Thursday 19th September: The Somme

We stayed last night in a hotel - one to be missed!  Boomer-Harvey and Millie had towels thrown out because they weren't good enough for them - I think after three years they've been found!  Here at L'Abbatiale Hotel.

We walked the town last night and bemoaned the loss of half of my upper molar.  I knew I should not have shared John's jubes ... anyway, hopefully the rest of the fang will hold out till we get home.

We sought some help from the tourist information bureau early this morning to find a gite. While John was checking that info, I braved a trip to the supermarket for some highlighter pens - I'm keen to mark where we've been on our trip on the various maps we've collected.  After having success with my supermarket purchases, I ventured to the local boulangerie to purchase "uno baguette, S'il vous plait".  And she obliged with a smile and I carried out one baguette and I had a huge smile on my dial.  I know it's only a very small achievement, but I'm sure I failed French in form three, so it was a bit of a thrill!

We travelled to the Villers-Bretonneux school to see the museum.  We had skipped brekky and lunch by this stage, so the baguette and some cheeses from our purchases at the market in Brugge the other day went down well - a picnic on our laps, sitting in the front seats of the car.

The museum wasn't really anything to speak of, but we took pictures of the sign, "Never Forget Australia" that is hung over the shelter-sheds in the kids' playground.  Two little girls were thrilled to get a crappy koala from us ... the ones you get from Swanston Street for about $5.00 for 24.  There were broad smiles from the kids and their teachers.

Villers-Bretonneux School

There is much love for Australia and Australians in this town and evidence of that can be seen everywhere.  Kangaroos are stencilled onto the sides of homes and playgrounds throughout the town and there are aboriginal paintings on poles and fences too.

French Museum

We went to "Hill 104" which was the most strategic hill to obtain in order for the allied forces to make their assault on Pozieres.  The Australian War Memorial monument was built here as it was felt that this was the most fitting spot as it's where so many Australians fought and died.   

The Australian War Memorial at Villers-Bretonneux

From Villers-Bretonneux we drove on to find the 3rd Australian Division memorial at Sailly-Le-Sec.  We were quite disturbed to find some ordnance but one of them had some tape tied to it, so we figured they'd been checked out and were not 'live'.


We were told by a couple of Poms we met in Ypres that the museum at Albert is "fantastic and not to be missed".  So we drove there this afternoon and it sure is TO BE MISSED.  It was a dreadful exhibition - it basically only mentioned the British soldiers, and the only mention of the Australian soldier - well, he had a bottle of wine in his hand.  The British soldier had a bayonet in his hand and the French soldier a book.  I spoke with the curator and said I was not impressed with that message. 

He said, "the Australians did smoke and drink". "Not all of them - and not my Great Uncle", I said. "But they did smoke and drink" he reiterated. "And they also died" said John.  He didn't have a comment for that apart from, "We're looking at changing the exhibition shortly".

So we left Albert very disappointed and then John realised that somewhere along the line he'd lost his prescription glasses, so we backtracked where we'd been earlier in the day, but didn't have any success finding them.  So John now has to wear his prescription sunglasses ... not a good look ... not unless you've got the white cane.

Needless to say, we pressed on towards Amiens, a little town we thought, quaint and with a few gites and B&B's.  We'd booked a B&B earlier in the day when we were in Corbie, however without a lift, going up to the 4th floor with our luggage was out of the question.  So we've satisfied ourselves with an Ibis hotel (or Ibb-iss as they call it here).  We'd been trying to book a gite since we were in Belgium, but they're apparently something French.  We tried to book one today, but they're only available if you wish to book for 4-5 days which we don't have.  So we've had to go with B&B's or hotels.

We had the most fabulous meal at a local restaurant, "Chez Rosa" tonight - so if you're ever in Amiens ...

love

Lorraine and "Stevie" xo