Saturday 24 July 2010
We took the Eurostar chunnel train to Lille and then another train to Amiens, which is where we stayed the night.
After booking into the hotel, we travelled to Villers-Bretoneux to have a look at the Australain war cemetery located there.
The day was unforgettable for all three of us.
We were late in getting there because the train did not arrive at Amiens until just after 1 pm, and by the time we checked in and arrived back at the station, we just missed a train and had to wait for another hour and a half - we eventually arrived at Villers-Bretonneux at 4.10 pm.
We made our way to the museum and had a look and then the receptionist tried to phone for a taxi to take us to the cemetery without success - even after half a dozen phone calls. A gentleman in his 70's then offered to take us out there, which was a very pleasant surprise. It turned out that he heard us tell the receptionist that we were from Swan Hill - Robinvale is the twin town of Villers-Bretonneux. She had heard of Swan Hill because of the twinning and there are framed documents from the Swan Hill Shire hanging in the museum.
Imagine our surprise when, as we were driving out there, he told us that he knew Alan and Joyce Wood and had stayed with them in the past. Then he told us that he was the past president of Villers-Bretonneux twinning committee - we concluded that this was why he was offering to take us out there - sheer hospitality.
However, we were not expecting the emotional reaction of all three of us when we started to inspect the cemetery.
It appears to be an Australian War Graves Commission site - there are signs up telling of forthcoming works. There is a considerable building at one end with two smaller buildings at the entrance. There appears to be hundreds of white crosses, mostly for Australian soldiers and airmen, but also a sizeable Canadian contingent and some English.
It was the age of the men that got to us - many were 23 or younger.
I will not bore you with the details, but it really was very moving. I suspect that when we get home, there will be a detailed examination of what happened here in 1917 & 1918 - the Australians apparently prevented the Germans from taking Amiens, which they wanted because it was a major rail head. They did this at Villers-Bretonneux which is only 10km from Amiens. The village is full of Australian references, with many streets bearing Oz city names e.g. Melbourne St etc etc. Some houses even have kangaroos painted on their external walls.
Next we travel to Blois in the Loire Valley for a couple of days to check out all the chateaux, with a view of purchasing one for a holiday house. The one with 90 rooms sounds nice...
