We have farewelled Wayne and Kaye onto their further travels , however we kept them busy for the remainder of their time with us.

We spent a day touring around The Somme. Our first stop was The Australian National Memorial at Villers Bretonneux which of course all Australians are familiar with.  The Sir John Monash Centre has been built since we were there last and we spent a very interesting few hours watching the interactive displays.

We then wandered through the village and stopped for lunch.

 

 

Nearby was the French Military Monument which holds a French Service on Anzac Day every year.

 

 

 

 

We then drove through Pozieres and stopped to have a beer to commemorate the Diggers. The Australians captured Pozieres on July 29th 1916 and lost more than one third of their men doing so. Over 7 weeks more than 6700 Australian soldiers died.

We then continued onto Bullecourt and went through the Bullecourt 1917 Museum. A French farming couple have assembled a quite impressive display of objects, from mainly Australian soldiers who fought in the Battle of Bullecourt in 1917.  10,771 Australians were killed or wounded in the assaults.

 

There were lots of photographs and stories from diaries from the diggers, with a scrolling “roll call” with the names of every Australian who died in the battle. It was very moving. In the village there is also The Diggers Monument commemorating the 10771 Australians killed over the First and Second Battles of Bullecourt. It was a day to remember the sacrifice made by so many young Australians.

 

 

We also did a day trip to Belgium to the city of Mons to “do lunch”. The Grand Place was home to the rather lovely Town Hall built between 1458 and 1477. The Belfry is UNESCO listed and it was such a shame that it was closed so we couldn’t climb the 365 steps to go to the top!!!!!!!!!! Such a pity…….not!

 

Of course , superstition reared it’s head again, so we all had to find the monkey on the Town Hall steps, rub it’s head with our  left hand, make a wish , and of course our wishes will come true!

Well, fingers crossed!

 

 

 

 

We also “visited” the St Waltrudes Collegiate Church, and it was quite lovely. It was started in 1450 and finished in 1506. It has 29 Chapels around the main nave. The Golden Coach was quite impressive and is used each year for the annual religious procession.

 

The next day we did a “day trip” to the Champagne region so Wayne and Kaye could do a tour of Moet and Chandon. We had been there before so while they did their tour, we wandered through the Moet Shop and had a glass or 2 of champers at one of the many Champagne bars in Epernay…….well , Rhonda had the champagne and because Greg had to drive he sipped on an expresso! Good boy Gregory!

 

 

Of course Greg kissed the ground around his hero Dom Perignon!

On Wayne and Kaye’s last day we found a couple more villages to visit. The town of Bethune, below,  had a lovely Flemish style main square.

Then we continued onto Cassel which was awarded the title of Favourite Village of the French in 2018, so it was not too touristy!

We stopped for a coffee (that’s code for toilet stop) at a quite quaint little pub , above. The toilets were “interesting”. The guys were outside facing the main street with a wall between them and everyone else. At least us girls had a door to close! But the coffee was good!

Because it stands on a small hill , and there aren’t too many hills in Flanders , it was where the French General Ferdinand Foch had his headquarters from October 1914 to May 1915. The old windmill atop the hill was rather nice too! (note the weather change!)

We ate out in the main square in Arras for our last meal together with Wayne and Kaye. It was fabulous (pictures to follow) Rhonda’s scallops in wine and cheese sauce was yum and Greg’s beef tartare was pretty good too. We had a “café gourmand ” for dessert which is an expresso and a selection of “petite” desserts served together. HOWEVER it looked so good we didn’t have time to take a photo. Maybe we will need to return and have another!

 

 

The square was beautifully lit when we were returning home. It was lovely to have Wayne and Kaye stay with us and we hope they enjoyed the little bit of France we were able to show them.

 

The following day was a rest day for us after all our touring with our visitors and it turned out to be a perfect day for “resting” as it was a Public Holiday in France and nothing was open!!!

The next day Greg was eager to go again so we went to check out another Belgium town called Tornai which is Belgium’s oldest town and it was lovely.

It’s main building is the stunning Notre Dame Cathedral which is UNESCO listed. It’s 5 towers stand out throughout the entire city. We were very keen to go inside to have a look , however a huge restoration works is going on so no photos of the inside! Thank God you are saying!!!

 

 

 

Another UNESCO landmark of the town is The Belfry built in 1188. It stands at 72 metres in height with a steep 256 step stairway! Yep you guessed it , no we did not climb it although the view would have been great!

 

 

 

 

 

 

The Grand Place had some beautiful buildings including The Cloth Hall , above, which was bombed during WW11 and finally restored again in 1998.

 

On our wanderings around the town we came across 2 Gothic Houses , above, said to be built between 1175 and 1200. We quite liked them!

That night we decided to indulge ourselves with another duck confit dinner. As you can tell we did not enjoy it at all!!!!! We had another café gourmand dessert and this time we took a photo! It was yum and all washed down with a nice bottle of rose!

 

We only have about 10 days left now but still have a few things to see. We are hoping our French family , Francoise and Jean will be able to come up and stay with us for a couple of nights next week.

The weather here is getting cooler, still not quite as bad as back home though!

So now it’s that time again!

Until next time

Greg and Rhonda