From Ypres to Amiens - by Stephanie

Today we were woken at 7 for a jam-packed day as we travelled from Ypres in Belgium to Amiens in France.

Charlotte at the grave of her
great, great Grandfather

First we travelled to Bonjean Military Cemetery in Armentieres, where Charlotte led us in a beautiful commemoration of her Great Grandfather, John Baillie. We then were given some time to walk around the Cemetery and read the epitaphs of many troops.
Once back on the bus Breanna, Travis and I gave an image analysis about what the soldiers did to escape the horrors of war.

"Don't forget me cobber" - Fromelles

We then headed to Fromelles, to Victoria Cross Corner where we were given a brief history lesson from Bruce about the significance of the site. We then headed 200 meters down the road to Cobbers statue - a sculpture of an Australian Soldier bringing a wounded comrade back to the trenches from no-man’s land.  After Breanna and Bianca kindly re-enacted the pose of the statue for us, we travelled to Fromelles Cemetery where 250 Allied soldiers are buried from Pheasants Wood. We were then informed that lunch wouldn’t be for another 2 hours, so we stopped at a local bar for some hot chocolate before our next stop in Lille.

The girls marking Breanna's Commemoration of an Australian nurse buried in Lille, Sr. Moorhouse

Upon arriving we made our way to the Lille Southern Cemetery where Breanna would commemorate her digger, Sister Edith Moorhouse. The commemoration was very touching as we have only commemorated one other woman from the First World War on this trip.

We then stopped at a restaurant called “Flunch” for lunch and got back on the road again and heading further into France. We stopped at the Canadian War Memorial at Vimy Ridge and were very moved at the amazing beauty and height of the structure.

In the trenches at Vimy

After a quick stop at the trenches in Vimy Ridge where so many Canadians lost their lives we were headed to Bullecourt Memorial Park. Bruce gave us a quick summary of the events that occurred at Bullecourt as well as describing the method of trench warfare used in this part of the front line.

Travis and Carl at Vimy

From here, we travelled a little further on the bus, finally arriving at the hotel in Amiens, ending a tiring, eventful but wonderful day.

Until tomorrow, au revoir!

Steph

Dwarfed by the grandeur of the famous Amiens Cathedral