Henri St Chappelle and the Battice fort

Our staycation at the end of August felt very interrupted: the high Fenns were on fire, Jan was working a lot (hard to say no to important meetings and deals if you have a "staycation"), we had a lot of friend's invitatios (hard to say no to invitations if you have a "staycation"), the endless had turned to more whimsical weather.  I insisted to return to the east of Belgium as I really avoided being in Leuven, while Jan and the boys wanted to do excursions and hated the drive up and down to the east.

It became a Belgian compromise: we drove to the east of Belgium and since we had a party invitation in Maastricht, we drove through the east of Belgium and visited some places we had never been before.


After our visits to the Flanders Fields and Ypres (WWI) mid-August and our visit to Bastogne (WWII) the week before, we now stopped at the cemetary of Henri St Chapelle. I had honestly never heard of this cemetary before but the king just visited it with the American ambassador last week, I now noticed in the news.

It's hidden on a hill side not too far from Battice and Welkenraedt and Herve with a big building monument alongside the road and then a field with thousands of American soldiers.  A very solemn beautiful place.  It just felt a bit ridiculous to see the flags half-mast and knowing that was because of the Trump order to honor Dolly Parton.  (Nothing against ordering Dolly Parton but a global presidential order to have all American flags half mast on the other hand...)

A bit further in Battice we drove to the fort.  These forts are not free to visit, only the last Saturday of the month you can do a guided tour. We were there the last Saturday of the month but decided not to rush to the right timing for the tour as we didn't feel like being on a multi-hour tour in French with the boys. 

But next to the old fort is an active NATO bunker which you can't photograph. Strange since the domain is public accessible.  And there you can climb by stairs or by elevator on the high mast that is strategically looking over the 3 borders. 
And via viewing platforms you can also explore from the top the old fort...but I must honestly admit that I stayed with my back close to the elevators and did not venture out for viewing at all.