Day 23 - 19 April 2019 Friday (Good Friday) Amiens
Amiens is a delightful small French city and I always enjoy coming back here, being a university town it has a good bar and restaurent scene, and on a nice spring day it is a pleasant town to walk around. It has a large cathedral also known as Notre Dame. (Don't worry Flashy I lit a candle here for you given the usual place I light a candle for you has burnt down). The Somme river flows through the town and there is a restaurant precinct on the banks of the river. The French here are a bit more down to earth than Paris, but the amount of English spoken is significantly less.
Bit of a sleep in this morning but out of the hotel by 10.00, with a new museum, a cave and a chateau to visit.
In order of appearance I visited the museum at Vignacourt, the caves and museum ant Naours and the chateau at Bertangles.
Just briefly and with no pics due to dodgy wi-fi the museum at Vignacourt is based around the 4,000 glass plate photos recently discovered and recovered from an attic in a building in the town. During TGW Vignacourt was a distance behind the front lines and was a rest and support area for initially French troops and then a rest area for massive numbers of British troops, including Australians. Louis and Antoinette Thuiller had a camera and for 2 francs they would take a photo (usually in their studio) and provide a print to the soldier or soldiers photographed. These plates remained undiscovered for a 100 years after the war and were discovered by Australian channel 7 in 2010 and the whole lot purchased by Kerry Stokes and donated to the AWM. They are marvelous photos and are the subject of two books, The Lost Diggers of Vignacourt and The Lost Tommies of Vignacourt.
The little museum is located in the barn where most of the photos were taken and is only tiny and very well done, a young local girl took me around the museum and explained the story of Thuillers. A number of the photos of the Australian soldiers also included local children or animals, possibly indicating how much the Australians missed the everyday life at home. Well worth a visit.
After the Vignacourt museum I drove to the town of Naours. Naours is an ancient town and over the centuries the local dug out caves in the chalk under the town. When then town was attacked the villagers would pack up their valuables and retreat into the caves, wait until the attackers moved on and then come out of the caves and get on with their lives. Well, during TGW these caves became a bit of a tourist attraction for the troops, including the Australians, encamped around the town. Not only did the Australians visit the caves they left their mark in the form of graffiti written on the chalk walls. Most of them wrote their name, unit details and where they came from in Australia, amazing a 100 years later to read these inscriptions on the walls and to reflect on who of these men survived and who didn't.
And last but not least, the chateau at Bertangles. This chateau was Sir John Monash's headquarters when he was planning the battle of Le Hamel and the big battle of Amiens. This is also the scene of his investiture of his knighthood by King George V, the last battlefield knighthood by a reigning British monarch.
At dinner tonight I was sitting in a restaurant on the banks of the Somme and then all of a sudden there was a group of about 15 young Australians sitting down, ordering beers etc and I wondered, what Kon Tiki tour are these people from. It is funny how the Australian accent sounds broader when you are abroad. Anyway, they sorted themselves out and arranged seats and sat down. I noticed then that they all had short haircuts, although a couple had beards, there were slightly more men than women and a couple of people who appeared to be in charge. Eventually my curiosity got the better of me and I asked one of them what group they belonged to, turns out they are members of Australia's ADF Federation Guard and they are in Amiens in preparation for the Anzac Day Dawn Service. (The Federation Guard is Australia's ceremonial military group and comprises member from the three services, hence the guy with a beard, he was from the navy). So not yobbos on a Kon Tiki tour.
In order of appearance I visited the museum at Vignacourt, the caves and museum ant Naours and the chateau at Bertangles.
Just briefly and with no pics due to dodgy wi-fi the museum at Vignacourt is based around the 4,000 glass plate photos recently discovered and recovered from an attic in a building in the town. During TGW Vignacourt was a distance behind the front lines and was a rest and support area for initially French troops and then a rest area for massive numbers of British troops, including Australians. Louis and Antoinette Thuiller had a camera and for 2 francs they would take a photo (usually in their studio) and provide a print to the soldier or soldiers photographed. These plates remained undiscovered for a 100 years after the war and were discovered by Australian channel 7 in 2010 and the whole lot purchased by Kerry Stokes and donated to the AWM. They are marvelous photos and are the subject of two books, The Lost Diggers of Vignacourt and The Lost Tommies of Vignacourt.
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| Managed to download a couple of pics |
After the Vignacourt museum I drove to the town of Naours. Naours is an ancient town and over the centuries the local dug out caves in the chalk under the town. When then town was attacked the villagers would pack up their valuables and retreat into the caves, wait until the attackers moved on and then come out of the caves and get on with their lives. Well, during TGW these caves became a bit of a tourist attraction for the troops, including the Australians, encamped around the town. Not only did the Australians visit the caves they left their mark in the form of graffiti written on the chalk walls. Most of them wrote their name, unit details and where they came from in Australia, amazing a 100 years later to read these inscriptions on the walls and to reflect on who of these men survived and who didn't.
And last but not least, the chateau at Bertangles. This chateau was Sir John Monash's headquarters when he was planning the battle of Le Hamel and the big battle of Amiens. This is also the scene of his investiture of his knighthood by King George V, the last battlefield knighthood by a reigning British monarch.
At dinner tonight I was sitting in a restaurant on the banks of the Somme and then all of a sudden there was a group of about 15 young Australians sitting down, ordering beers etc and I wondered, what Kon Tiki tour are these people from. It is funny how the Australian accent sounds broader when you are abroad. Anyway, they sorted themselves out and arranged seats and sat down. I noticed then that they all had short haircuts, although a couple had beards, there were slightly more men than women and a couple of people who appeared to be in charge. Eventually my curiosity got the better of me and I asked one of them what group they belonged to, turns out they are members of Australia's ADF Federation Guard and they are in Amiens in preparation for the Anzac Day Dawn Service. (The Federation Guard is Australia's ceremonial military group and comprises member from the three services, hence the guy with a beard, he was from the navy). So not yobbos on a Kon Tiki tour.
Fun Fact: Jules Verne lived a lot of his life in Amiens and wrote most of his books here.
Step Count: 7,159
Observation: Good Friday in France, a strongly Catholic country is not a public holiday.
For the record - they aren't yobbos - they are 'yolo'-ers, and it's Contiki not Kon Tiki.....
ReplyDeleteJo, as you have done 20 or so Contiki tours I will bow to your greater knowledge. Although I to have been on a Contiki tour it was a very very long time ago.
ReplyDelete