for us until we were able to come back and pick it up.

Gate to Henri-Chapelle Cemetery

On our way back to Wiesbaden we stopped and spent sometime in the Henri-Chapelle American WWII Cemetery.  The Cemetery and Memorial spans 57 acres and has 7,992 graves of soldiers who lost their lives during WWII.  This was Ryan’s first visit to a military cemetery and a first for both of us to visit an American military cemetery on foreign soil. On the west end of the memorial we were able to enjoy an overlook with an excellent view of the rolling Belgian countryside. One would never know this countryside, now covered with lush grass and farms, was once a battlefield.

Henri-Chapelle Cemetery

Henri-Chapelle Cemetery

 

Our view of the Belgian countryside from the memorial

 On the weekend of May 11^th and 12^th we made our return trip to Tongeren to pick up our furniture. This time we took a different route and made the trip into more of a sightseeing adventure. On Saturday we drove through Luxembourg, which is a new country for both Ryan and I. Outside the capital Luxembourg City we stopped at the Luxembourg American Cemetery and Memorial. This American cemetery spans 50.5 acres with a burial area containing 5,076 soldiers whom lost their lives in the Battle of the Bulge. The city of Luxembourg served as the headquarters for General George S. Patton’s. Per his request General Patton is buried in Luxembourg Memorial Cemetery.  After visiting the American cemetery we explored a German WWII cemetery, which was in close proximity to the Luxembourg cemetery. We noticed a huge difference in the two cemeteries. The American cemetery had neatly manicured landscape and each soldier has a white cross marking his or her gravesite. In the German cemetery all of the stones are dark and military looking. The gravestones mark the graves of 4-5 German soldiers’. 

Luxembourg Cemetery

General Patton's grave

German WWII Cemetery

Gravestone marking several German Soldiers

After leaving the cemeteries we headed for a city named Dinant, Belgium. The city’s landmark is the Collegiate Church of Notre-Dame with foundations dating back to 1227. In the city of Dinant we toured the Leffe abbey, which was, founded 1152. Like many monasteries across Europe, the monks of the abbey brewed ale. Using knowledge passed from generation to generation and ingredients found in the wild near the abbey, a unique ale developed and brewed only at the abbey. We enjoyed learning the history of the abbey. On Sunday we made our way back to the Tongeren flea market to pick up our furniture. After spending some time at the flea market we made our way back home.

Leffe Abbey and Brewery

Dinant Collegiate Church of Notre-Dame

Our Belgian Purchases

Visit to Observation Point Alpha

On Wednesday, May 1^st  Ryan and I went with the group of soldiers to Observation Point Alpha. OP Alpha was a Cold War observation post between what was East and WestGermany. The Post overlooked the “Fulda Gap” which would have been a prime invasion route for Soviet forces had the Cold War erupted into actual warfare.  In 1965 Responsibility for border surveillance at OP Alpha was turned over from the German BGS to the US Army. The Post was abandoned by US military troops in 1991 and today a memorial commemorates its 40-year existence.

Looking into the "Fulda Gap" (East Germany)

OP Alpha sits atop a 411-meter hill, lying in the center of that section of the NATO defense line. US troops kept 24-hour monitoring of activity on the roads leading into the town of Geisa. At the first sign of an invasion the OP Alpha crew would have withdrawn. Due to its exposed position this observation point was referred to as “the hottest spot of the cold war.”

US OP Alpha Tower

In 1968 the first observation tower made of wood was established, replaced in 1982 with a steel tower and again in 1985 with the current concrete structure. This location also became the base of the US 14th Armored Cavalry Regiment. In 1972 the US 11th Armored Cavalry Regiment or "Blackhorse Regiment" assumed the post. Approximately 40 soldiers were stationed for 4 weeks at OP Alpha.

Model showing the fence and "dead zone"

One of the East German border fences.

GDR Watch Tower

We learned that it was not just a fence built between East and West Germany, but a series of fortifications. The complexity of the border system increased steadily until it reached its full extent in the early 1980s. When trying to escape from East to West Germany one would first reach the edge of the “restricted zone”. This was a closely controlled strip of land 3 miles wide, running parallel with the border. The signal fence was about 500-1,000 meters from the actual border and was lined with low-voltage electrified barbed wire. This wire activated alarms when touched or cut. Beyond the signal fence was the “protective strip” lit by floodlights and lined with guard towers, bunkers, and dog runs. Next the escapee would come to a control strip often referred to as the “death strip”. Tripwire-activated flare launchers were situated at various points to help the border guards to pinpoint the location of an escape attempt. The last and most formidable obstacle was the outer fencing. In some places there were multiple parallel rows of fences, each up to several meters high, with minefields in between. These fences not electrified but were booby-trapped with directional anti-personnel mines at intervals of 10 meters. Finally, the escapee had to cross whatever natural obstacles were on the western side of the border fence as well as navigating a strip of cleared ground that was up to 500 meters wide. While crossing this outer strip, the escapee would appear in clear view and shooting range of the German Democratic Republic (GDR) border guards before reaching the safety of West German territory.

Anti-tank ditch used to keep cars from escaping East Germany

During our visit to OP Alpha we were lead through a museum by an English-speaking guide who grew up in West Germany during the time Point Alpha was in operation. Following some lunch we went on a 10K hike through hills and along various points along the boarder. Our guide took us to a farm that was built on the boarder and separated by the wall.

WWIII medals created by the Soviets. This shows how close to WWIII we really came. 

Looking toward GDR Tower from OP Alpha

Enjoying our view from the OP Tower.

Border marker

The actual borderline between West and East Germany was marked by granite border stones 20 centimeters square with the letters “DDR” carved on the west-facing edge. Our Tour guide took us to a farm divided by the border. Half of the farm was in West Germany and the other half (including the well) was in East Germany. The GDR refused to move the border around the farm. Soon after the wall was built the GDR destroyed the section of the farm built on East German land. The family soon abandoned the remaining buildings on West German land due to the constant surveillance and fear of the GDR.

Remaining foundation of farm in East Germany

Other Half of farm in West Germany