I was traveling with my two college-aged children, and after touring the Memorial Museum we headed…read moreto the Fort to see more. First benefit - free parking! Yay! There was a fair amount of parking spaces, so that made things easy. When you enter the fort, you are given the option of paying for the headset audio guide, or getting a laminated handout for free that you return at the end of your tour. We decided on the handout, and it worked just fine for us. Occasionally we lost our place on the handout, but from an informational standpoint it presented lots of great information and allowed us to travel through the fort at probably a quicker pace than if we had to stand and listen to everything. This fort is very old, and quite frankly in disrepair. This is not a polished museum - you really see it as it was when it was used. The walls/floors are damp, and the ceiling does a fair share of dripping so be prepared! We really enjoyed exploring inside the fort and looking through all the gun vantage points, and then went outside and spent a fair amount of time climbing all over the fort exploring the outer areas as well. The landscape still shows the bomb craters from all the bombing, which makes the battle so much more real. It is definitely worth a stop!

This village northeast of Verdun in the Meuse is a "non-place", a former community of 422 farmers…read moreand woodsmen that was utterly destroyed during the World War I Battle of Verdun, from February through October, 1916. The hero of Verdun, Henri Pétain, was a hero in part because he favored artillery over human bodies as a defensive strategy. So for all the frightful casualties of this campaign - 100,000 bodies were later found littering the fields of this sector alone - things might have gone worse for the French poilus, if Pétain had not used artillery to hold the German advance. But the cost was the complete obliteration of nine villages, Fleury-devant-Douaumont among them. Today, you reach the village by a road through a forest where not one single tree pre-dates the battle. On the right, there is a restricted zone where tank crews train. Where the road peters out, you come upon a moonscape with markers for streets and houses and young trees sprouting out of shellholes. It is a sobering place, to say the least. After the war, the French Premier Henri Poincaré came through here and thanked the villages of "la Zone rouge" for their sacrifice. When you stand at the junction in this ghost village, Poincaré's gesture rings well-intentioned but a bit pointless.

This landmark is slightly on the edge of the city of Metz. You can walk to it and it takes about 20…read moremins to walk there. The name translated to English is, The German's Gate and built in the 13th century, the last medieval bridge castle in France. The fortification played a crucial defensive role during the siege of Metz in 1552-1553 by Emperor Charles V. It's undergoing some repair at the moment, however, it's a wonderful structure and worth visiting. You also get a glimpse of old Metz history and allows you to ponder the days gone by.

Nice preserved city gates. Small gallery that provides some educational history but other than…read morethat, nothing really to make this a destination spot - but if you're in the area, worth the walk around. Also neat to see the little brass tiles through the city to guide you there

From the owner: Un temple tout nouveau Situé à proximité de la place de la Comédie et en bordure de la Moselle, le…read moreTemple Neuf fût construit entre 1901 et 1904 pendant l'annexion allemande. Le temple protestant est de style néo-roman rhénan.

UNESCO world Heritage listed square in Nancy. It's the main square in town and surrounded with…read morebeautiful buildings dating back to the 1700's. The square was a major project in urban planning, dreamt up by Stanisław I, as a way to link the medieval old town of Nancy and the new town built under Charles III in the 17th century. The square would also be a place royale to honour his son-in-law, Louis XV. The design linked two handsome buildings that already existed: the Hôtel de Ville (now centred on its grand square) and the Hôtel du Gouvernement. The seat of city government and the seat of Ducal government faced each other as complements through a series of rational, symmetrical but varied urban spaces, unequalled in Europe at the time. We stayed in an apartment right on the square and it was magnificent to step out early in the morning and just admire the empty square. It's a gorgeous piece of architecture in France and one of the finest squares I have seen in a while. Nancy is a wonderful old city with gorgeous buildings, markets, parks and restaurants. It's also a major university town and well worth a visit.

I get it, it's pretty. I mean, it's really pretty. But I don't get all the hype. It's a pretty…read moresquare, a nice place, surrounded by the art museum, city hall, and the opera. Overpriced cafés with bad service galore, The Amorino and their gelato is probably your best bet if you're looking to have something that doesn't leave a bad taste.

We had spent the morning in Verdun visiting the Memorial Museum and Fort Douaumont. My son, who is…read morein college and is a major history buff, had been reading extensively on our trip about WWI, and asked if we could squeeze in a stop at Fort Troyon. So we did! First plus - free parking, and plenty of it! It is in a very isolated area, so is quiet and peaceful. The people associated with this fort have been working hard to restore it, and you could tell that they were proud of the work that they have accomplished so far. We spent about an hour touring the fort and the grounds, and found it very interesting. This stop was one of the highlights of our trip for my son who was very fascinated by the important role this fort played in history. Worth a stop!

From the owner: Visites du Fort Historique de Troyonread more

We were on a trip through Germany, visiting historic WWII sites, and ventured into France to see…read morethe Maginot Line museum at Fort Schoenenbourg. When we realized how close we were to Verdun, we decided to add a day to visit this area. We weren't sure where to go first, so we thought we'd start here at the Memorial. MOST AMAZING stop ever! This museum is very recently created, as the exhibits were very modern, and had a lot of video and other effects. All the exhibits offered multiple languages (English, French, German) and had great content. The displays were all around you - there were areas with glass floors with displays underneath, displays that you could walk on to view, etc. We were there easily 2+ hours, and could have stayed longer except that we had a lot of Verdun to see in a day! One plus - free parking!! One minus - not the greatest gift shop, just a modest display of some books for sale. I would highly recommend a stop here - it is a museum that can be appreciated by children as well as adults. Also, in the area around the museum along the road there are areas with trenches that you can walk through, and sites up in the trees that you can park roadside and walk to as well which were very interesting. The terrain is very unusual - the bomb craters are very visible even today. So keep your eyes open for those!