On the Somme the WW1 sites are everywhere, monuments, memorials, cemetery, etc. Like Normandy the sites are spread over such a large area. We concentrated our time on just the Australian sites.
I struggled with the audio for this video, and settled on waltzing matilda, a piano version, sorry it repeats. But waltzing matilda was their song.
I found this on YouTube when looking for appropriate music link
In Normandy we decided to base ourselves in one nice van park and travel each day to a different part of Normandy. There is so much to see and it’s spread all over Normandy.
Australia lost 10,700 men in France and Belgium, and when you consider the 7th and the 9th Divisions went to New Guinea after the battle of El Alamein where we had lost 1,200
I haven’t covered all the sites we visited, there are just too many and we only visited a small percentage of places available. I’ve tried to keep all the site seperate and make a small video for each.
Below is a map of Normandy and the site we visited.
We started with a visit to the Airborne Museum at Saint Mere Eglise. The village of Saint Mere Eglise have a parachute hanging on their church….I won’t give you the story but if you’ve seen the movie “The Longest Day” you’d sorter know.
Very touching, The size of the cemetery and all those crosses of men that gave all so others can have freedom. The view out to the ocean side on a beautiful sunny day was spectacular and no one was noticing, they were all just in aws of where they were. 172.5 acres containing 9,397 graves.
A very good collection of real items used, this includes panzer tanks, full track trucks, a plane hanging from the ceiling, and lots of memorabilia.
I won’t post the video for this, the site is full of detail and well worth visiting, but not so great for videos.
Standing on the beach looking at the size of the undertaking that was D-Day is breathtaking. You won’t get it without being here. Or at least I didn’t prior to seeing it for myself.
When you walk up to the memorial you quickly notice the angle irons sticking up like they were in the ocean on D-Day, you marvel at the incredible sculpture and I wonder what the empty blocks of concrete was for. Then it hit me why it’s called the Garden of Memories.
I asked myself is this a memorial, a work of art or the most touching reminder of the futility.
I know its been a WOW location based on the number of photos and videos that Gill takes…plus 500 in 4 hours.
The town has two churches, here is a little snip-it
The watchmaker is a small shop down the high street, it has a small museum and a shop of antique clocks. The guy (the watchmaker) has a desk where you can watch him repairing the mechanism. We enjoyed
2nd Oct
We thought we’d show you one of the French Passion sites. OH French Passion is a group (1,000’s of them) that list out local small business that have setup their sites to accommodate a Motorhome or two staying over night. There are all different type like an apple grower that makes their own cider, or local…..cheese, wine (cellar door), etc, etc. Some are just farms for families to stay and see the animals with their kids. This one is a charcuterie and fresh meats. They also do fresh veg, wine, etc…from a bunch of local farmers.
The Farmer’s Wife met us showed us where to park, get power to the van and took us on a guided tour of her little shop. OH she spoke good English.
We slept the night there, with the smells and sounds of a farm around us, but the stay was awesome.
PS sorry about the wind in the first few seconds of the video.
