Smile like you mean it... and let yourself let go...

Welcome one and all once again to Dan's World. This past Saturday marked exactly 5 weeks to the day when I will be going back home. To celebrate the occassion, John and I visited a site of great historical importance: Vimy Ridge.


Vimy Ridge was a captured German stronghold during World War I, and early attempts to reclaim it by the French and British both failed. Then in April 1917, the four battalions of Canadian soldiers were brought together for the first time, and along with a British battalion, successfully captured the Ridge, marking a huge turning point in the war.

The Ridge is located in a small town called Vimy, which is just outside of the city of Arras in northern France. We took a 2 hour train ride from Rouen to Arras leaving at 8 AM Saturday, and arrived to find a huge flea market in progress just up the street from the train station, so we walked around that a bit.


We then returned to the train station from which we had to take a cab to get to the Canadian Memorial. It dropped us off at the Visitor's Center which features informational posters about World War I in English, French, and German. The center is staffed by Canadian students, and we talked to them a bit. They gave us some Vimy Ridge pins for free that they normally sell for 3 euros. Good people.

Walking outside the Center, the first thing you happen upon are the trenches which lie exactly where they did during World War I. The German front lines and Canadian front lines are at times just 100 meters apart! You are able to walk through the recreated trenches and enjoy the beautiful countryside that the whole thing is located in. The terrain is extremely cratered and bumpy due to all the explosions of the war, even though it is all now covered by grass. In fact, they had to bring in sheep to the region and have them graze all over to keep the grass trimmed, as the craters make it extremely difficult to get at with a lawn mower.


Moving on from the trenches, we came to the Canadian cemeteries. A majority of the tombs in the cemetery are simply marked "A solider of the great war; known unto God," while others have a name but simply state that the person is "burried somewhere in this cemetery". Only a select few are "conventional" tomb stones with a name indicating that the person is buried right there.


As we continued our walk on this beautiful 27 degree, sunny, April day, we arrived at our final stop: The Vimy Ridge Canadian Memorial. As some of you may have heard, the Memorial was just reopened to the public a few weeks back in a lavish ceremony after being fully refurbished. Well, they did a good job, as the memorial is beautiful - huge, bright white stone, intricate statues, and the outside covered with the names of the dead whose bodies were never found.


All of this took a few hours, and we were getting tired, so it was time to head back to Arras, where after a quick bite at Subway, we caught the 4:30 PM train back to Rouen, ending an educational day.

That's about it for now. This coming weekend is my final planned trip (for now), being to Stockholm, Sweden. Should be a good time!

Talk to y'as later all.

Dan