September 29 - Juno Beach

If the L'Ecrin hotel is considered a three star hotel in France, I can't begin to imagine what a four star hotel must be like.  Our room is spacious with modern art prints on the walls.  The walls are covered in material instead of paint or wallpaper.  It gives the room a warm intimate feeling.

For breakfast we ate in the Manor House in a large sun room that overlooked a very serene garden. The layout of the garden would make our good friend Annie T envious.

The breakfast was the usual French fare.  Cheese, ham, cereals, juice, bread/toast/croissants, boiled eggs, coffee, hot chocolate and yogurt.   The coffee was served in a silver chalice, How bourgeois !

Today was a very educational, yet extremely emotional day for us.  We visited the Juno Beach Centre in Courseulles-sur-Mer, France. This is site where the Canadian troops came ashore on D-Day to begin the liberation of Europe from the Nazis.

Juno Beach - Center or White Zone

When we arrived, we walked down to the beach where the troops would have landed.  The English Channel was rough but not as rough as it was on June 6, 1944. On that day waves, some two metres high, made sailing difficult even at reduced speed. The ships and landing crafts were tossed around and many got seasick. I can’t imagine the horror of being in a landing craft, jumping into waist high water with 40 pounds of equipment, having waves a meter over my head crashing over me as I run into an unprotected beach dodging machine gun fire from the enemy, all the while hoping that I don’t step on a land mine.  

There were six landing areas on Juno beach, spanning about six kilometers of beach front.  While the fighting still raged, some French civilians left their homes. They were astonished to meet soldiers who spoke their language. 

The Juno Beach Centre is in the middle of these landing areas.

When the D-Day plans were drawn up, Juno beach was considered the second most deadly mission, next to Omaha Beach which was in the American sector.  It was expected that Canadian troops would experience fifty percent casualties in the first twelve hours. Instead the number of casualties was considerably lower.On D-Day 574 men of the 3rd Canadian Division were wounded and 340 were killed. Of all Allied troops the Canadians advanced the furthest inland, reaching most of its primary goals on the first day.  It was only after British Viscount Montgomery took command of the Canadian troops that our advance slowed down, allowing the Germans to counter attack and prepare better its defenses.

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Juno Beach Centre

The museum itself is wonderful.  Instead of just concentrating on D-Day, it also showed the political, social and economic impact of the Second World War on Canada.  In one exhibit there are letters from Canadian and French children as they give their interpretation of the events.  One particular note from a French child tells of her feelings following the arrest and execution of her father by the Germans.











There was also a picture from the RCAF training school in St. Thomas.  This eventually became the "Physic Hospital", where Marg worked during her career.

To conclude the visit to museum, there is a short film called “They Walk With You”.  In the film they show the historical facts about the Canadian role in the liberation of Normandy, Belgium and Holland.  At end they talk about how some units lost over half of their men during the months following D-Day. As they talk, photographs of the troops are displayed on the screen where the photos are then photoshopped so that it appears that dead have dissolved right before our eyes .  In the final sequence a young Canadian family is shown walking down Juno Beach, followed by the ghosts of these young men who sacrificed their lives to liberate Europe.  This still brings a tear to my eye just thinking about it.

German Bunker

There was tour of the German bunkers after the museum visit.  How the troops got past these bunkers, is beyond description.  It must have been a killing zone.

The museum is a privately funded, by a not for profit, organization.  It was founded by several veterans on the 50th anniversary of D-Day.  Walmart is a large sponser to this site.

On our way home we stopped at the Canadian cemetery at Beny Sur La Mar.  It is a very tranquil setting. Seeing all these grave stones, really drives home the debt of honour we owe these men and women of our parents generation.

Graveside Poem

We had not planned this, but the cities they we have visited in the north were all liberated by Canadian troops in 1944 - 45.  They include Rouen, Brugge, Ghent, Antwerp, Dieppe, Honfluer and Courseulles-sur-Mer.

On a lighter note, we meet a couple from Montreal at the cemetery.  They have also have had problems with their rental car.  They did explain how to shift the Peugeot into reverse.  It only took us eight days to get this right.

For dinner tonight we went to “Aux Vieux Honfleur”.  We had seafood which was good but not the best we’ve had.

September 28 - Fécamp and Honfluer

We continued on our trip through Normandy today.  We drove west along the English Channel coast passing through Fécamp on our way to Honfleur.  We’ve pretty much given up on the GPS. At over half of the roundabouts on our route, it gives us the incorrect exit. Also at least one in every five turns in an urban setting ends up sending us down the wrong way a one way street.  We tried the GPS this morning and it had us driving around in circles on the Dieppe beach before we turned it off and used the old fashion road map and a bit of common sense.  Absolutely friggin’ pathetic.

Our route has passed through many small rural villages.  It made the drive very relaxing and scenic. The GPS had us driving down Ruddy Valle, who was an old jazz singer in the 1920s.  It was actually Rue du L'Eglise.

Fécamp is a wonderful vacation town about an hour west of Dieppe.  According to legend, the trunk of a fig tree carrying the Precious Blood of Christ collected by Joseph of Arimathea was washed ashore on the riverbank at Fécamp in the first century. Immediately, a fountain of holy blood gushed from the site. The relic attracted many medieval pilgrims, enhancing the reputation of the city.

 Fécamp had an important role as the chief fishing port in France for cod and cod-related fish. Fishermen from Fécamp were fishing off the Grand Banks several decades before Columbus made his trip to North America. This was the case up until the 1970s, when Canada stopped all access to their fishing grounds due to over fishing of the cod stocks.. 

Palais Benedictine

Its main claim to fame is the Palais Benedictine.  It is here in a wonderful palace where the Benedictine liqueur is distilled.  It is claimed that monks had developed a medicinal aromatic herbal beverage which was produced until the abbey's devastation during the French Revolution,.

After the French revolution the process was forgotten until a Fécamp business man, Alexandre Le Grand, found the books containing the original formulas in the late 19^th century.  He then built this marvellous palace to house the distillery and an art museum.

Some people believe that in fact Le Grand invented the recipe himself, helped by a local chemist, and he told this story to connect the liqueur with the city history to increase sales.

He began production under the trade name "Bénédictine", using a bottle with an easily recognizable shape and label. The family eventually sold the company to Martini and Rossi, which was in turn bought by Bacardi. The same company also produces "B & B" (or Bénédictine and Brandy), which is Bénédictine diluted with brandy, making it less sweet than Bénédictine.  B & B was developed in the 1930s when consumers began a trend of mixing Bénédictine with brandy to produce a drier taste.

The recipe is a closely guarded trade secret, purportedly known to only three people at any given time. So many people have tried to reproduce it that the company maintains in the  Palais Benedictine  a "Hall of Counterfeits"

We had samples of both the cognac and brandy versions of the liqueur. They were very tasty.

We then continued up the coast to the harbour village of Honfleur.  This is a very scenic village at the confluence of the Seine River and the English Channel, across the Seine River from the major port of LaHarve. Honfleur’s shipowners made fortunes from the fishing and the slave trade with North America. This is where Samuel de Champlain  left France for the New World in 1608.

Over time wealthy Honfleur families built their high-rise homes, packed tight next to each other, around the old harbour.  These are now restaurants and shops that cater to tourists like us. Many of the tourist posters for Normandy feature a photo or painting of this harbour with its many three story buildings.

To get over the Seine you must cross over a bridge that rises 300 meters into the air.  This offers a very magnificent view of LaHarve harbour.

The roads in Honfleur are very narrow and twisty.  This makes for some very interesting driving.

Honfleur Harbour

Hotel L'Ecrin

We are staying at L’Ecrin.  This is beautiful manor house with detached cottages were the rooms are located.  The main manor house is a spectacular home with many large rooms filled with a variety of colourful antiques.  It is very classy.

The harbour is surrounded by many excellent restaurants.  We ate at the La Bisquine, where we both had Sea Bass baked in fennel.  It was very moist and had a superb taste. For starters I had prawns encrusted with sesame seeds.  For dessert Marg had baked apples over creme caramel, after all Normandy is the apple capital of France.

September 27 - Dieppe

Today we left Brugge Belgium to go to Dieppe France.  

We crossed the lowlands of Belgium and entered the rolling hills of the Pas de Calais. The hills in this area are only about 300 meters in height, but when compared against the flatness of the lowlands they seem huge.

As we approached Calais, I saw a very strange site.  There were several large fields that were enclosed in barbed wire.  I know that Calais is the location of a Syrian refugee camp, but I hope this is not going to be another site to hold the expected influx of refugees.

On a hill just outside of Calais you get a beautiful view of the English Channel.  Marg said she could see Dover England and its famous white cliffs.  It reminder her of her grandmother, who hailed from Leamington England and often talked about having vacations in Dover.

When you are in a foreign country, you tend to worry about the small differences in normal activities.  Based on what I had read on the internet, I expected problems when I tried to gas up the car.  I was relieved when there were no problems and the process was identical to gas stations in Canada.  So much for believing everything you read on the internet.

After Calais we got off the main highway and took the secondary roads through the villages of the Pas de Calais and Normandy along the English Channel.  The villages were a mix of old house and new housing developments.  The ground is very flat and is basically at sea level.

We stopped for lunch in Breck.  Breck is a beachfront community with a wonderful sandy beach.  The strange part of this village is that all the restaurants close for lunch after 2:00pm.

Along the way, we stopped in Les Viviers Vatierville for a beer in a pub called Cheval Noir.  There was an old man who was with his family.  As he left he planted a big kiss on Marg’s cheek.  He took a look at me and said “C’est La France”.  We still haven’t stopped laughing.  He reminds of us of Marg’s Dad.

Dieppe is much larger city than we had expected.  The coast is dominated by a large castle

Dieppe Castle

Dieppe has a special place in Canadian history.  It was here in 1942 that close to a thousand soldiers from the 2nd Canadian Infantry Division lost their lives and another two thousand were taken as prisoners of war in a failed military landing.

French soldiers from the region, captured in the fighting of 1940, were returned to the area after the Dieppe Raid as repayment by the German occupation authorities, who felt that the conduct of the French civilians in Dieppe had been correct and had not hindered the defence of the port during the battle.

Dieppe was liberated on September 1, 1944, by soldiers from the 2nd Canadian Infantry Division. On September 3, the entire division paused for reorganization, and a victory parade was held; contingents representing all major units of the 2nd Division marched 10 abreast behind the massed pipes and drums of the division's highland regiments. A memorial service was held in the nearby Canadian military cemetery to honour those killed in the Dieppe Raid.

History has always claimed that this raid was a dry run for the D-Day invasions of 1944.  Recent studies claim that the failed landings were nothing more than a diversion to allow British special forces to steal the designs of a new secret decoding machine from the Germans.  This mission was led by Ian Fleming who was the author of the James Bonds novels.  Either way it was senseless loss of life.

Municipal memorial garden to Canadian soldiers of WW2

There is a lovely memorial garden to honour these brave men. It is maitained by the Dieppe municipal government.

For dinner we went to a restaurant called L’Armorique. This was along a stretch of restaurants that line the harbour.  It was good but not by any definition special.  The harbour is filled with many fishing boats, which outside of tourism is the town's most important industry.

We are staying at the Hotel de la Plage.  The room is small but very clean and well laid out.  I'm not sure what is going on in the room above us, but I believe they are training a herd of elephants for the ballet.  The banging is loud and continuous.

September 26 - Ghent

While in Bruges, we've been staying at the HotelBiskajer.  The room is very clean and comfortable.  The owner has been extremely helpful in pointing out the local attractions.  It has included a nice breakfast, with an assortment of dishes.

We feel sorry for the owner.  He and his partner work from 7am to 8pm , seven days a week with no outside help. They only take a small vacation in January. They do everything from cooking breakfast to cleaning rooms to keeping the books and greeting guest.

We could easily recommend this hotel to anyone visiting Brugge, but you may need to book early as even this late in the tourist season it is still fully booked.

We've finally got our smart phone working on the Orange network.  We've tried to send some texts but it appears that they are not getting through to the Canadian networks.  If anyone has experience with sending texts to Canada from Europe on an Android phone, please leave a comment and let us know how.

The Flemish people are the most polite people we've ever met. They thank you for everything from paying for your bus ticket to entering their restaurant.  I now know how Americans view Canadians.

This morning we took a thirty minute train ride east to the city of Ghent.  Ghent is a jewel of a city and just might be the highlight of our trip.

Leie River in Ghent

Saint Nicholas Church

Ghent has been around since the middle-ages when it was one of the richest cities in Europe.  Ghent is situated at the confluence of Scheldt and Leie rivers and has a series of canals.  From the year 1000 to around 1550, Ghent was one of the most important cities in Europe. It was bigger than London and second only to Paris in size. It became a major harbour for the importation of grain.  The grain was used in production of bread and beer.  Beer was very important as the water was not suitable for drinking.  Indeed at one time in their history there were over one hundred breweries in Ghent. The textile industry also flourished in Ghnet.

Gravensteen Castle

Much of the city's medieval architecture remains intact and is remarkably well preserved and restored. Its centre is the largest carfree area in Belgium. Many of the buildings are eight to nine hundred years old, including a massive castle and several churchs. The trade guilds, the equivalent of today’s unions, used their money to build massive buildings that are still standing today.  Taxes collected from the grain importers allowed the city to fund civic and religious structures that are absolutely stunning.

There are about two hundred and fifty thousand people in Ghent. There is a major university in Ghent with over forty thousand students. Much like Rouen last weekend, it appears that it is frosh week.  A lot of the students are dressed up in the most bizarre looking costumes.  They ranged from Celtic warriors to furry animals.

During the Reformation, Ghent was caught in the middle of the war between Catholics and Calvinist.  During one battle over ten thousand hand written books were thrown in the canal, next to the university.  They were piled so deep that it formed an artificial bridge across the canal.  Our guide made a comparison of the destruction of European culture because of religion to ISS in today’s Middle East.  I think this a valid comparison.

Leie River

We took a boat tour of the city.  It was a hop-on hop-off type of tour and we both agree it was one of the most educational tours of any city tour we have ever taken.  The guide was extremely knowledgeable and personable. We would recommend it to anyone who visits Ghent.

After the tour, we went for a walk along the major shopping streets.  I believe that everyone from Belgium came to Ghent this afternoon.  There were so many people that it reminded me of Ottawa on Canada Day.

Langemunt Street

In a city square there was a major flea market.  It was filled with many vendors selling surplus clothing.  We did end up buying socks because we know that we will run out of clean socks before our vacation is over.

We had a major scare today.  I had to buy a memory card for the camera, because I had left the original card in our computer.  My credit card was rejected.  Luckily it turns out that the problem lay with the stores credit card reader and not with my card.  The card worked fine in the restaurant where we had lunch. If my card had been compromised, then we would have been stuck with a second card which has a much lower spending limit.

For dinner we went to a fish restaurant in Brugge called De Gouden Kroes.  It specialises in lobster and other shell fish.  It turns out that it considers itself to be a Canadian styled restaurant.  Even the background music was mostly Diana Kroll and Michael Buble.  We both had a pot of mussels with a white wine.  It was OK but not a memorable dining experience.  For the first time I had pickled herring.  It tasted much better than I thought it would,

We then went to restaurant on the market square for a Belgium waffle. The waiter, Ishmal, was from Nepal.  We had an interesting conversation as he discussed how difficult it was for him and his family to cope during the catastrophic earthquake that struck his homeland.  It was many days before he was able to talk to his parents.  He told us that they had been saved because they had gone to the temple instead of staying a home that night.  Their home had collapsed during the quake and they most certainly would have perished had they stayed home as was their normal pattern.

September 25 - Antwerp

Today we took the train to the port of Antwerp.  The trip was through rural farmland.  The crops seemed to be mainly corn and beans.  There also were a lot of cattle and sheep.  The land is very flat and the farms are separated by tracks of trees.

Antwerp is one of the largest and oldest ports in the world and the largest city in Belgium.  It is a very modern city as it has been rebuilt several times in the twentieth century because it was destroyed during the first and second world wars.  It has managed to retain some older buildings in the Grote Market, that gives it a distinct characteristic.

With a prime spot on the Scheldt River, Antwerp rapidly became Western Europe’s greatest economic centre by the middle of the fourteenth century., The city was a trading, cultural and intellectual centre in Europe with a population of 100,000 with bustling docks and new mansions. Later during the same century, Antwerp lost is power when the Protestants citizens left the city after it was conquered by the Catholic Spanish forces.  During this religious war more than eight thousand citizens were slaughter by the Spanish. Fifty years later the diamond trade allowed Antwerp to regain its power. It attracted many popular artist including its native son Peter Paul Rubens.

By the second half of the nineteenth century Antwerp had become the world’s third-largest port after London and New York, due largely to new rail links connecting it with other parts of Europe. It has been recorded that at one time, forty percent of the worlds commerce passed through this port.

The city hosted the Olympic Games in 1920 and, in 1928, construction began on Europe’s first skyscraper.

Scheldt River from the MAS Museum

Antwerp in the Second World War, it became a strategic port for supplying the Allies after the D-Day invasion.  After the city was liberated it became the responsibility of Canadian troops to dislodge the German troops that still occupied the river banks which allowed them to stop the Allies supplies from arriving in the port.  Many of our troops died in this battle, although they eventually succeeded in defeating the Nazis.











We both thought the city was clean and we felt very safe in walking along the streets and alleyways.

Antwerp is known for its diamond industry.  Indeed they claim that all the world's cut diamonds at one time or another pass through this city.  In the Square Kilometre Diamond district there a large number of jewellery shops with amazing diamonds on display.  There brilliance of these stones is blinding. We went to one store and were very impressed with quality of the diamonds.  Their clarity is remarkable.  It takes days for diamond cutter to shape a diamond and smooth the rock into the required  fifty eight facets or edges. This one store now produces a diamond the 204 facets.  The price of the diamonds is way beyond our budget.  The cheapest diamond on display went for about $ 4,500 and the most expensive went for about $35,000.

Diamond store in the Square Kilometre Diamond district

In the afternoon we went on a city tour.  Our first stop was the MAS museum.  It had an exhibition on the Belgium refugees from the First World War and how welcomed they were in France, England and Holland.  It makes you think when you compare this with today’s treatment of Syrian refugees.

Modern art outside of MAS

From the top of the MAS you get a panoramic view of the city.  One of the apartment buildings has giant models scaling its walls.


























We then stopped in the Grote Market that hosts the City Hall and the Cathedral of Our Lady.  The city hall and its surrounding buildings have wonderful gold statues on their peaks of their roofs.

Antwerp City Hall

In the Cathedral of Our Lady there is a series of paintings by Peter Paul Rubens.  Rubens was born in Antwerp in 1577 and is considered one of the premiere artists of this area.

Descent from the Cross by Peter Paul Rubens

The architecture of the train station is famous. The station is considered an European highlight for its designs.  Along the way we saw a Tesla car on display. Unfortunately there was no price tag.

For supper tonight we stumbled into a small restaurant called the Grand Cafe Belfort.  Marg had Dover Sole which she loved and I had Flemish stew which I was not crazy about.  Flemish stew is a beef stew cooked in dark beer.  It has no potatoes and no vegetables and the gravy was too sweet. The service was OK but not up to standards we've had in other restaurants.

September 24 – Brugge

Today we travelled northeast into Belgium to Brugge, which is in the Flemish section of the country.  Brugge is the capital of the Belgium province of Flanders. In the first world war this was where several crucial battles took place.  It is the setting of the classic Canadian poem “In Flanders Fields”.

Brugge is a UNESCO heritage site. The historic old town in Brugge is considered an outstanding example of an Gothic architecture, that demonstrates the commercial and cultural styles of medieval Europe. It was a pleasure walking through the maze of narrow streets, enjoying the canals, strolling through the impressive town square, and viewing the charming old gabled houses. City bylaws ensure that the center looks much as it did in medieval days.

Brugge has firmly established itself as one of centres for the chocolate business. You can't walk down any street without tripping over a chocolatier, I suspect that it has the highest concentration of candy stores anywhere in the world.

The Flemish language is based on Dutch instead of French.  So we have zero percent comprehension of the language.  Fortunately English is widely spoken and understood.

The ride from Lille took about an hour along a very smooth highway.  It seemed that each town along the road had several industrial parks.  So we assume that unemployment is not a problem here.

The central part of the town is very well layout, with wide roads and easy to follow directions, as long as you don’t rely on the GPS.

The GPS did its best to screw us.  Starting when we left the hotel in Lille, it decided on it’s own to revert from our intended destination in Brugge back to our hotel in Lille.  Once we had reset our destination to the hotel in Brugge, it did its best to avoid our hotel and tried to send us down one way streets the wrong way.  When we did find our hotel, we had to find a parking lot several blocks away from the hotel to park the car for the duration of our stay.  Marg had no problem getting us there by reading a street map.

We are staying at the Hotel Biskajer.  It is a very nice boutique hotel in the center of the old town.  The room is larger than most European hotels and is very clean and comfortable.  The front desk staff was very helpful in telling us what attractions to see and where to go for food and the best spot to park our car.

Marg is very happy because we have several English TV stations.  Tonight we are watching a Brad Pitt movie called the Counselor.

For lunch we had a local speciality.  Mussels and Frites.   There was a large bowl of mussels and a full plate of fries.  We topped it off with a Belgium blonde beer.

In the afternoon we went to the Chocolate Museum.  It was very interesting.  A good portion of the museum was devoted to the history of how chocolate went from being a sacred spice for the Aztecs to a medicinal and social drink in Europe.  At the end of the tour there was a demonstration on how chocolates are formed and of course a tasting.  It seems that every fifth store along the main shopping streets are chocolate shops

St. Ursula in the Brugge Hospital  by Henri Dobbelaere

We then went the Groeninge Museum.  Here there are many wonderful examples of Flemish art from the 16^th to the 20^th century.  As we stated in an earlier blog this is our favorite style of painting.

Clock tower in town square

Brugge has a wonderful town market square with a massive bell tower.  It dominates the entire old city. The facades of the buildings are very Dutch in style and quite unique from the towns in France.

One of the first things we noticed was that a large portion of the population ride bikes.  It reminds us a lot of Amsterdam.

One of the most original museums that we've encounter is here in Brugge.  It is a museum devoted to potatoes and fried potatoes in particular.

There are several canals in Brugge.  It adds to scenic splendor of the town

Spinolarei Canal

For supper we found a nice little restaurant called Malpertuus.  Marg had rabbit cooked in beer and I had fish stew.  We washed it down with a nice Merlot.  Again it was another four star experience.

Outside of the restaurant a brass Dixieland band played for about an hour.

September 23 – Lille

Well I guess all European towns can’t be magical and Lille is one of these.  We spent a very ordinary day walking around the old town in the heart of Lille.  The architecture was very dull with no unique features or buildings.  Only when we got to the main square did the area take on any character.  This is also one of the few cities on our recent trips that we have not felt safe walking the streets at night.

Lille is France's fifth city. The whole metropolitan area of Lille was estimated in 2007 at around 1,000,000. Archeological digs seem to show the area as inhabited by as early as 2000 BC and the first recorded mention of the village was 1066. The city profited from the Industrial Revolution. The entire region grew wealthy thanks to its mines and textile industry. Lille features an array of architectural styles with the Flemish influence the most prominent.

Pedestrian shopping area in Lille

Shop in Lille

Grand Place

Our hotel is in a modern urban high density development known as Euralille.  There is no way I could live in such a soulless collection of apartment buildings. The modern part of downtown Lille is a mass of angular shaped buildings with small irregularly spaced windows.  It seems like both areas have been taken straight out of the movie Blade Runner.

Magpie in Lille

During our walk we saw several Magpies.  These birds are very distinctive with their black and white colouring and long tail.

This upcoming weekend Lille is having its annual Renaissance carnival and they were putting up the statues along the parade route.

With no English TV, we have resorted to watching French documentaries on Russian mushroom farmers.  As Jack Parr would say “I kid you naught.”

On the bright side we did find a wonderful restaurant tonight in the old town called Comptoir 44. It was in a magnificent old building with many antiques.  Marg had a tomato based broth with a browned Mozzarella topping, sea base and a lemon and lime pancetta for dessert.  I had raw salmon for starters and a nice pork chop for an entree.  Our wine was a Bordeaux called Duc des Neuvers. Again it was a top notch dining experience.

September 22 – Vimy Ridge

We left Rouen early this morning on our way to Lille.  Lille is northeast of Rouen and is located in the area where most of the deadliest battles in the First World War took place.  To get to Lille from Rouen you cross the Somme valley.  It is here that several million men lost their lives in the stupidest war in the history of mankind.  With its pastoral geography, it is easy to see how the infantry were sitting targets when they advanced from their trenches.  How this many men lost their lives to support the collective egos of the offspring of Queen Victoria is truly one of the tragedies of modern times. Had they known they were pawns in the exercise of keeping the racist and exploitive policies of European empires in place, I’m sure that wide spread mutinies would have taken place.  It is no wonder that communism flourished during this war.

Canadian trenches at the Battle of Vimy Ridge

We stopped at Vimy Ridge to pay our respects to the fallen Canadians who lost their lives in the war but never had a proper burial.  There are over 11,000 soldiers who were never properly identified and are buried in unmarked graves.  As we approached the Vimy Ridge memorial, both Marg and myself thought we were approaching a links styled golf course with many pot bunkers.  Then you quickly realize that this was a battlefield and these craters are the result of tens of thousands artillery shells fired in anger at the Canadian forces.  In many of these craters there still are the remains of our soldiers, even after 100 years.  In the forest surrounding these sacred grounds are many unexploded shells.

View that German's had when Canadian troops advanced

The history of Vimy Ridge is important in the development of the Canadian nation.  The battle was the first occasion when all four divisions of the Canadian Expeditionary Force participated in a battle together and thus became a Canadian nationalistic symbol of achievement and sacrifice. Previously Canadian troops were grouped together with the British army.

The objective of the Canadian Corps was to take control of the German-held high ground along an escarpment at the northernmost end of the Battle of Arras. This would ensure that the southern flank could advance without suffering from German artillery fire. Supported by a creeping barrage, the Canadian Corps captured most of the ridge during the first day of the attack. In a war where advances were measured in meters this was an outstanding achievement. The town of Thélus fell during the second day of the attack, as did the crest of the ridge once the Canadian Corps overcame a pocket of considerable German resistance. The final objective, a fortified knoll located outside the town of Givenchy-en-Gohelle, fell to the Canadian Corps on 12 April. The German forces then retreated to the Oppy–Méricourt line.

Historians attribute the success of the Canadian Corps in capturing the ridge to a mixture of technical and tactical innovation, meticulous planning, powerful artillery support and extensive training.

Vimy Ridge Memorial

Veterans Affairs is always being criticised for their handling of the veterans of our recent
peacekeeping missions, but they deserve credit for the memorial at Vimy Ridge.  The battle grounds with their trenches are well maintained and the graveyards are very neat and respectful.  The memorial tower to the 11,000 unknown solders is magnificent.  It dwarfs the War Memorial in Ottawa. The guides are Canadian university students who take on a four month assignment with the Federal government.

The memorial took eleven years to build.  It is built on the highest point on the ridge.  King Edward VIII unveiled the memorial IN 1936 in the presence of 50,000 veterans, and their families. Following an extensive multi-year restoration, Queen Elizabeth II rededicated the memorial in 2007 during a ceremony commemorating the 90th anniversary of the battle.











There are three outstanding statues on the memorial. The saddened figure of  Mother Canada, is a personification of the young nation mourning her dead. The Breaking of the Sword is located at the southern corner of the front wall while Sympathy of the Canadians for the Helpless is located at the northern corner. Collectively, the two groups are The Defenders and represent the ideals for which Canadians gave their lives during the war.

Breaking of the sword

Mother Canada

Canadians for the Helpless

Graveyard for the unknown soldiers

French school children are educated on our role in their modern history. There so many classes today that we could not get an organized tour of the memorial. In all it is a class operation, something all Canadians should be proud of.











We continued on our way to stay in Lille France for a couple of nights.  Our GPS is going to cause Marg and myself to have a major mental breakdown.  We got to the outskirts of Lille with no problems, but the stupid piece of silicon could not find the address of our hotel.  The hotel might have been built after the maps on the GPS chip were printed.  So we gave it an address close to the hotel.  The GPS then directed us to a location of the opposite side of Lille from where our hotel was.  This would be the equivalent of trying to get to Oshawa and being sent to Hamilton.  Even after we gave it the Longitude and Latitude coordinates it still could not get us directly to the hotel.  We ended up circling the hotel for about twenty minutes before we were able to find the hotel’s parking lot.  To top it off it is almost impossible to put the car in reverse.  In all what should have been a thirty minute trip from Vimy Ridge took close to two hours. We have parked the car and it won’t leave the parking lot until we leave Lille.

On the humorous side they way the GPS pronounces the French streets names is hilarious  For example Rue de Marshall Foch become Rudi Mama Folk and Rue de Charles de Gaulle become Rudi Charles Doggle.

Tonight we were too tired to go into the old town of Lille for dinner, so we stopped at a nondescript Italian restaurant.  The food was OK but nothing to write home about, so I won't.

September 21 – Giverny

Today we started our road trip with the rental of a car from the Sixt car rental agency.  All went smooth until we got into the car.  It was a Peugeot Hybrid.  This car sets the parking brake automatically.  When we engaged the ignition it seemed that brake remained engaged.  Also the automatic transmission was differently configured that an North American car.  So we had to have someone from the rental company show us how to drive the car.  This is the definition of embarrassing .   It turns out that when you put the car into drive the parking brake will automatically disengage.  We eventually got the bugs worked out and we were on our way to Giverny.

Portrait of Monet's wife

Giverny is the home of Monet’s home, studios and gardens. Monet is the master of the school of art know as impressionism and it obvious from these gardens that it would inspire any artist.

The son of a grocer, Monet defied his family, insisted he was an artist. A fellow artist encouraged set up his easel outdoors and paint the scene exactly as he saw it. At that time“open-air” painting was unorthodox for artists were trained to study their subjects in the perfect lighting of a controlled studio setting.

Monet started renovating his garden, inspired by tranquil scenes from the Japanese prints he collected. He diverted a river to form a pond, planted willows and bamboo on the shores, filled the pond with water lilies, then crossed it with a wooden footbridge.

The gardens are filled with a massive array of colours and shapes. Especially impressive is his water lily pond that he painted in many of his works.   The ponds are very relaxing and scenic.  This will be one of many  highlights of our trip.

Monet's garden

Monet's pond with water lilles

When we returned to our hotel in Rouen our GPS drove us nuts.  Following its instructions we went down the wrong way on several one way streets, entered a couple of bus only roads and generally rode around in circles for about a thirty minutes.  It was only after we shut the GPS off and used our own sense of direction that we got to our hotel.  Part of the problem is that GPS may be using out of date maps and Rouen has made itself green with pedestrian friendly streets and public transit only roads.

The car we are renting is bigger than most European cars and we found getting into the hotel parking lot to be a challenge because of the cramped space.

For diner we went to the Les Maraichers restaurant.  Marg had duck again with a shell fish appetizer and I had steak with a veal sausage appetizer. It was very good.  For dessert Marg had rice pudding that she claimed was better than what I prepare at home, although I doubt that!  For wine we had a Domaine des Ravinets.  It was another great meal.  We are getting spoiled.

Inside famiy joke : Note to Ken - Along the way Marg noted that even the hay was stacked artistically.

September 20 – Jeanne D'Arc and Fine Arts in Rouen

Entertainment at the Sunday market in Rouen

We started the morning off in rather hectic fashion.  We went down a road, next to the Cathedral, to find a restaurant for breakfast. On the other side of the cathedral courtyard, there was a large farmer’s market.  It seemed that entire population of Rouen was in attendance.  Needless to say, seats in a restaurant were not readily available.  Eventually we stopped in bakery and got some pizza that we took to a small park next to a church and had a picnic

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Embarkation of the Inhabitants of Pargaart by Appolodore Callet

We then went to the Museum of Fine Arts.  The large museum is considered the most important collection of art in France outside of Paris.  It has wings dedicated to European styles that were popular in each century from the 1600’s until today.  There were works by Rubens, van Dyck, Renoir and Monet.  Our favorites seemed to be from the 17^th century, because of their realistic detail.

On our way back from the Museum, Marg had a spill on the cobblestone sidewalk.  She is bruised and shaken up, but other than a very sore thumb it appears she escaped serious injury.  She decided to stay in the hotel room and rest for the afternoon. We hope she doesn't have a broken a bone in her hand.

In the afternoon I went to the Histoire Jeanne d'Arc exhibit in the old archbishop’s house which is attached to the cathedral. In the second half of the Hundred Years War, English forces occupied much of northern France, including Normandy and its capital Rouen. After Joan had inspired a lightning series of successes against the English army south along the Loire, she was captured by French forces loyal to the King of Burgundy and ransomed off at vast price to the English. Joan was tried by French churchmen in English-ruled Rouen. Convicted of heresy she ended up burned at the stake here in 1431.

A new museum in honour of Joan of Arc d’Arc, Historial Jeanne d'Arc is housed in the Archbishop's Palace, just next to the Rouen Cathedral. There was an audio/visual exhibit that told the story of Joan of Arc through the transcripts of her second trail for heresy.  Twenty-five years after her execution, an inquisitorial court authorized by Pope Callixtus III examined the original trial formed by the French allies of the English king, debunked the charges against her and pronounced her innocent declaring her a martyr.  Since that time she has stood as a symbol for French nationalism.

Poster using Joan of Arc as an iconic symbol

The lineup was huge and moved very slowly.  It turned out that this weekend is a special weekend for arts in France and most of the museums were open for free.

For dinner we went to a seafood restaurant called Le TerreNeuvas.  Marg had a shell fish appetizer which had snails, clams, mussels, prawns and some other objects that we have no idea what they were.  For entree she had duck, while I had sea base.  Both were excellent.  We had a Brouilly wine that was very good.  For dessert Marg had an apple tart that was preceded by a cheese filled pastry and I had a local apple brandy know as Calvados.  I’m not a brandy drinker and I found it way too strong for my tastes.

Sometimes you just stumble upon an unforgettable experience.  Such was our good luck tonight.  As we were on our way back to the hotel we walked by the cathedral.   There was a fantastic sound and light show being projected onto the front edifice of the cathedral.  How they could project such clear three dimensional images onto to irregularly shaped objects such as the walls of the cathedral is amazing.  It has to be seen to be believed.

September 19 - Arriving In Normandy - Rouen

We left Paris today to start our journey across Normandy and Belgium.  Our first stop was Rouen, which is a seventy-five minute train ride north of Paris.  The scenery wasn’t all that great along the way as the railway tracks wind along the Seine river which is mostly populated with small factories. 

Downstream from Paris on the Seine Rover  Rouen has evolved into the provincial capital and commercial centre of Normandy.  The Anglo-French kings kept a deep affection for the city. William the Conqueror held court here. Richard the Lionhearted was crowned Duke of Normandy in Rouen. During the 100 Years War between England and France it was the capital of English occupied France and the place where Joan of Arc was placed on trail and convicted and the executed.

In medieval times, lords and merchants of the city supported the building of great religious buildings. Lined up in a row going through the centre of town is a string of impressive churches. Victor Hugo famously described Rouen as the city of ‘a hundred spires’.

We are staying at the Mercure Rouen Centre Cathedrale, which is a modern European hotel chain.  The room is nice and comfortable but again it is small in keeping with the local standards. 

Rouen Cathedral

We are located about a block away from the Rouen Cathedral.  This was the first stop on our walk around the old town. There has been a church on this site for 1500 years.  The central spire was world’s tallest structure during the 1870’s.  The current structure is about 600 years old. The most important tomb in the church is that of English and Norman king, Richard the Lion Hearted.

The most famous paintings of the cathedral were done by the Impressionist artist Claude Monet, who produced a series of paintings of the building showing the same scene at different times of the day and in different weather conditions. The estimated value of one painting is over $40 million.

One of the spires is called the Butter Tower.  Its name comes from the fact it was financed by merchants who wanted the churches permission to continue to eat butter during lent.

In one section of the church there is a photo display on the reconstruction of the church after the second world war.  It was first bombed by the Germans in 1940 during their invasion of France and then it was bombed again in 1944 by the Allies as a prelude to the D-Day invasion.  

Drum corps at children's festival at the Roeun Cathjedral

Outside of the cathedral there was a children’s fair going on.  The square was filled with tents imploring children to sign up for their clubs and activities, such as dancing, singing, gymnastics and one for playing hockey.  Yes Rouen has a professional hockey team, known as the Dragons.

When we arrived there was a drum corps, entertaining the crowd.  They were quite energetic but the music became very monotonous after awhile.

Shoppers on the Rue de Gros Hortage

We then walked into the old part of the city.  There are several pedestrian only streets with many stores occupied by major brand retailers. The streets are filled with Saturday shoppers.

Along the main pedestrian lane you come across a huge ornate clock tower or l'hortage.

At the end of Rue de Gros Hortage, you come the place where the old market used to be.  It was here Jeanne D'Arc was burned at the stake.  This is now where all the good restaurants and bars are located.  

There is a new church located in the center of the market square, dedicated to St. Joan D’Arc, which has a very interesting design.

Church of St Joan of Arc

Store on the Rue de Gros Hortage

The buildings are mix of architectural styles.  There many older buildings with wooden frames that you would see in the Alps or Amsterdam. There are buildings that resemble the style that is prevalent in Paris.  Of course because of the massive damage inflicted on the city during the second world war there are many modern buildings scattered in the old city.

It is frosh week at the university here in Rouen.  We saw several groups of students doing various group activities such as tomato fights.

For supper we went to a restaurant call Pascaline, which featured Normandy styled food.  It was highly rated by one of the web sites we’ve been using to find good places to dine.  Unfortunately it turned out to be  a family restaurant with only average food and very noisy.