Day 2 was a 'big day'. We started at the Hill 62 area, where we visited the Canadian memorial and spent an hour at the Sanctuary Woods museum. I wouldn't call this a museum, it was more just a collection of war memorabilia. There were rooms and rooms of war medals, shell casings, uniforms, pictures and photos but not a single word of explanation or description- interesting to look at, but without any information it was just 'stuff'. Aside from the trenches, the most interesting thing was the boxes of candid black and white photos from the war, which showed the devastation and destruction in gruesome detail which was not captured by words or paintings.
 |
| Sanctuary Woods trenches, including The Cat |
The trenches outside were quite moving to see, as they have not been beautified in any way. It was wet and muddy, much closer to what it probably would have been like than some of the other trenches we saw on our tour- however I'm sure this was more due to lack of care than to any particular effort made by the owner to maintain its realism. There was some stray cats that followed us wherever we went through the exhibition.
The first major cemetery we visited was the Australian and New Zealand memorial at Polygon Wood, which had a memorial to the Australian 5th Division on top of a hill overlooking the cemetery. From here we visited Tyne Cot which is the largest Commonwealth cemetery on the Western Front. The visitor centre was modern yet respectful and described a more personal side of some of soldiers who died and their families. As we approached, the names and details of fallen soldiers were read out from speakers along the path in a further attempt to drive home that along with the international and historical impact of the war, it also caused much individual and personal heartache. Amongst the rows of clean, white headstones and bright red roses laid an original German bunker, a further reminder of the activities which happened right on this site.
 |
| Australian Memorial at Polygon Wood |
 |
| Looking out over the cemetery from the top of the hill |
 |
| The memorial to the 5th Australian Division |
 |
| Tyne Cot cemetery |
We had a nice lunch of bread and cheese at a park outside the Passendale Memorial 1917 Museum at Zonnebeke, which we spent an hour wandering through that afternoon. This exhibition was full of interesting an informative displays from the war, including the more practical and mundane parts of life at war like food, medicine and clothing. It also highlighted some of the lesser known phases of the war, such as the tunneling activities, chemical warfare (the first use of poison gas is considered to have happened at the 2nd battle of Ieper) and the use and development of flamethrowers. There was also a reconstruction of the underground bunker built beneath the local church.
 |
| One of the reenactments in the Passendale museum |
After an hour drive across the border into France, we arrived at our hotel in Gouy-sous-Bellonne, a cute little darm-house B&B called Ferme de la Sensee. The owners were very nice and, due to our lack of French, helped us booking at a local restaurant. It made our day when the lady was telling us about her two 'poopies'- the beautiful puppy dogs that lived on the farm with them.
 |
| The 'poopies' |
 |
| Hotel Ferme de la Sensee |
 |
| Our big shared room |
The restaurant, L'Estaminet Gourmand, was genuine and tasty and our first experience of trying to decipher the French menu, receiving unlimited bread and ordering wine by the jug. Our waiter, a young guy called Clement, nervously asked us where we were from and after finding out we were from Sydney, he was excited to tell us about his upcoming visit to Sydney to attend an English and hospitality course. He was interested to learn that Margot was a 'food professor' (a high school food studies teacher) and we spent some time putting together a list of places for him to visit while in sunny Australia.
 |
| Delicious French dinner at L'Estaminet Gourmand |
Useful links
No comments:
Post a Comment