Napoleon in Poland

Naoleon has been a few times in Poland, in his time called Grand-Duchesse de Warschau. (1806, 1807 and 1812).
It looked very interesting for me to look after whats is left from that episode in Poland itself.
Therefore I took an airplane to Krakow with my travelcompanien. We hired a car and started with a selfprepaired conceptplan in our hands a trip of about 3200 km all around Poland.
(Of course I used Le Guide Napoléon for basic material!).
We had a rather hard, but nice trip of about 8 days in November 2012.
So I lost my iPad and my Garmin (both returned!)
We also visited at the end Auswitz. Thats is horrible to see! I placed no pictures of this item on the website.
You can all see on my latetst website Napoleon in Poland. (www.roelkvos.nl/nappolen)

Latest details about the Bas-Rhin (France)

Now I announce my latest website.
www.roelkvos.nl/napbasrhinjun2013
It's about my latest trip with my friend J.van K.
Look at the pictures and enyoi it!

Bas-Rhin in France

Now me and my friend are returned from our five-days trip in the Elzas (France). This time we 'did' the Bas-Rhin, the north of the region between Wissembourg and Saverne. Only a quater of all the object of Le Guide Napoléon I scored. There is a lot left fore the next time!
Soon there will be a new website about this.
During this trip I saw many bancs, called 'banc-reposoir du Roi de Rome'. They date from 1811.
Here some pictures and a YouTube-film about it.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y389iyoL5AQ (film)

HAUT-RHIN in France

In August 2012 my husband and I made a trip in the Haut-Rhin (the Elzas) in France.
We have made a 'Napoleon'-trip of seven days. Finding  napoleontic-objects was the theme with Le Guide Napoléon.
Look at www.roelkvos.nl/naphautrhin  for the results.

In sept 2012 I will make a same kind of trip (5 days) with a friend to 'do' the objects of the Bas-Rhin (half).

In the beginning of June 2012 I made a voyage to Spitsbergen. Look at the pictures I took on www.roelkvos.nl/spitsbergen1 .

Of course I have tried to make a relation between Spitsbergen and Napoleon.
Afther some research I have found a little story about the English hero Horation Nelson.
When he had have that accident history would have been changed!

Skeffington Lutwidge (13 March 1737 – 15/16 August 1814) was an officer of the Royal Navy, who saw service during the American War of Independence, and the French Revolutionary and Napoleonic Wars. He had a particular connection with Horatio Nelson, who served under Lutwidge as a midshipman on an expedition to the Arctic in HMS Carcass in 1773, and again in 1801 while a captain, when Lutwidge was commander in chief in the Downs. Lutwidge served for a considerable period and in a number of ships, in American waters during the War of Independence. During this time he captured a number of American privateers, and was involved in operations on Lake Champlain. He reached flag rank soon after the start of the French Revolutionary Wars, and served mainly in Home waters as commander in chief of some of the stations on the south coast. He retired from active service with the rank of admiral, and died in 1814, shortly before the end of the Napoleonic Wars. He was the great-uncle of Lewis Carroll.


Lutwidge, by now a commander, commissioned the bomb vessel HMS Carcass in June 1771, and served in the Irish Sea until the Carcass was paid off in April 1773. The Carcass was then refitted at Sheerness between March and April for a voyage to the Arctic, with Lutwidge retaining command. The expedition, under the overall command of Constantine Phipps, who commanded HMS Racehorse, sailed from the Nore on 10 June 1773. The expedition sailed up to and around Spitsbergen, managing to reach within ten degrees of the North Pole, but was prevented from travelling further north by thick sea ice, and returned to Britain in September. Sailing with the Carcass was a young Horatio Nelson, whose position as a midshipman on the expedition had been arranged by his uncle, Maurice Suckling. Suckling and Lutwidge knew each other well, Lutwidge having served under Suckling on a number of occasions, including time spent acting against privateers in 1771. Nelson was given the role of coxswain of Lutwidge's gig. Nelson managed to obtain command of the Carcass's cutter as the expedition progressed.

Nelson and the bear

By 1800 Lutwidge began to circulate a story that while the ship had been trapped in the ice, Nelson had seen and pursued a polar bear, before being ordered to return to the ship. Lutwidge's later version, in 1809, reported that Nelson and a companion had given chase to the bear, but on being questioned why, replied that "I wished, Sir, to get the skin for my father." Nelson referred to Lutwidge as 'that good old man'.

What did Napoleon do 200 years ago? (2) May and July 1812.

The next part of Louis Garros.

La Vendée (France)

The first two weeks of May 2012 I have spend in La Vendée (France).
The purpose was to score 37 Napoleontic objects.
They are mentioned in Le Guide Napoléon.
First I did my preparations at home: try to find all the object in Google Earth and make a practical route.
You can see all the results on: www.roelkvos.nl/vendee
I hope you will like it, me and my wife, we did.