During our trip to Bastogne, Belgium for the 70th Anniversary reenactment of the Battle of the Bulge we decided to check out the 101st Airborne Museum. It was a neat stop filled with tons of history, great for you history buffs and still entertaining enough for only those mildly interested in history.
This is a great museum honoring the ‘Screaming Eagles’ of the 101st Airborne division.
The museum is made of up 4 floors. The first which includes the cash office, a display room, restroom, back room (which was used for a book signing while we were there) and gift shop & exit. It was €8 per person but if your military you get in for €6, so it was €30 for our family of 4. Yes, a little on the spendy side but it really is a great display of dioramas and items, and don’t miss the air raid shelter!
It was neat to see some of General S. Patton’s stuff as we recently visited the Luxembourg American Military Cemetery where he is laid to rest.
On the 2nd floor you’ll find some dioramas and this wax paratrooper hanging from the ceiling.
From the 2nd floor you’ll see a steep set of stairs leading up to the 3rd floor. The kids & I enjoyed checking out some of their ‘tasty’ treats, somehow I’m betting 70 yrs later their not so tasty anymore.
We also got a kick out of this canteen! It says Enjoy Drinking Drink Coca-Cola of Alabama to Berlin, wonder if someone’s sweetheart send that to them?!
Then you had back down to the 1st floor and take the stairs down to the basement where there are some dioramas set up, including a new medical one that is behind curtains because it’s a bit gory. Bub, who is 14, was ok looking at it but Bea, who is 11, did not want to, which was fine because with it begin behind a curtain you don’t have to view that one.
This is also where you’ll find the air raid shelter and I highly recommend trying this out if you can to fully understand what the citizen went through when Batogne was being bombed. They do warn the military at the cash office that is an enclosed space and loud, and if you leave in the middle it takes 20 mins to reset so if you don’t think you can handle it, just skip it. When the light on the right side turns green you can enter the shelter, the experience lasts about 7 minutes. Bea was a little nervous about it and it was loud for her but she did fine.
I wasn’t sure what to expect and was pleasantly surprised. Mr. B really enjoyed looking at all the displays and even the kids and I enjoyed it. I didn’t know if the kids would be bored, etc but they did well and were engaged. It was also a nice break from the cold weather & snow. If you have younger kids it may not be that entertaining for them but my older kids did great.
Know Before You Go:
What: 101st Airborne Museum in Bastogne, Belgium
How To Get There: It’s about 1 hour 22 mins from Spangdahlem, about 2 hours 12 mins from Ramstein. GPS address: Avenue de la Gara 11, 6600 Bastogne, Belgium.
Parking: Parking is free but you’ll have to look for it around the museum.
Cost: Admission was €8 but you get a discount if your military so it was €30 for our family of 4 with the discount for Mr. B.
Traveling with little kids: Strollers are not able to be used here so if you have a little one plan on baby wearing.
How long: Plan on at least 1 hour, longer if you want to read through all the information that they have posted, it’s in English as well.
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