Alright I’m going to tell the story of the first few days I had in France in which I started off in Lens but I realize now I have no photos of Lens. These are of Arras. I’m very bad at taking photos in the moment I forget. Anyways, if you are interested keep reading!
So day one consists of me flying out. I think my first flight was at eight in the morning. I have to take a small flight from my small city to larger one. From there I fly to Montreal. I had a 5 hour layover in Montreal, it sucked. I saw so many flights going to Paris but mine of course had to be 5 hours later. So I sat around in the airport trying to sleep but airports aren’t pleasant. Flying and airports make me feel sick and nothing can really make it better other than just leaving and getting fresh air. On a side note I was kind of freaking out because I only had 4 month validity on my passport, due to not being able to renew it for several reasons. Fast forward to several hours, I have landed in France, made it through security. To be frank, they didn’t even look at my passport they just stamped it and welcomed me into France. I don’t understand how border control was that loose. Anyways, I go to baggage claim and spend I’m not even kidding almost two hours looking for my bag. Now, I’ve never traveled alone so I was supposed to meet up with @littlegoldhorse in the airport, but she landed 6 hours after me. But her whole plane got sequestered due to security reasons? I have no idea honestly. I landed about 9 am Paris time, left Paris about 5 pm. Theresa and I figure out how to get a Train to Lens, we meet up with some of her friends when we get to the Lens SNCF gate. We go to our Airbnb and pretty much pass out.
Next day Theresa and I wake up early and get some breakfast, we go to a nice bakery and pick up some pastries and the classic french baguette.
(side note: the pastries here have nothing on those, they were so good)
We go around and explore Lens, we go to the Louvre Lens which was interesting. We were warned to hold on to our bags inside a museum because there were many pickpocketers. That was very different for me since I live in a very safe place with almost zero pickpockets. Later on we go to Arras for a day trip. Where I had this very delicious thing.
I was told that we were going to a square in Arras, English being my second language I assumed we were going to an art installation of a square of some sort. Later on I had to ask the stupid question “where is the square?” And got met with judging looks and replies. They had to explain what a square is. Arras was filled with I think a hundred on these billboards with small bios of people who fought in WWI and it was interesting. There were people I knew of and others I didn’t. People like Arthur Currie and the Red Baron. The most interesting part of that day was seeing a WWI monument riddled with bullets from WWII. It’s weird to think that city was a major battle in both wars.
Day three we went to the centennial of Vimy Ridge, I did not anticipate how hot it would be in April. We all came back sunburnt. While we were going to Vimy we could see how bumpy the ground was from the constant shelling and how 100 years later the land did not heal.
(this isn’t the best photo but the only one I was able to get you can note that each tree is on it’s own bump. There were some craters so large that if you had fallen in one I don’t think you’d have an easy time getting out)
There were so many people in Vimy I think the official number was around 35,000. There wasn’t any room to move anywhere and it took hours to leave. I think the event ended at 3 or 4 pm and we were able to get out at 9. But while we were there we were surrounded with Canadian patriotism and kindness. This couple offered us sunscreen since we didn’t bring any. There was this teenager who had to be escorted to the med tent since she wasn’t feeling well and them and as well as us were worried about her and her stuff since she had just left it all. Throughout the event they read out the names of I believe every Canadian who had died or been injured and it was incredible to hear the never ending names. I don’t think anyone was listening when Francois Hollande spoke and it wasn’t translated so I don’t think many people knew what he was saying. When people were speaking they didn’t speak in one language and then translate it to the other, they just continued what they were saying in the other language and just switched back and forth. So it’s safe to say I didn’t have the clearest idea of what was being said the whole time since I don’t speak french. At the end of the day some WWI planes flew over and it was incredible to see those things flying. And some jets afterwards.
After several hours of waiting to get out of the event, an announcer getting more and more frustrated with the people not listening to her instructions, and a nice family who shared their food with us we finally made it back to our Airbnb at like 10 pm. Theresa and I only had a few hours to sleep because we had to catch a train to Caen at 4 am. We must have annoyed everyone by loudly dragging our luggage that early.
1. Accadde oggi nella Grande Guerra: 09.04.1917 5:30 a.m. Sul fronte di Arras i soldati britannici, supportati dall'attacco di quattro divisioni canadesi a Nord schierate di fronte il crinale di Vimy, passano all'attacco. Nella mappa la situazione del fronte prima dell'offensiva.
ENGLISH - On this day, 100 years ago: 09.04.1917 5:30 a.m. British troops, supported by 4 Canadian Divisions deployed in front of the Vimy Ridge, start a new offensive. On the map, the situation before the attack.
2. Accadde oggi nella Grande Guerra: 09/04/1917 Quattro divisioni canadesi e una britannica, 170.000 uomini, sferrano l'attacco al crinale di Vimy. La posizione, difesa da circa 45.000 soldati tedeschi, ha resistito agli assalti alleati, prima da parte dei Francesi nel 1915 e poi dei Britannici nel 1916. Nella mappa, il piano di attacco degli alleati.
ENGLISH- On this day, 100 years ago: Four Canadian divisions and one British division, 170.000 soldiers, attack the Vimy Ridge. The position, defended by 45.000 soldiers, has already repulsed French and British attacks in 1915 and 1916. On the map, you see the plan of attack.
