A very sober day today in that we spent the day exploring the local area so badly affected by the First World War and the spectacular memorials which exist to those who perished in the war. Unfortunately the warm weather hasn't lasted. Back to 20 degrees today but still a lot warmer than Norway.
The
buildings destroyed included the cathedral.
A
gate to the city is a memorial to the thousands who died.
It
is difficult to believe that an area as tranquil as it now appears
could have been so catastrophically destroyed.
The highlight of the day was a guided tour we had of the Tyne Cot Cemetery where thousands are buried but thousands more whose bodies were never found are memorialised. A truly moving experience. Brian Higgins is mentioned on a digital record of Australian soldiers killed. His brother is no doubt also mentioned but I couldn't identify him. I know that they are memorialised at Villiers Brettoneux.
On a much lighter note, when we collected the hire car yesterday, the lady at Europcar was at pains to make sure that we knew that the car was a manual car. She also asked us whether we wanted a GPS. That would have cost extra. We declined because I had brought mine from home. When we got into the car, it turned out it was an automatic with a GPS. Unfortunately the cruise control is not adaptive.
France
tomorrow.
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