WWI Remembrance Drive: Gerard, after reading one of the thickest books created on battles fought in the Northern France region in the early 1900’s, had our exact itinerary marked out. We were very fortunate to visit memorials, bunkers and cemeteries in Pozieres, Bullecourt, Villers-Breteneux and the surrounding region.. In addition to this, the different, varied and often unheard story of an area so great in Australia’s history opens your eyes to the fact that Gallipoli shouldn’t be the only place of pilgrimage for Aussies. Go out on a limb – by all means visit a common place but make an effort to visit another unheard of area. Stand on the actual ground they stood on. Look at the rises and slopes, or in some cases the plains these men and boys were ordered to run across - learn something new of the conditions diggers went through. It was definitely a moving experience to research the stories and follow the ground as we drove.
Champagne region: A visit to Epernay (home of Moet & Chandon among many others) and the surrounding region saw us acquire 5 bottles of French bubbly and of course sample along the way. As spring was just ‘springing’ to life, the view of the vineyards wasn’t awe inspiring but you have to leave something to the imagination. Nonetheless we also learnt about how Champagne is made, toured the Moet cellars, faked a pregnancy to use a bathroom (it was Bee) and later met a lovely young man at a small family run vineyard who spoke next to no English, yet managed to top up our glasses more than once! (He didn’t know what the double tap means from friends – I hope).
Troyes and Lake Orient: Troyes (pronounced Twa) was an amazing little town to wander around in. Colourful, sloped wooden buildings built in the 1500’s surround, however the town’s history dates way back to Roman times. We spent that evening by the nearby lake after taking a lazy 3 hour walk... beautiful (Once again Bee unwilling to take a walk down a track with a log across it – still searching for my deer shot!) .
