www.abmc.gov Not answering any of your questions, but you can look for cemeteries on this site in the area you will be visiting.

A few years ago, we spent two days touring the Luxembourg and Belgian Battle of the Bulge sites from our base in Luxembourg City. Although I don’t know the geography of that area very well, I think you would be hard-pressed to do what you suggested and be able to see anything in any depth. You might want to limit your excursion to just the immediate Bastogne area, and then go from there to Cochem. Most Belgians who service tourists in that area speak English, and perhaps also German, so you shouldn’t have a problem with languages.

Language won't be a problem. We had no problems with English, high school French and about 25 words of German.

What will be a problem is your itinerary. The areas you are talking about are quite rural, small roads, fairly low speeds and a TON of sights to see. What you are describing is like 3 days worth of sights - since there are cemeteries, small and large museums, charming villages and tons of monuments and plaques in them and the local churches.

You can limit it to one day - but will have to select only 2 places - at most - and I would look at viamichelin.com. Also - i fyuo do this get a realy GOOD paper map of the area.

We had a terrific Friday evening and Saturday in Trier last summer and then went to Luxumbourg Saturday night and Sunday to visit the American cemetery there (were Gen. Patton is buried) and a museum in Diekirch. This isn't exactly what you are asking about, but if you want, you could see what we did in my trip report here. Details are in Days 6-7 and 8.

http://www.fodors.com/community/europe/daytripping-for-two-weeks-or-more-in-the-frankfurt-area.cfm

FYI: There are some WW II sites near Trier that might interest you. On a Sunday afternoon you can visit Panzerwerk Katzenkopf, just north of there on the Westwall line in the town of Irrel:

http://www.westwallmuseum-irrel.de/index_en.html

An intact bunker in Besseringen, south of Saarburg near Merzig, is open on Sunday afternoons as well:

http://bunkersite.com/locations/germany/saarland/bwerk-1.php

Wow, thanks all. TexasBookWorm, great write up on Trier. I speak German well with my family there, but French I havnt had since many years ago in High School and I would hate to rely on that.

I was worried about rushing too quickly through the sights, but we only have one day between Trier and Cochem and I promised my (uninterested in anything history) wife to go to Belgium - she only wants to say she's been there - easy. She knows I am huge into German history, so she's letting me have this day.

So with your suggestions, I think I've decided to cut out anything North of Bastogne (KG Peiper stuff) concentrating on the defense of Bastogne for BoB. Russ, the site around Trier look great, however we are pushing through the area on a Thursday.

We are in Trier for 2 days, on the third we are going to Ouvrage Immerhof early (A31 South over line to France from Luxembourg City), they will be closed but I hope to be able to walk the grounds - If not, I'll sadly drive off in the distance. Then perhaps stop in Luxembourg to visit Patton on the way to Bastogne (time permitting) - spending the rest of the day in and around Bastogne (Bizory, Foy, Recogne, Noville) then driving to Cochem to rest up for our next adventure on the Mosel. This should solve the bathrooms, language, and time issues by staying near major towns.

By doing this, driving time is cut way down. Thanks!

www.abmc.gov/cemeteries/cemeteries/lx.php Good decision, as it's only about an hour from Trier.