The Musée de la Grande Guerre reenactment weekend is an unmissable event for History lovers. On Saturday September 5 and Sunday 6, 2020, 200 WWI passionates expect us in their period costumes in a military camp and invite us to go back in time, to 1914, 50 kilometers (31.06 mi) from Paris.

14-18 re-enactors are so passionate they allow children and the general public to discover more about the daily life during WWI. We learn more about French, German and American soldiers' dail lives, as well as the roles of nurses, cotes, cooks and so on in a very playful and pleasant atmosphere.

The experience totally suits children who find fitted answers and many illustrations that they cannot find in books.

Highlights of this weekend of reconstitution:

• Poilus parade in Meaux:
  Walk-on actors will parade with taxis, ambulances, Ford T… you’re expected on Saturday from 10:30 a.m. in the city-center to see troops, and at the Aushopping Saisons shopping mall to see cars. On Sunday, meet in the Beauval - Verrière area at 10:30 a.m. for the Grognards d'Epinal brassband, or place de la Cathédrale de Meaux to see the Scottish 51st Highland Division Memorial.
  
  
• Transport demonstration:
  WWI is famous for the "Taxis de la Marne", the pigeon-fancying trucks, the 1916 Peugeot and over a million horses.
  
  
• WWI French soldiers’ meal:
  For lunch, cooks provide you a "WWI French soldiers' meal" cooked all morning in the field kitchen... 
  
  
• Reenactment of the life in a military camp.
  From 2 p.m., the 300 reenactors take you back to 14-18 with many demonstrations such as canon shooting, troop reviewing, sending pigeons, craft workshops to make many useful or decorative items like soldiers did over 100 years ago.
  
  
• Send a letter with the carrier pigeons
  Thanks to the Messager Meldois association and the Musée du Colombier Militaire, you can choose a piegon and send a message (€2)
  
  
• WWI Bread sale:
  The bread created during WWI is based on a recipe suited to food shortage (buckwheat and rye flours and chicory roots)

We attended it in 2017, and we loved the atmosphere:

This free event is the occasion to visit the museum with its wonderful collection featuring 65,000 items. The museum is open to all, even to children from 5 years old thanks to a reassuring family area, and it's free on the first Sunday of each month!

Last but not least, this year, a circuit enables us to follow the footsteps of the first battle of the Marne that took place from September 5 to 12, 1914. By foot, in car or on a bus, walk the 40km across the country and cities and villages of the Pays de Meaux, discovering 10 sites about the Battle of the Marne. On your way, VR stations, Timescope, take you to the landscape as it used to be back in 1914. An application also enables you to read stories, facts, see pictures and videos all along the walk and in iconic places of this fight. Do not forget to book a seat on the bus!