All Quiet On The Western Front
We woke on our last day and got ourselves ready to go. Ross was much more organised than me, sorting and zipping his packing cubes like a well-oiled machine, fully packed before breakfast. I have a knack for getting almost everything out of my bag and spreading it to the four corners of the room, everywhere we go, so I was almost packed by the time breakfast rolled around. Our plane wasn’t leaving until 10:40pm that night so we had lots of time to make our way to Paris.
We’d been told by lots of different people, including the hotel receptionist this morning, that the little village of Hornfleur was well worth a pop in. She was right. Hornfleur looked like it had just stepped out of a painting, which in all likelihood it had, given that it was the birthplace of Claude Monet and was the stomping ground for he and his impressionist artist mates. A snug harbour with a bit of a pirate vibe, crammed with tall-masted sailing ships, was surrounded by cobbled together, skinny houses, side-by-side, in different shades of the rainbow, some with colourful stripes.There was a bridge that went up and down to let the ships through. Hornfleur had the cutest shops and was a hub for boutique clothing stores, art galleries and gourmet food shops, selling treats like home baked butter shortbreads, hand-crafted chocolates and home-made jubes. It was a web of winding cobblestone lanes and alleyways leading down to the harbour. I was glad not to have been here alone as I may have never found my way out.
Next on the agenda, was the second leg of the Ross Jones Bespoke War Sites Tour, this time around Villers-Bretonneux; a very significant spot for Australian soldiers in WWI. Just as we’d seen American flags and Union Jacks flying in Normandy as a sign of the deep gratitude they had felt towards their liberators, here in Villers-Bretonneux, we were amazed to see our own Aussie flags flapping in the breeze all over town. Houses had hoisted Australian flags up their flagpoles, shops, schools and even the town hall, all had our flag proudly displayed, with a sign above the school door saying: “Do not forget Australia!” We were amazed that the French were still flying our flag, 107 years since the conflict took place there.
Back in 1918, the nearby French town of Amiens, was a sort of control centre for the Allies. Obviously the Germans wanted to get their hot little hands on Amiens and were pushing forward in that direction. It was just the little rural town of Villers-Bretonneux that was standing in their way. The battle that took place on 24 April, raged during the day and the Germans looked like they had the upper hand. Under the cover of darkness that night though, our brave Aussie soldiers firmly entrenched (literally in trenches), launched a counter attack, charging in with bayonets and guns blazing to overcome the Germans and place Villers-Bretonneaux firmly back into Allied hands. Tragically there was a heavy loss of Australian life and much Australian blood was shed at what has become known as the ‘Battlefield of the Somme’.
There was a Franco-Australien Museum in Villers that we would have loved to visit but was shut on Sundays, but we did pay a visit to the (open) John Monash Memorial for the Australian Soldiers. Entry was through the cemetery where most of the Australian soldiers that died there on the Western Front were buried. It was a very sombre walk through, seeing name after name and thinking of all they went through at such a young age. Understandably, there were lots of Aussies there to pay their respects so we could swap out our ‘bonjours’ for ‘g’days’. The interactive museum was very moving and made us feel extremely proud and patriotic (and the cafe was serving real Australian coffees and…Tim Tams!). We climbed to the very top of the memorial tower to gaze out over the cemetery and surrounding farmland. It was just so peaceful and hard to imagine the bloody scenes that had taken place there.
We motored on towards Paris and had a modicum of trouble finding the rental car return. Just a PSA for anyone dropping off a car rental in Paris, leave lots of time! Seriously, whoever is in charge of erecting the signs needs an uppercut - they sucked! We had arranged to have dinner with Maisy’s host sister Mary, from when she was an exchange student a few years ago. Mary is currently doing an internship in Paris and it was really lovely to meet her and hang out with her for a while.
Well, we are now just about to board our flights home. It’s been an adventure! We’ve driven 2640km (give or take a km) and have so loved seeing so many different facets of this beautiful country and meeting such a variety of lovely French people (and eating so much delicious food!)
Au revoir France, à bientôt!
