Day 10

We drove up to Vimy today and visited the Canadian War Memorial to our soldiers in the first world war. The battle of Vimy ridge defined Canada as a nation since up until Vimy we were for the most part considered part of Britain, especially with all our war efforts. Both the French and British tried and failed to take the ridge.  The Canadians studied the assault quite extensively and introduced some new methods and with a lot of training and mock battle practice combined with precise timing they were able to win this significant battle which was one of the most important victories of the first world war and Canada's greatest victory of all time. It was the first time ever that all four Canadian Divisions fought along side one another. Canadians were never again defined as far of Britain since this was proof positive that they could stand on their own.

The memorial is something else. It was commissioned in 1922, construction started in 1925 and it took eleven years to build. The official unveiling was on July 26, 1936 by King Edward VIII shortly before he abdicated. It deteriorated over the years and was restored and re-opened in 2007 by current Prime Minister Harper.  It is near breath taking to see. The names of all 11,285 Canadians that were missing in action or killed in France and whose final resting place were unknown at the time are inscribed around the base of the Memorial. We found two DesRosiers' ... not related to our knowledge. Each name was once again hand carved into the base during the restoration. I highly recommend a visit if anyone comes to France.

We also visited the Canadian cemetery which also was quite interesting. There are a number of Canadian guides ( who speak excellent English) from across Canada available to talk to and ask questions. They rotate through Vimy on a four month cycle and all were quite knowledgeable and quite willing to take any amount of time to chat with us.  We also visited the trenches which surround the visitors centre. We didn't visit the tunnels since it would take a lot of time and there would be quite a few stairs to climb and Bun wasn't up for that .. either was anyone else.

One of the things I found most fascinating was the grounds itself. They have left all the pock marks where mines blew up or artillery shells exploded and have these all roped off with electrical wires to keep people out. Apparently shells still work their way up to the surface and they call in experts to search for and disarm them. The grounds are quite rough because of all these indentations and they have hundreds of sheep grazing. The most frequently asked question is??? "Do the sheep blow up once in a while?"  The guide said they don't, they're there more for ambiance and to keep the grass under control.

The drive home was uneventful UNTIL we got to Paris. The highways are great but once you get off the A1 we were in trouble. Our street is one way like dozens of others in Paris and I swear only one in ten streets are well marked. The traffic was also horrendous. It felt like the many drives home from cottage country over the years. We were within a few hundred yards of our street a few times and at least once we drove right by it. We got to the outskirts of Paris in about an hour and it took us almost two hours to get to our apartment. Janice actually has a picture of a corner we were navigating and both lights were green AT THE SAME TIME and I included it above.  So it is not all our fault just mostly our fault. Now remember that Tom smokes and as every passing minute went by he was getting rangier and rangier ( if that is a word ) AND we still had three giving directions AND he was driving a stick shift for the first time in twenty+ years. He deserves a medal but he got us here and we are all chilling out.

Till Tomorrow.