Great War Battle Fields and Memorials - Northern France

After we arrived in Beauvais which is an hours north of Paris after leaving Glasgow, we picked up our hire car and headed off north to the old battlefields of the Great War to pay our respects to the Australian and Commonwealth soldiers who gave their lives there over ninty years ago.

The feeling was of great respect and admiration to these mostly young men who gave their lives for the motherland which was in those days so far away from the isolated island of Australia. The maginificant monuments standing tall on the fields where some of the most devastating battles of human history were fought remind us of the strength of Australian spirit and mateship. The war graves stretched on into the distance with cemeteries littering the countryside. We visited one of the most intensely fought over towns in the war which changed hands many times in just a few days, the Australians ended up taking back the town but lost many men. The campaign on the Somme took many more Australian lives then in Galipolli which shows the devastating size of the loss to such a small country at the time. Lest we forget.

France and Belgium Roadtrip

Last Friday after work Adam, Brendan, Paul and myself headed off on a roadtrip to Lille in France for the weekend. Brendan has a mate called Teddy living there so we had our own guide and interpreter which was great. We eventually made it into Lille after getting the eurotunnel across.

We headed out that night to check out the local club scene.The first thing we saw was some french dude getting bitch slapped by a bouncer right in front of a police car, they didn't seem to care. We then headed inside the venue and drank out of these weird 2 litre beer taps that you can take wherever you want in the bar. They also seemed to love english 80's music even though they could only sing the main lines. We had a great night, Adam was shockingly hungover in the morning and couldn't make it with the rest of us to a little Belgium town just over the border. After sampling a fair few Belgium beers we headed back picked up Adam and went out again.

The next day I came down with a shocking case of food poisoning and was sick all day, couldn't even get out of the car to visit the monuments on the Western Front at Ypres. After getting some anti-nausia tablets I started to feel a fraction better but not before I threw up about 100 times, in the hotel, on the freeway and the streets of France and Belgium. I wasn't back to normal till Wed the next week. Beware of dodgy French cuisine!

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More photos from Nice

The beach here is horrible by Australian standards, there is no sand and just large rocks but that doesnt seem to bother anyone. Its our last day here and we are about to head to the pub to watch the Aus Vs Ita game. Should be a good night and hopefully we can pull off a win! We are off to Milan tomorrow. Brett and Mel

Nice

Climbed a 90 metre lookout yesterday which had great views of the beach and on the otherside to the large cruise ships and ferries. You could also see Monaco in the distance. There was a communist party festival up there as well, we went in and had a beer but were not Commies yet. After sightseeing and a swim, we went back to the pub and watched the England game, they are lucky they have Beckham thats for sure.

Nice, France

We made it to Nice after a 10 Hour train trip from Barcelona, we were lucky to make it. I had to attempt to bribe a hotel worker who couldnt speak English to release Mels passport that they we holding while we stayed there. After about 10 minutes I convinced him to accept cash for our payment and we got it back. We had to run for 2km to the train station and just made it.

We arrived in Nice last night and found our hotel pretty easy. We went out for a walk this morning and there is a huge Triathalon on here with tv coverage etc. The weather isnt too good atm and its really windy but looks like its clearing up. I cant put any photos up because this PC hasnt got any USB connections.

The Aus Vs Cro was a heart stopper, Mel and me watched in a bar in Barcelona with about 5 so called Australians but they all had either South African or US accents. I was glad we came away with a draw and cant wait till the big game tomorrow. We have already found a good pub, its an English one and they have cheap beers and English commentry. I am here at the moment and will be watching England play in a few hours. If you are wondering why I havent responded to your sms, I am currently out of credit and having problems putting more on even though I have purchased it. Hopefully that will be fixed soon. Brett and Mel