DAY 2 - Continued- Phil & Jill

Soon we would be crossing the border into Belgium but before we crossed we went to Vimy Ridge set on a hill with a grand view of the countryside below. During the Great War the Germans held this hill and could easily spot enemy movements. There was nowhere to hide on the flat ground. The Germans built a series of extensive trenches.

For Canadians the taking of Vimy Ridge stands as a great feat, an exceptional example of courage and sacrifice. Vimy has also become a place of remembrance to Canadian soldiers who died in France and who have no known grave. Once again we found the young Canadian interns doing their patriotic best to tell people of the Canadian commitment during the war.

After two unsuccessful Allied attempts to dislodge the Germans from this high point, the Canadian divisions fighting together seized the ridge on 12th April, 1917 after 4 days of intense fighting. This memorial is a modernistic tower rising very tall towards the sky. It has two grieving figures against the pylons of limestone. Inscribed on the monument are the names and ranks of 11,285 missing Canadians.

As you approach the monument there is the reflection tree, which has hundreds of little glass bottles with rolled up messages inside them to the fallen.

The Canadians have also built a museum with war memoriabilia and audio/visual screens not as high tech as the Sir John Monash but perhaps more personal.

A very full day came to a close. It was another day of absorbing historical fact of how these brave boys just survived every day under the most terrible circumstances. We were now in Belgium where everything had changed, the shape of the houses, the language on the road signs, the state of the roads, the food, no-one around - it was distinctly different. So too our accommodation at The Hermitage in the hamlet of 't Hooge. It was rebuilt in its original after being flattened in the war. It was a half timbered establishment full of things from war time and years of collection. It was certainly quirky but in a good way with lots of atmosphere. Over dinner of Belgian cooked food, we all agreed it was a fun place to be. The hotel was certainly where the action was. In fact right next to a big crater, loads of fired ammunition and high explosive shells had just been left where they fell near a German machine gun bunker. They have not done a clean up and the area remains highly dangerous. The former church has been made into one of the best private museums in the Flanders fields.