Category Archives: France

Paris-1983

View from my Hotel Room.

I came back from one of those long walks with Pethick. My feet were aching and my head hurt. I got to my room and there were a couple of young ladies changing the bedding and cleaning. I needed a drink I went to my stash and grabbed a bottle of Scotch and started drinking. The girls giggled.  Monsuir Where are you from. (French but I understood what she was saying). ‘Canada!’ Oh oui but Canadians speak French, Pourquio don’t you?

Meanwhile they were eying my drink so I offered them a shot. Oui, oui. They took the drinks and still looked quizzically at me. I told them the distance between Vancouver and Quebec (the French province) was about 5000 km. They accepted that I was some kind of Englishman, finished their jobs, finished their drinks. Au Revoir!

Europe-26

Walter Allward designed this soon after the 1st world war. Vimy Ridge became a place where it was said that ‘Canada became a nation’. It took years to finish. The stone could be only found in one place in Northern Europe. Walter was fussy and the thing wasn’t finished until 1936. For the official opening four warships delivered surviving soldiers and their families to France in July 1936.

I had been reading about this battle for years and was really looking forward to seeing the monument. I wasn’t disappointed. I was dumbstruck by the beauty of the construction. A visit of a lifetime!

Lots of Canadian soldiers buried here.

On to the coast!