Vimy Ridge

Remembrance Day 2009
Vimy Ridge

For Remembrance Day a group of Exchange Students from Belgium travelled to Vimy Ridge. It was an amazing experience. Vimy Ridge is Canadian territory in France. During WWI Canadians fought here. Now it is a Canadian National Historic Site.
On April 9th 1917 the Canadian Corps, fighting together for the first time, worked to take Vimy Ridge from the Germans. The battle was a success, and is often considered as one of the birthplaces of Canadian unity.
The monument contains the names of the Canadians who fell in battle in France and remain without a grave. The monument was opened in 1936 and has since been restored. The park contains more than 250 acres of Canadian land. The day was very Canadian.
The site was very impressive. Just walking there, where Canadian soldiers had fought and died was extremely impressionable. The monument stands as a grand memorial. It's hard not to be affected by the enormity of the area. War in Canada always seems distant. We know it happened, we know the details, we've read about it and talked about it, but we don't realize it. In Belgium, almost every city has more than one war memorial, you pass them on the highways, you see the flags of the countries that worked to fight there. It's more present here.
The barbed wire, a reminder to the war, keeps people from walking on much of the ground around the park. The fields are riddled with craters from bombs and the marks of war, and people are not allowed to walk there, in fear of setting off remaining, unfound landmines. The marks of a war almost 100 years past remain present, although made almost beautiful under the cover of grass.
The Remembrance Day Ceremony, although small, was almost the same as one at home, aside from the fact it was conducted both in French and English. There was a bigger ceremony on the Sunday before, but I prefered to be there for the actual day. In Flanders Fields was recited, We Will Remember them, (the picture above is of Patrick, one of the exchange students from Belgium, reading We Will Remember Them, in French) We sang God Save the Queen, The French National Anthem, and listened to The Last Post. The Last Post was one of the most powerful that I have heard. Looking up at the monument during it. Wow. And when we sang Oh Canada, surrounded by Canadians, all of us singing, it was one of the proudest moments I have had being Canadian.
Along with the wreaths, each of us was given a carnation to lie at the bottem of the monument.
Audrey, another exchange student in Belgium.
The wreaths are more or less the same as at home too. The whole day was a taste of home away from home. I feel so proud of my country.
The women on the monument is looking over the tomb of an unnamed soldier, representing all the soldiers during the war.
The monument is extremely impressive. Especially for Remembrance Day.

All of us who went. Canadians from Prince Edward Island to British Columbia, and all of us together.
One last look at the monument.

The picture below is of the German side of the trenches at Vimy. The structures on that side were much more permanent that the structures on our side, but thanks to Canadian planning and strategy, the many of the pill boxes and other strategic points were taken out before the Canadian attack.
The maple trees growing upon the war field. Even though there was a war, life goes on.
A last remembrance to the soldiers who died at Vimy Ridge. We will remember them.
After Vimy Ridge we travelled to Flanders Fields (in Belgium) another important battlefield during WWI. John McCrae, a Canadian soldier, wrote the poem 'In Flanders Fields' based on his experiences there. Yes, I did recite the poem, by heart, in the open, with another Canadian while I walked in Flanders Fields.
Hill 62, a lesser known Canadian battlesite, near Ypres, in Flanders, Belgium.

The town of Ypres on Armistrice (as Remembrance Day is called in Belgium). The city was buzzing. It was filled with people wearing Canadian poppies and British Poppies. The town was filled with English speakers there for the war remembrance ceremonies.
The entire town of Ypres was destroyed during WWI. Now it is beautiful and buzzing. The Battle of Passchendaele (one of the more terrible battles for Canadians)was one of the battles of Ypres. At Ypres we went to the 'In Flanders Fields' Museum, named after, you guessed it, the Canadian poem. The Museum was a rather sobering, but appropriate, end to my Remembrance Day in Europe.

My Canadian poppy, which I will always wear with pride.

Paris

Voici Paris!! Now, let me set the scene. We drove to Paris! Only three hours. Does that not seem very very very close. I love to be able to say that I went to Paris for the weekend. Distances here are very very different than distances at home. Above is a picture of me, my host mom, Patricia, and my host brother Davy, infront of the Notre Dame Cathedral. No I did not see the Hunchback of Notre Dame.. but I really want to watch the movie again.
Do I even need to explain what is in the background of this picture. Actually this is taken from a boat that went down the river in Paris. At first I thought that the Eiffel tower was actually rather ugly. However seen from the other angles I liked it better. At night it is supposed to be spectacular. Another note, at least three quartres of the pictures I get of Davy are in that pose. The other pictures I get are when he doesn't know I'm taking them...
This was when it really hit me that we were in Paris! The Louvre Museum. It was incredible. I didn't actually go inside but even from the outside it was amazing. There are 17 (at least) km of galleries inside this museum. When seeing this I was really like.. Wow. I am actually here. This place exists. It was incredible.
Proof that I was at the Louvre. Now, don't pronounce the 're' on the end of that word. Most words in French you don't tend to pronounce the last letter.. which kills me whenever there is an 's' on the end of the word.
A meal in Paris. It was a neccesity to go to Starbucks while in Paris. There is only one in the whole of Belgium, and that is in the airport. Seriously. It was amusing actually. We specifically sought out the Starbucks. I have been seriously missing the take out coffee places in Belgium. And the cheesecake was also a neccesity while at the starbucks. A real Parisian meal eh? The other meals that day included sushi at a Japonese restaurant and Veitnemese and Oceanic food at another restaurant. Viva French food!
I thought the Eiffel Tower (or le Tour Eiffel) was much prettier from this point of view.
The perfect picture.
It is really tall. But not taller than the CN tower. =D
Montemarche.. I think. This is a spectacular place. This cathedral is situated on top of a hill over Paris. If you make the climb you can see all of Paris spread out below you. It is incredible.

Paris. An unbeleivable city.
Finally. The French cuisine. I had a chevral chaude salad. This is warm goat cheese, honey and salad. Delicious. Je l'aime beaucoup!
And my host family. They are awesome! (that is my host brother's favorite word that I taught him) Paris is an amazing city, but in fact I prefer the cities Ottawa and Brussels to it. Strange eh? I adore the feeling in Canadian cities and Brussels is such.. a Belgian city, smaller compared to some cities but completely international due to it's position as the capital of Europe. That being said, J'adore Paris!!!