How we got interested in World War I, aka The Great War: My father and uncle were both drafted and sent overseas in 1918, towards the end of World War I. Neither one saw action and were discharged from service in 1919. However, my uncle, my mother's twin brother, died during the Asian Flu epidemic right after the war. I still have my father's dog tags. We're not otherwise a military family, though my son James served in the US Navy, and was sent overseas at the outset of Desert Storm. He served for 13 years and traveled all over the world. Years later, the recent book "The Sleepwalkers" by Christopher Clark, about how the world slept its way into The Great War, made a great impression on me. It led me to read many other accounts of the run-up to the war. Some of these were: "The Guns of August" by Barbara Tuchman, and "The War that Ended Peace" by Margaret MacMillan. Bob and I also read a series of novels about that period: "The Regeneration Trilogy" by Pat Barker, the Maisie Dobbs novels by Jacqueline Winspear and of course "All Quiet on the Western Front" by Erich Maria Remarque. We also watched the PBS World War I series. All this created a curiosity about that period as well as an interest in visiting the actual battle sites, museums and memorials. So, with that in mind, in 2015 Bob and I took a Road Scholar barge trip on the Marne to do that. This trip did not include activities in Belgium and the Somme, so we took another Road Scholar trip this fall to learn about the battles there. No matter how much reading one has done, visiting the actual battle sites and memorials is very enlightening and also very sobering. So many millions died, basically for nothing. However, in addition to visiting war-related sites, we spent a day and a half in Bruges, a beautiful city. And we enjoyed the company of other like-minded people on the boat. For those who are interested there are a few photos of birds and butterflies at the end. Birds not pictured: Black-headed Gull (many), Common Sandpiper, Water Rail, Coot, Mallard, Red Kite.