ROAD TRIP
Chris and I did a little road trip of our own. We took off for three days,
and boy did we cover a lot of ground!
Chris Writes:
We rented a big BMW for highway cruising. It ended up being only $25 more than a VW Golf. We actually ended up saving money in the end because the car doubled as our hotel. Recline the seats, and badaboom - two single beds!
Then it was west into Luxembourg. We got lost on some back woods roads and eventually made to the city to find lunch. Luxembourg City is built around an extremely steep valley. There are castles and walls everywhere. Quite a nice place to look at. A little pricey though... two sandwiches cost us $37! It is the economic centre for Europe so a lot of money gets thrown around there.
Then we continued on to France. We were on a mission to find the Beaumont Hamel war memorial. July 1, 1916 was the first day of the battle of the Somme. Beaumont Hamel is where this first battle took place. Due to poor planning and miscommunication, over 75% of the Royal Newfoundland Regiment (fighting under the British flag) lost their lives during the first half hour of the battle. It was a tragic day for Newfoundland. They say that there were only a handful of Newfoundland families that didn't lose a loved one that day. It is the worst loss taken by any unit in any war in modern history. We arrived at Beamont Hamel, thanks to several very helpful French locals, about 1 hr before dusk. It was really a perfect setting to visit the grounds. It was very touching. The weather shifted from cold and drizzly to a beautiful breezy sunset, complete with a rainbow. It was absolutely amazing. Barry was very touched to have been there. I saw Holletts on the memorial wall. When darkness fell we approached some workers that were finishing up a building on the grounds and talked for a while. They told us there was to be a huge ceremony on July 1 (only 3 days after we were there) to commemorate the 85th anniversary of the battle at Beaumont Hamel, the Royal Newfoundland Regiment, and the fallen soldiers on the Somme. About 250 Newfoundlanders were being flown in for the ceremony. The Globe and Mail, CBC and several other news stations/papers would be there to broadcast it. You've probably al ready read about it back at home. That was the end of day 1.
I woke up early the second day, and started driving while Barry was still sleeping. Boy it takes him a long time to wake up! Sometimes people think he is dead. We were on a mission to see THE Canadian War Memorial in Europe, Vimy Ridge. The land Vimy stands on is actually sovereign Canadian soil. This was Frances gift to Canada after the great war. The memorial was completed in 1936. It was really incredable. We were the first people there that morning. It was a beautiful day with all the Allied flags proudly standing in front of the memorial. The memorial represents the 11285 Canadian men who were never recovered from the battlefields of WWI. They planted a tree for every unknown soldier on the property. We were told by the guides that there are about 600 000 undetonated ordinance still buried in the ground there. That's one undetonated bomb for every square yard of the memorial site. Every year in this area of France, construction companies, farmers, and land owners uncover skeletal remains, artifacts, bombs etc... still in the earth from WWI. Vimy was a little less sentimental than the night before but far more educational. It is set up like a national park. They have Canadian students there in the summers giving tours of the trenches and the tunnels that were dug during the battles. The tunnels were up to 40 metres deep at places and were very long. The Allies would move a lot of people to the front line inside the tunnels and the Germans wouldn't even know be cause they were all underground. Of course the same thing was happening on the other side as well. The German tunnels were much more sophisticated then those of the Allies. Most of their men slept underground while the Canadians slept in the trenches.
After spending the day at Vimy and meeting quite a few Canadians there we trucked up to Belgium. There were dozens of war cemeteries and memorial as we drove up into Flanders. It was incredible to drive by and see hundreds of war graves lining the road. There is always a constant reminder of the two great wars in Europe.
We went up to Antwerp for lunch. We almost stayed the night. We did a little bit of shopping and the people were very friendly. We ended up pushing up to Amsterdam (the Netherlands) on Friday night. We had a great time. Barry had never been there before so I showed him around. A very interesting city. The culture is quite liberal there, to say the least! End day 2.
We had to get to Kiel by Saturday afternoon because the car had to be back. Of course, we took the scenic route up along the north shore of Holland and then into Germany. We arrived in Kiel at about 8pm, only to start celebrating Canada Day on the Ship! I'll tell you though, we didn't forget about our fallen comrades at Beaumont Hamel, despite all the festivities.
What a road trip! All in all we traveled almost 3000km in 3 days, and still had time for sightseeing!
