We're now in Caen, after a very Canadian day in and around Arras. Just after 9.00 this morning, we made our first stop at Vimy Ridge National Historic Site, where we visited the new Visitor Education Centre (opened just after the 100th Commemoration on April 9, 2017), and joined a Parks Canada guide for a tunnels and trenches tour. After that we made our way up to the monument itself, to see the 11,285 recorded names of Canadians who lost their lives in France and have no known grave, and Canada Bereft, one of several sculptures representing Canada's loss and mourning for its soldiers.
At 12.00, we took a short drive through the back of the park towards the village of Farbus, and after a quick grocery lunch stop, made our way to the village of Vis-en-Artois to a Commonwealth cemetery where a couple members of the group were able to pay their personal respects to family members buried on site.
At 13.30, we drove towards Beaumont-Hamel Newfoundland Memorial to see the Danger Tree and one of five bronze caribou monuments built to in France and Belgium to commemorate the province's sacrifice.
Finally, after heading in the direction of Pozières, Thiepval and Courcelette during a running commentary on the actions of the Canadian Corps during the Battle of the Somme, we started the 3.5 hour drive to Caen, home of William the Conqueror, where we had dinner (chicken and fries, brownie) a short 15-minute walk from our hotel.
We'll speak tomorrow from the beaches of Normandy.
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