The worlds biggest bore!!

What a great day today! - Took a slight detour to see the largest boar in the world. He stands 10m high is 14m long and 5m wide. Over 50,000 kg of metal and 6,500kg of solder. It took 328 bottles of gas to weld and over 11 years to make. It's possibly the greatest big thing ever!! Certainly beats most of the other big things I have seen! (I won't mention them all here...but includes the big Derwent pencil!). From the pig I made my way to Verdun via Stonne which was the site of a massive tank battle between the French and Germans in WW2. The village was completely destroyed, so were 57 tanks and the village changed hands 19 times. (not too sure that it was worth it!). From there to Verdun to visit the Memorial De Verdun. Although not the largest battle of WW1, it was a 300 day fight that resulted in over 300,000 dead. They died at the rate of over 1000 per day. Near the memorial is The Douaumont ossuary containing the mixed up bones of 130,000 soldiers who died. So that's it for my WW1 and WW2 yarns for now. Tonight I am staying in a log hut on the banks of the Seine river (yep the same one that runs through Paris - although it's a lot cleaner here!) Tomorrow I begin my Loire Valley experience, but first I have to tell you about tonight's dinner: veal sweatmeat (pituitary glands) and a plate of basque fromage for desert!!