Robert Schuman House and Museum
Robert Schuman is known as the Father Europe because he basically jump-started the creation of the European Union. We traveled to the nearby village of Scy-Chazelles to his house and the museum dedicated to his life's work next door. We watched a pretty informative presentation about how the EU was started and got to ask questions that probably only Americans would ask. Then we got to go into the house where Robert Schuman lived. The society had added some quintessential Lorraine furniture to his house, but a lot of the things inside were his original belongings. He had a pretty big book collection and a spacious office. We saw the bed where he died and his car (a replica) too. After a tour of the house, we walked around his huge garden. The trees along the main pathway were trimmed so that they were growing out only along 2 sides (so they were flat). They were really interesting and modern looking. We visited the exhibit in the adjacent building before heading back to Metz and GTL.
Click here for pictures of this LCC trip.
European Archaeology Park in Bliesbruck (France) - Reinheim (Germany) and Roman Acqueducts
This trip was over an entire day. A mini bus took us to the Archaeological park which is located right on the French-German border and we began our tour of the ruins of an ancient Roman city. I honestly didn't find this trip very exciting but some of the hi-lights were the following:
- Seeing the original central heating system remains
- Crossing the French-German border by foot and grabbing a beer (on a school trip!) on the German side from a very friendly vendor
- Seeing the tomb of a Celtic princess
- Doing cartwheels in the field with Siri and Amanda and then getting scolded by Madame Serafin
- Touching the semi-electric fence around the sheep on the German side of the park and then watching others touch the fence without knowing it was electric and laughing at their reactions
- Seeing the bath house and toilets (mostly because it was the most complete exhibit)
After our tour of the ruins, we visited some Roman aqueducts remains around Metz. Aqueducts are how the Romans got water to the big cities from the mountain streams and rivers. The Romans figured out how to calculate the very slight angle to move the water downhill over many miles and they used less material by constructing arches instead of solid walls. Basically, they are incredible achievements in engineering, architecture and math. Read about them here.
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Malbrouck's Castle, Dukes of Lorraine Castle, Flea Tower
Today was labeled as the "Medieval Times" day in our syllabus and it certainly was. The first castle we went to was the Malbrouck's Castle. It has been renovated, repaired, and stabilized with concrete over the years to be safe for visitors of all ages and conditions (aka old people and children). Most of the exhibits had the information listed in French, German, and English so were able to self-guide through the castle. There were some great views once we got to the top turret of the Witch Tower (I have no idea why it's called this, but the other castle we saw had one too). The most interesting thing in this castle was probably the explanations of how they renovated the roof of the turret of the Witch Tower or the photography display of pictures taken of the castle.
The next destination was the Dukes of Lorraine Castle in Sierck right along the Moselle River (which runs through Metz). There was a bicycle race going on through the city, so we had to take a strange route to get to the actual castle. Madame Serafin warned us that this castle was not as safe as the last castle because a volunteer historical society takes care of all the exhibits and they don't have enough money to do renovations. This made the Dukes of Lorraine Castle a lot more interesting, though. We climbed to the top and ate lunch in the picnic area before breaking off in small groups to explore. We had a map, but we didn't use it very much. Some of the walkways were very slippery and steep so I almost fell a few times, but it made the trip more fun. There was a torture chamber, lots of spiral staircases, and many tunnels to get lost in. There was also a beautiful view of the Moselle River from the top.
In the afternoon, the bus drove us to Thionville where we visited the Flea Tower. This is a tower built by Charlemagne in medieval times (obviously). It's basically a museum now, but it was cool to walk through the whole thing. Afterwards, Madame Serafin bought us drinks at a local restaurant and then we headed home.
Click here for pictures of this LCC trip.
-JChamp
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