Another beautiful day for Eurotrip '11! For today's adventure we had to rent a car. The guy at the counter said he knew little english, that's good because Colin knows little french.. They would get along just fine. Our little, correction, our tiny but yet very fast car!
Along the highway, we kept passing Ikea, Maria loves Ikea but we couldn't stop.. She made her Ikea pouty face every time.
Our tour took us from Lille, France about 45 minutes (if you drive like the French.. as in fast..) south along the A1. A few exits later you come to a peaceful grove lined with maple trees and pine. Then the sign to officially let you know you are now on Canadian land in France.. We were kinda home.
France gave this land to Canada as a thank you for what had happened April 9, 1917.
That date is an
in Canadian history. It is when Canada reclaimed Vimy Ridge from the Germans, a feat the French and British soldiers could not do for 2 years. This is also the first time that Canada was led into battle by Canadian officers & our forces actually fought under the Canadian name & not the British regiments. Our nation fought as Canadians for Canadians.
This memorial is free to attend, just remember, even though you are in Nothern France, you are on Canadian soil.
More info on the Vimy Ridge Memorial can be found on the Canadian government website.
More info on the Battle of Vimy can be found here at THIS WEBSITE.
Canadians come from all over to see this memorial to remember those who helped create our Canadian identity & help push the Germans back & those who sacrificed their lives.
This is Melanie. She's from Ontario. She's a Canadian working with Parks Canada at the memorial, as do all of the interpreters.
She yelled (at a distance) at Colin for being on the grass to take this picture.
Turns out she's a really nice girl who's just doing her job. When asked how she knew Colin & Maria were Canadian: "you apologized for being on the grass."
Also on the site are the actual tunnels and trenches the soldiers and officers used.
The ground is made from soft chalk, so it was easy to leave graffiti, as one soldier carved a maple leaf into the tunnel wall.
Some of the rooms underground near the front line.
In fact, the Canadians on the front line were only 25 meters from the Germans. The video shows how close they were! Left side is the Canadian front line, the right side is the German.
It is a very somber and peaceful place, an incredible resting place for the soldiers, many of them unknown.
On November 11.. Lest we forget..
Now, these signs were everywhere!
But it is true, there are still live munitions in the ground. One soldier was killed in 1997 while removing one. So to keep the grass cut and looking nice.. They use sheep! Notice the sign in the background..
It's quite a spot to be a Canadian.. Now on with the rest of the Northern France! It was now 3:45pm.. We had to have the car back at the train station by 9:00pm.
Maria wanted to find a certain cemetery where a soldier by the name of Private Harry William Keene rested. She did a presentation 3 years ago on this soldier. She picked him because he was just an average Canadian from Toronto. His info can be found here http://www.veterans.gc.ca/eng/sub.cfm?source=collections/virtualmem/Detail&casualty=314790
We had the directions, kinda. Colin checked the GPS, the village wasn't on the GPS, so we had a paper map, the directions, kinda, and away we went looking for this little cemetery in the middle of the country side in Northern France.
They drove
and drove
and drove. Seeing nothing but farmers fields and roads, and the odd little village. They were now 200 km's from the train they needed to be on at 10:09pm to get to Paris and it was now 6:00pm..
After being instructed by the paper map, and not finding the right D28 road, Maria for some reason decided to try the GPS again. And the village of Caix showed! We were about 50 km's away. Stomp on the gas, a few wrong turns, we found Harry!
Literally in the middle of nowhere! Off a small one lane, in the middle of a farmers field.
We headed back to Lille to catch the train, we had lots of time! It was now 8 & we had to have the car back at 9. Lots of time? yeah right.. We got lost looking for the car rental parkade. Wrong parkade. Wrong streets.. We finally dropped the keys off with 5 minutes to spare!
A container of paprika Pringles and a coke and we were off to Paris!
No comments:
Post a Comment