Vimy Ridge

It's been awhile since my last post, but I'm back baby! And since I've decided to take an online course over the next few months, I'm sure I'll be blogging more than ever (procrastination at its finest). So stay tuned over the next few weeks for a bunch of blog updates.

Let's start with the beginning of September when Dave's parents came to France for a visit. We met them in Paris , where they had spent a wonderful week exploring. They managed to beat us there for a visit! While we haven't had a chance to have a trip in Paris yet, we did manage to tour the airport and the train station, also a McDonald's. But, I somehow feel we may have missed out on the true "Paris" experience, so we'll be planning an actual vacation there in the new year.  Maybe we'll even see the Eiffel Tower next time! We took the train to a little town called Arras, in the north of France.  We chose to stay in Arras because it was the closes town to the Vimy Ridge Monument, only about 10 km away. But, Arras actually ended up having  a ton of it's own war history and the little city is quite beautiful. When we first got there we decided to check out the Wellington Quarry. This quarry played an important role in the First World War and consisted of a series of tunnels and quarries that dated back to medieval times. During the war, more tunnels were dug to connect to the medieval tunnels, most of the digging being done by the troops from New Zealand. This created a series of underground tunnels and rooms that were used by the troops to live in leading up to the Battle of Arras in 1917.  The quarry has been preserved and is now a museum. We were able to catch an English tour just as we got there that took us down into the quarry. It was really interesting to see where these men were living , preparing for battle during the war. There was still writing on the walls and pictures sketched into the stone of the quarry. It was interesting to be standing underground in the exact spot as all the soldiers that fought in the Battle of Arras, wondering what they must have been thinking before they ran onto the front lines.

In the quarry, you can see the arrows on the walls with directions

One of the tunnels

Can you see the elephant drawn on the wall?

These stairs led to the exit of the quarry, on the other side the soldiers would find the Battle of Arras

The next day we made the drive out to Vimy Ridge. If you ever get the chance, I recommend that you go see Vimy Ridge. It's something every Canadian should do, if possible. This part of land was actually given to Canada by the French after the war for the important part Canadian soldiers played in recapturing the land at Vimy Ridge.  So, technically, it's Canadian soil, which we were reminded of by the many Canadian government signs and the maple trees that surround the property. It did sort of remind me of being back in Canada. The tours are also run by Canadian students who get the opportunity to live in France for 4 months and work at the Vimy Ridge tourist office, not a bad job if I do say so myself. We had a tour of the tunnels and the trenches. It was really good. Again, it was a bit surreal standing in the same spot as all the men who battled here and standing in the trenches looking across to the enemy lines. I think the thing that really stands out in my memory is the giant craters that are still there on the grounds from the bombs that went off. They are huge! In fact, because of the rocky terrain and the possibility of remaining mines on the grounds, they use a herd of sheep to "mow" the grass.

In the tunnels

One of the trenches

Point of view of a sniper

One of the crators, it's hard to see in the picture how huge it is

Lawn mower

 After touring the battle grounds we made our way up to the monument on Vimy Ridge. It really is impressive and giant! I don't think you can really appreciate how large it is until you are standing in front of it. It's beautiful. We took our time climbing the stairs and looking at all the names of soldiers written around the monuments walls. The number of names is really something you can't wrap your head around, so many lives that were lost. And the ridge that the monument stands on really is quite a ridge. You can look out and see for miles, standing there it's easy to understand why this was such an important piece of land for the Canadians to recapture.  It was quite a day of remembrance.

The monument from a distance

close up of front of monument

close up of back of monument

After our weekend in Arras, Dave's parents came back to visit us in Toulouse. It was fun getting to be a tour guide in our "home" town. When you live somewhere everyday you don't end up doing the touristy things that you should do, so it was fun to be a tourist at home. We also had the opportunity to tour around with a few of Dave's Aunts and Uncles later in the week, they were visiting in other parts of France and made the drive up to Toulouse for a day to visit with us (thanks guys!). We enjoyed our little family get together in our home away from home. It was a great week visiting with family and taking them to all our favourite spots and restaurants. We were sad to see them go, but we were glad they could come to visit.

Until next time...
Au Revoir