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August - October 2017
A 62-day adventure by Gabrielle Read more
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  • TravelerEurope
    Day 7

    Polygon Wood Cemetery, Zonnebeke

    September 2, 2017 in Belgium ⋅ ☀️ 15 °C

    We spent the day in Belgium today travelling between various cemeteries and war memorials related to my grandfather and his two brothers who fought in WWI in this area. My grandfather's brother, Charles Duncan, was in the 52nd Battalion. He was involved in the battles of Polygon Wood, Ypres and Messines. He was killed in action on the 23rd September 1917 on his 21st birthday. A bomb landed in the gun post he and four others were manning. All were buried in the trench by the bomb and his remains were later exhumed and transferred to Bedford House Cemetery, Belgium.

    So with that being the back story for today, I have split the journey into each of the places we visited in Flanders, the first being Sanctuary Wood Memorial Cemetery with a memorial to the Australian 5th Division. Of the 2,100 soldiers buried here, only about a quarter are identified. The surrounding wood was peaceful and squirrels were running between the graves. It is here Kate started her sketching activities.

    Across the road is another smaller cemetery and what is incredible about all of the cemeteries we visited is how they adjoin the farms around them. This one had a donkey and chicken run on one side, a house and corn fields surrounding the rest.    Read more

  • TravelerEurope
    Day 7

    Lunch in Zonnebeke, Flanders

    September 2, 2017 in Belgium ⋅ ⛅ 18 °C

    What better way than to spend lunch with a view like this! Across from the lake is the Memorial Museum Passchendaele 1917. Craig played a little guitar, which became rather hilarious when a guy passing buy made a show of coming over and giving him 50 cents! I need to put the boy to work obviously...

    We had a local baguette and pastries washed down with a bottle of the local Passchendaele Ale. A lovely afternoon.    Read more

  • TravelerEurope
    Day 7

    Tyne Cot Cemetery, Flanders

    September 2, 2017 in Belgium ⋅ ⛅ 17 °C

    I came to Tyne Cot Cemetery in 1991 but couldn't recall much about it other than it was really big! It has had the addition of a visitors centre since then and as you approach a sombre voice is reading out the voices inscribed on the graves and the wall of the cemetery. It is the largest cemetery for Commonwealth forces in the world, for any war and is located just outside of Passchendale. With over 11,900 soldiers laid to rest, there isn't really much more than can be said about such a tragic outcome.Read more

  • TravelerEurope
    Day 7

    Sanctuary Wood Museum (Hill 62)

    September 2, 2017 in Belgium ⋅ ⛅ 17 °C

    We stopped here for a bit of fun for the kids. The farmer who owned this farm during WWI returned to his farm after the war to find it riddled with trenches as it had been the site of the battle at Hill 62 which was mostly a Canadian forces offensive. The museum at this farm is privately maintained by the grandson of the original farmer who elected to preserve a number of the trenches.

    So, the kids went wild! Apparently running around in here was like all their dreams had come true. Who knew we only needed to dig and connect some holes in the back yard! As could be expected in this part of the world though, it was muddy and wet and I get the impression that this is the norm. Light drizzly rain stops anything from drying out much. Kate said she didn't want to get trench foot. Through this place you can still see evidence of the craters formed by shells.    Read more

  • TravelerEurope
    Day 7

    Hill 60

    September 2, 2017 in Belgium ⋅ ⛅ 16 °C

    Whistle stop to wander around Hill 60. The concrete bunker was used by both German and British Armies. This was another site riddled with underground tunnels which were used by both sides. They would try to dig close to the other side, listen in and once confirmed it was the enemy would set of explosives to try and cave in their tunnel network. The Australian soldiers were known to dig as low as 8 metres to try and get right under the Germans without detection - they would occasionally die from carbon monoxide poisoning or the tunnels would collapse.

    The site was purchased by a British family after the war in order to preserve it as is. There were so many fallen soldiers whose bodies had sunk into the mud during the battle that they could not be retrieved and buried properly.    Read more

  • TravelerEurope
    Day 7

    Bedford House Cemetery - Charles Duncan

    September 2, 2017 in Belgium ⋅ ⛅ 17 °C

    And the final war memorial of this trip was to Bedford House Cemetery where my grandfather's brother is buried. Charles Duncan was killed at age 21. His and the other 3 soldiers he was fighting with had their remains exhumed and moved to this location.

    Of the 5,075 soldiers buried here, 275 are Australia and my great uncle is among those. He is buried in Enclosure 4 and with nothing more than that information, it took some time to find him. Kate placed a poppy on his grave and Craig had brought along the guitar so he played Amazing Grace. It had been so cold and windy as we were trying to find the grave, but then we sat down and the wind died down and the sun came out. The cemetery itself was beautiful. Charles has a great view in his final resting place!    Read more

  • TravelerEurope
    Day 7

    Ypres and Menin Gate

    September 2, 2017 in Belgium ⋅ ⛅ 16 °C

    We ended our foray into Flanders with dinner in Ypres and then the Last Post Ceremony which has been held under Menin Gate every night at 8pm since 1928 (save a few years of WWII) as the local way of honouring those who fell in WWI. People travel from around the world to attend, play or lay wreaths. On our visit we were lucky enough to witness an extended ceremony and hear the Norwich Pipe Band from the UK and a local bugle band of cadets of some sort. There were around 1,000 people attending which, for a ceremony that happens every night of the year regardless of the weather, is rather amazing.

    The kids were on the hunt for Belgium waffles afterward, but the places had either closed or sold out, so they had to settle for Belgium ice cream in a waffle cone instead.    Read more

  • TravelerEurope
    Day 8

    Braderie de Lille

    September 3, 2017 in France ⋅ ☁️ 17 °C

    We caught the metro into Braderie de Lille this morning. We didn't realise we had to change lines along the way, but luckily a young French guy started talking to us on the train and his cousin just so happens to live in Brisbane, so he helped us change lines and set us in the right direction before he got off to go to work.

    Apparently this antiquities and flea market dates back to the 12th century. It was cancelled last year due to terrorism fears as there are around 2 million visitors to the event each year and their safety could not be guaranteed. Not sure what made it possible to guarantee the safety of visitors this year, but there were a lot of police with rather large machine guns at the ready standing around! There are so many people arriving by train and so much rubbish on the streets, I can't really see how they could have a hope of foiling the plans of a would-be terrorist.

    It seemed busy to us, but one stall holder who started talking to us said business was so-so as it was not as busy as recent years. We had lunch in a little cafe off one of the main streets. We were jammed into a bench seat and the man next to us started talking to us. He was born and still lived in Lille, but had travelled a lot. We had a great conversation with our almost non-existent French and his better English. He was an avid cyclist and obviously followed the rugby as he was asking about the All Blacks (we set him right that he needed to go for the Wallabies!) and Phil Anderson (first Australian to win a stage and wear the yellow jersey in the Tour de France - I had to look that up!).

    Back at the farm, our AirBnB host Pascal asked if the kids wanted to go for a swim in her pool. 29 degrees, so off they went. We started talking to her and her husband (also named Pascal) about their hobby farm and all the rabbits we saw on the lawn the night before, which led to picking plums from their tree, checking out their quince, pear and walnut trees and collecting eggs from the chickens. The kids had fresh-from-the-chicken boiled eggs and plums for dinner. Can't get much more direct to the plate than that! We've been having last season's walnuts in our salad at night as there is a bowl in the apartment with a nutcracker. This AirBnb has been brilliant!    Read more

  • TravelerEurope
    Day 9

    Lille to Paris

    September 4, 2017 in France ⋅ ⛅ 20 °C

    An early start to the day to avoid the peak hour traffic as we drove into Lille to drop our hire car back. Driving bit of the holiday done and dusted for a few weeks now. Just over an hour later we were in Paris and checking into our lovely AirBnB in the Montmartre district. Glen and Jeff were joining us in Paris and are staying right next door in a hotel. After a leisurely luncheon in our little kitchen with supplies from the supermarket just down the street, we ventured out and up the hill to Sacré-Cœur Basilica.

    We then wandered around the Montmartre district, the obligatory photo at the Moulin Rouge, and then ended up wandering back down a street filled with adult shops which was probably not the right sort of scenery for our children! I heard Kate saying to Craig "Daddy, that doesn't look like a very good shirt to buy" in response to a scantily clad mannequin in the window shop. I think we escaped unscathed with what could potentially have been some rather awkward questions!    Read more

  • TravelerEurope
    Day 10

    Château de Versailles

    September 5, 2017 in France ⋅ ☁️ 19 °C

    An amazing phenomena (in my humble opinion) is that in the year 2017, many of the museums of Paris are completely shut on a Tuesday. It is not like they have teamed up to determine that one should close on Tuesday, another on a Wednesday etc. So as a result, this forced our hand to travel to Versailles for the day, along with every other tourist to Paris, Tuesday being the discount day for Versailles for those eligible for various local passes etc.

    And so it is here that our luck in not having to line up for long to visit stuff ended. Close to 1.5 hours in the line in front of a very impressive building, and we were in.

    The interior itself is opulent and extravagant and all up, it should not have been that surprising to the nobility of France when the Revolution finally occurred!    Read more

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