The boys start out today with a trip from Sarreguemines to Luxembourg. Around a two hour trip
Sarreguemines to Luxembourg
Luxembourg is actually country unto itself, officially known as "Grand Duchy of Luxembourg" The entire country is only as big as one and a half Hennepin counties and has a population of about half of Hennepin county.
Luxembourg at Night
Ruins of fortifications
Bonus Picture I found after I sent the email!
The itinerary says they'll be seeing the town with Dominique Vitali, Head of Protocole with US-Embassy and then having tea with Ambassador Ann Wagner.
Ann Wagner at the US Embassy
They'll be visiting the American Military Cemetery where most of the more than 5,000 interred there died at the Battle of the Bulge which was fought nearby.
Satellite View
American Military Cemetery
American Military Cemetery 2
General Pattons Grave Marker
Next they have a performance at the Luxembourg Protestant Church. There's an announcement on their homepage about the boys.
English Homepage
A note that I'm sure will be interesting to the boys is that in 1939 when the church was being renovated, it was discovered that there was a crypt hidden beneath the church behind a plaque reading "Sanguis Eius Super Nos" which, from what I can figure out, roughly translates to, "Let his blood be on us" and is known as "The Blood Curse"
Blood Curse
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3 comments:
What a great idea to have a Blog. Thank you Bob for all your time & effort to give us info on what the boys are experiencing over there. Now all we need are some photos of the boys! Thanks again!
Thanks! I found myself looking this stuff up anyway so I thought I may as well share it.
I'm also hoping it'll be a neat thing for Riley (and the other boys) when they get back... If the other boys journal like Riley does, it'll be handy to have some links and pictures to jog the memory!
-- bob
Jennifer Maxfield has this to share about the mysterious "blood curse"
...if you think anyone is interested, a comment about the “blood curse” Bob mentioned in yesterday’s post re the Luxembourg Protestant Church:
The “blood curse” may sound bizarre and its place on the Luxembourg church crypt obscure if not creepy (I’ve never heard it called the “blood curse” before), but here’s how it makes sense. According to the book of Matthew this was the crowd’s response to the civil governor recusing himself from judging Jesus:
· So when Pilate saw that he could do nothing, but rather that a riot was beginning, he took some water and washed his hands before the crowd, saying, "I am innocent of this man's blood; see to it yourselves." Then the people as a whole answered, "His blood be on us and on our children!" (NRSV)
Unfortunately this has been used in various times in history to hold Jewish people responsible for Jesus’ death. The truth is, it would have been all too easy for any of us to fit into that crowd. But this result was the heart of God’s plan and purpose to save His people from their sin, and though the people intended the words as an oath or conditional curse, they also spoke unwittingly by the Holy Spirit of the deliverance God was preparing for those who accept it through faith. As in the Passover the blood of a perfect lamb was smeared on the top and side doorposts of the house so the angel of death would pass over (Exodus 12:1-13), in the Christian rite of baptism the blood of the perfect sacrifice Jesus is applied figuratively to a person’s forehead in the shape of a cross (that is, horizonally and vertically, as the blood on the doorposts) to mark him as one spared eternal death by the atonement of Jesus’ blood. So the “blood curse,” ironically, is for those who would grasp it a “blood blessing,” particularly appropriate on a Christian crypt (tomb).
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