Week 2 – Saturday 13 July – Albert, Villers Bretoneux and Amiens

Brrrr – 8 degrees this morning – A bit of a rude awakening from our first night’s camping.  Never mind, we both got a good night’s sleep, and the temperature will improve during the day as the mist burns off.  On the plus side, the camp ground takes orders for pain au raisin and pain au chocolate, so irrespective of the coldness of the weather, we get some yummy food to start the day.  Camp ground showers are always both a lottery and a challenge.  A lottery in terms of what the set up will be – how big will the cubicle be, will you have to pay for the showers, will they be on timers, will they be hot – a challenge in terms of organising your towel, toilet bag, clothes valuables in such a manner, that you end up clean, and they end up dry. All part of the challenge, and first days are always the biggest challenge.

My computer is on the downward slope.  When we left for our holiday, the 5 key started going on the blink, so you had to give it a good snappy thump to get a 5 out of it (working well tonight BTW).  Last night, the 5 problem had extended to the ‘i’ key, and periodically the space key, and tonight, everything is working fine, except the ‘y’ key.  C’est La Vie – such are the joys of technology.  Again, on the plus side, the capability of GPS does make tripping round a breeze.  We went in search of a Laundromat last night.  Actually, the search was on Google – Amiens Laundromat’s – 4 were presented, Google Maps enabled me to determine which was closest, type its address into the GPS, get there, get the job done, then type in another address to the supermarket, get there, buy dinner, type in another address back to the campground, unpack the washing, eat the dinner, all without any stress or drama.  When we started out doing these European holidays, any of those activities would have been a major undertaking, and quite stressful for both the driver and the navigator.  Ahhhh, technology, where would we be with out it.

Today we visited Albert, and it’s awesome 1916 Somme Museum.  The reason it was awesome, was that it took two different views of WWI – one a very high level view, and one a very personal view.  The high level view was in describing the events in Europe that led to the war, how at a high level the war progressed, how all the powers viewed that it would be a quick battle that would “be over before Christmas”, the view of the populations in supporting “King and Country” and how everybody was up for a great adventure.  At a personal level, it went into the life of the Tommy’s in the trenches, what equipment they carried, what they did day in, and day out, letters and food from home, etc.  The museum itself is in the underground tunnels that were used as air raid shelters in WWII, and show a perspective of life underground for the soldiers in WWI, because as well as the trenches, the British built underground tunnels where the soldiers lived, made operational and strategic decisions, operated hospitals etc.  From our perspective, the museum had the best high level over view of how WWI evolved.  The other museums were very focused on what was happening in their particular part of the war, whereas this one gave a really good high level picture.

After Albert, it was short drive to Villeurs-Brettoneux, where the Australians have their WWI memorial.  I’ve probably posted enough photos of WWI grave sites, monuments and memorials, but the Australian one was very impressive.  The Monument allows you to climb to the top, to get an overall view of the area that was being protected around Villeurs Bretoneux, and there were some very moving citations regarding Australia’s unknown soldier.

For lunch we headed back into Amiens, as we wanted to see this before we closed off our WWI pilgrimage.  The highlight of the town in its cathedral, which we went inside.  Architecturally, it is very impressive, and the stained glass windows are something to behold. To top it all off, there are two plaques commemorating the sacrifices the New Zealand and Australian servicemen made in the Battle of the Somme. 

That concludes our visit to the WWI battle sites, and we’ve had a fantastic time doing it.  The whole experience has given us a much greater understanding of the events that led up to the conflict, the mood of the various nations (including ours) that participated, how fickle and in many respects unnecessary it all was, but most importantly what the ordinary people went through and sacrificed in order to uphold the values of freedom and democracy that we hold so dear, even when those in power seemed to be doing all they could to destroy those things.  They haven’t been forgotten, and their sacrifice wasn’t in vain – we will always appreciate it.