France

Monday 5 September 2005

Took the train to Lille and then onto Brussels. Not a lot to marvel at in Brussels. A very dirty Town Square, council mismanagement again. We were in an area of quaint African and Arab immigrants! Another quiet evening.

Sunday 4 September 2005

Took a train to Amiens hoping to arrange a trip to the Somme First WW battlefields. Amazingly as we left the station there was a minibus with Battlefield Tours printed on the side. And so we were on a tour. It was, as with the Anzac Cove trip, very moving. We saw many graveyards and a huge memorial to the missing many of whom were from Sandy's father's old regiment the Kings Royal Rifles, the 60th. Sandy's father was wounded on the Somme in 1916. We spent the night in the Anzac Hotel in Amiens. At 2145 we took in the amazing lighting display at Amiens Cathedral where a projection system lights up the white stone carvings with the colours that existed in Medieval times.

The Somme Battlefields

Saturday 3 September 2005

Took a train to Lyon where we stayed for three hours and walked the Rhone. A neat city but a little dirty. One felt that the council was inefficient; Then we took off for Paris and booked into the Hotel Picardy , a lot more expensive than Montpelier. A little Indian meal finished the day. French restaurants are too pricey.

The River Rhone

Friday 2 September 2005

Caught a train from Barcelona to Montpelier. The latter a great little French University town with a very modern town square. These rural places are quite different from the cities. We stayed in a great little hotel just opposite the station. A get your breath back day.