The last day in Luxembourg Anne and I spent a good day in one of the Northernmost towns in Luxembourg, Clervaux. We went to a mass at an abbay for gregorian monks which was on a hill in the woods above town, that was a great experiance.
Although I picked this shot because it seemed to go with a theme that I have been having quite a few shots to do with WWII lately. The castle in Clervaux was built in the 1100's, a plaque inside said that it served as a last holdout for overmatched and undersupplied American troops holding off the Nazis during the battle of the bulge, "who held back superior german forces from 15-18 Dec 1944".
This was an american tank in front of the castle and a plaque next to it said "This US Sherman M4A3 (76) of company B, 2nd Tank battalion 9th armoured division is the only known surviving combat vehicle of the division, put out of action december 17th 1944 while defending clervaux, here at the gate to the castle."
Inside there was a small but extremely informative museum dedicated to the battle of the bulge, which was fought after the allies liberated Aachen in October 1944 and headed south through the Ardenne forest region of belgium and luxembourg.
Although one of the main reasons we stopped in Clervaux was to see the photo exhibit "the family of man" I HIGHLY recommend it to anyone that is in the area. ( http://www.family-of-man.public.lu/ unfortunately only in French). It was an incredibly moving exhibit of B&W's put together in 1955 for the NY ademy of Art compiled by a luxembourg photographer (using shots from many different photographers). The exhibit was added to a list of UNESCO heritage exhibits in 2003. My interpretation of the exhibit was that It basically said in pictures that all people in the world are the same, we have the same desires for happyness, love, family, and in the end we are much more alike than we aredifferent. A poignent message indeed.
Really intersting commentary here. I do like to read how folk come by their pictures. It sounds like you had a very interesting time..from tanks to gregorian chant..wow..how diverse! The tank juxtaposed with the old castle is great.
