In their footsteps

Our stay in Singapore was a really just a stopover, interesting and enjoyable but a stopover nonetheless, so when we landed at Paris we understood that the main purpose of the trip was now beginning. The plan was to head to the small, quaint town of Bruges about 300 kms away in the North of Belgium and stop at the village of Fromelles along the way to see the monuments and cemeteries associated with the famous July 1916 "Battle of Fromelles" in which there were over 5000 casualties.

It is quite impressive how the monuments and cemeteries are maintained and revered by the French. There is the new Pheasant Wood cemetery for the 200+ diggers that were found in recent times buried by the Germans after the battle in an unmarked mass grave. It is attached to a new interactive museum which documents not just the military history, but the personal experiences of the soldiers and civilians who experienced what must have felt like Armageddon.

We took a quiet, reflective drive through the flat rural fields to VC corner and the "Cobber" statue and couldn't help but wonder how any of the men survived such an experience unscathed, which of course none of them really did. Being ordered to charge across flat, boggy ground with wire, shells, nerve gas and machine guns chattering at you, with absolutely no cover gives one pause to stop and consider the contrast with the peaceful rural landscape now...which we did.

VC Corner cemetery - Fromelles

" Don't forget me cobber"

By about 3pm we were getting pretty tired as we hadn't really slept since Singapore so headed off towards Bruge. A little easier said than done as I'd forgotten what it was like driving on the right, in a manual, with strange street signs through tiny villages with windy, cobbled lanes and a Sat Nav which is an imbecile!

Needless to say we had a comprehensive look at much of the countryside in the North of Belgium on our "Tour" .....and there may have been a few "tense" moments along the way!

Bruges is really a very beautiful town. Old, quaint ( too much quaint really) and vibrant. Cafes, and shopping and restaurants and shopping and canals and shopping and architecture and shopping and history and ....well you get the picture. We had a wonderful time there and would recommend it as a "must see" to anyone visiting this part of the world......oh, and Belgian beer is really good!

Restaurant window, with reflections

Beside the canal

After dinner

We planned to see the Northern Battlefields on our way South from Bruges so took the opportunity to stop off at a  fantastic museum at Passendale and so the Australian Cemetery at Polygon Wood. The way the French and Belgians have embraced the preservation of these war sites and the museums dedicated to ensuring understanding of the history of the war is really impressive. The museum was huge with lots of interactive exhibits including trenches and dugouts and smells of mustard gas and we came across an example of a "flying pig" which killed Walter Allen, listed as missing on the wall at Villers- Bretoneux.

The "flying Pig". Nothing left of Walter Allen - understandably.

The Polygon Wood cemetery was a "front line" cemetery so the graves were all scattered rather than in lines because they were burying soldiers under fire and, in our wanderings, we found a relative of Wendy's in the British Butte cemetery nearby overlooked by the impressive 5th Division monument.

He was of German background - so he Anglicised his name.

Our drive to Bullecourt took an "unintended" scenic route which meant we were running late to our accommodation in Amiens. The museum there has a long history beginning with a local farmer digging up relics for many years and displaying them at his farm and, in fact, they still uncover 40 tonnes of metal and ordnance in the fields every year...even one hundred years later. Over time the Australian Government became involved and, to their credit funded what is a wonderful museum.

All this an much more out of a local farm and they are still finding bodies....one we saw was from 1998.

We arrived late into Amiens but found our digs (on the 5th floor with no lift!) and enjoyed a meal and a beer in one of the street cafes that specialises in "people watching". The Somme tour coming up.

Sizzling Singapore

As Adrian Cronauer said in Good Morning Vietnam, it's hot....hot ....damned HOT!
I'm not sure what I was expecting but things sure have changed since I was last here in 1974 as a wandering backpacker. At the time my hair ( which was more luxuriant then) was not past my collar but my Pommie travelling companion, John Fraser Dunfield's was... so he wore a short wig so they would let him in. No hippies in Singapore in those days!
That part hasn't changed. It is still clearly very highly structured, organised, tidy and clean....some might say sterile, with rules, rules and more rules which makes it a nice place to visit but I'm not how it would be to live here.

After an uneventful flight, apart from the gridlock getting to the Int. terminal (hint- don't fly on weekends), we arrived and settled into our quite comfy digs in the centre of town. The first day was a dedicated sightseeing day starting with a tour of the city on the "hop on - hop off" bus with a very informative commentary on the history and features of this modern city. It certainly is a beautiful garden city smothered in flowers and Bouganvillias everywhere.... essentially tropical greenery and trees make it very attractive to the eye and we wondered if Penrith Council might take a few pointers in this regard.
The architecture is really impressive with tall, shapely, buildings and creative structures mixed sympathetically with the historic buildings and bridges creating a timeline of history and settlement.
We visited the Gardens by the Bay, entering through the huge Marina Bay Casino and Resort which just dominates the skyline from all points of the compass. The architecture and engineering just blow the mind but not to be out done, the gardens were really something quite special. Giant Boab inspired structures create an eerie, strange vista as we headed to the domes holding the Cloud Gardens and Flower Gardens exhibits. Doesn't sound too exciting but it really was something quite special....a must see on any agenda in this part of the world. From huge waterfalls and mountain mists to deserts and lakes of carnivorous plants, this man made attraction is something to behold.

We spent the afternoon experiencing the local MRT system to get to the cable cars that go to Sentosa Island and the Mount Faber Peak lookout. The views were really good but Wendy got a bit "clutchy" when the gondolas started to sway and from the peak the haze was very noticeable....we think maybe because of the burning off season in Indonesia.

This is is a "still" old one at the peak.

Our hotel is well located in the heart of town not far from an eating strip called Boat Quay. Lots of restaurants and bars with touts vying for customers. We had a very nice Chinese meal, and even got a free Singapore Sling for choosing their establishment.

Our restaurant was the one on the far right with the red Chinese lanterns.

While here in Singapore, and as part of our Battlefields theme, we took the opportunity to visit the Changi Museum and Chapel located next to the existing prison near the airport. We travelled by train and bus as the system is really efficient and signs are in English and probably saw more of the "everyday" Singapore than many tourists.

The museum was small but really well organised and presented a sobering account of the experiences of the soldiers and civilians who suffered under the Japanese occupation. Not many visit such an out of the way place but by the entries in the visitors book, those that do experience a moving account of that time.

Wendy's grandfather's brother, Ernie Pieper, was in the 2/29th Battalion and a POW in Changi. From accounts we have heard from family he was well renowned for providing extra protein in their meagre diet by using snares to catch rats in the camp, a skill he learned as a boy on the farm.

We have enjoyed our stay in Singapore, and certainly the opportunity to break the long journey, but now we are packing up to head to the airport for the next part of our Battlefields Tour in France and Belgium.

Our 2016 WW1 Battlefields Tour

Only a few weeks now until we head off on our tour of the WW1 Battefields. 2016 is the 100th anniversary of the famous battles of Fromelles and Poziers in Belgium and the Somme Valley and Wendy and I have relatives that served and died there. We have planning this for a number of years now and our plan is to fly via Singapore (for a couple of days and see Changi) to Paris, drive up to Bruge via Ypres and Fromelles to explore the memorials, museums and cemeteries. We will also be staying in Amiens and doing a guided tour of the major sites around Poziers including Villers-Bretonneux.

We will be meeting up wth Michael and Wendy (Brother & sister in -law) for the European leg which will include visits to Rothenburg, Prague, Salzburg and Vienna after which we will fly to Turkey to visit the other major WW1 battlefield,Gallipoli. We are also planning a stay in Cappadocia and then a tour of Moscow and St Peterburg in Russia.

The planning is done, the suitcases are out and anticipation is building. I guess the garden will look quite different when we get back in October.

Here's hoping for a wonderful trip.

Paris

Sunday in Paris is quiet.....so they say. But it is all relative in world cities like New York, London, Hong Kong and Paris....they seem to be on the go all the time.

The EuroStar was a bit "down at heel" but it was fast and got us here from London in a couple of hours and in time to settle in to our apartment before dinner.

The building itself seems to be really quite old with exposed rock walls and exposed rustic beam ceilings, but it is nice and comfortable and has room for us to spread out ...... and it is located in a really nice neighbourhood very close to the metro and the sights. We have a patisserie across the way, restaurants and cafes all around and can see the Eiffel Tower from the end of the street.

We visited the Louvre......together with the "world and his wife" and saw the Mona Lisa......not as striking as you would think, and the Venus de Milo and countless other works of art from all around the world..... and from antiquity.
From its beginnings as a fort, to a palace and then to a museum in the 18thC, the Louvre certainly is a huge museum, the largest in the world......and with a huge patronage, but still very impressive. It would be great to spend a week in there....without the crowds.

The picture below is of the line up to get in.....just at the front entrance.

We visited the Musee D'Orsay which is not far from our apartment and is famous for its collection of works of the impressionists and post impressionists. Some of the paintings ( Lautrec, Renoir, Cezanne, Monet and Van Gough) we had seen at the exhibitions in Canberra over the last few years but many, like Rodin's sculptures, we have never seen. They are quite impressive in 3D and in real life.
The building itself is quite "arty" and the picture below is a view out one of the feature windows.

We also visited Notre Dame cathedral, a few Metro stops from the Louvre......

(It was raining and the gargoyles were being a bit ........"Linda Blair"!)

..........and the girls went shopping in the St Michel district and crossed the Pont de L'Archeveche where lovers attach a padlock to the bridge and throw the key in the River Seine as a symbol of their unbreakable love.

Both sides of the rail and both sides of the bridge looked like this.........no wonder they call Paris the "city of love!"

We strolled along the Champs Elysees, window shopping. All the big brand names are there....YSL, Hugo Boss, Hermes,Tommy Hilfiger,....MacDonalds!

The view from the top of the Arc de Triomphe was pretty impressive, but the climb up the narrow, spiral staircase was a bit claustrophobic.

From the top you get a panoramic view of the city with the streets radiating out from the centre like spokes in a wheel. Apparently Napoleon wanted to be able to fire cannons down the avenues to give any pesky crowds a "whiff of grapeshot".
Sacre Coeur is the pointy basillica on the horizon.

We saw the Tour Eiffel from a number of different angles including this from the Pont de Bir-Hakiem (named after a famous WW2 battle involving the French and asssociatated with Rommel and our Tobruk) before heading home to escape the storms, one of which struck while we were in a cafe having lunch....flying awnings, umbrellas and crashing glass all over the place.

On Tuesday evening we went to a show at the famous Moulin Rouge......yes, the one with the topless dancers, and what a spectacular show it was. It was a real caberet with different acts (Erin's favourite was the talking dog) including gymnasts, a ventriloquist, jugglers, ponies, pythons in a huge glass tank ( swimming with a topless dancer) and of course the Can Can. It was a feast for all the senses....especially the eyes!

On advice from Nick, and our host Sebastian, who was very insistent, we saw the icons but to get a sense of Paris, Montmartre is the place to see. So we visited the district famous for its bohemian artists of days gone by and its famous basillica, Sacre Coeur. We wandered around the streets of Montmartre with all its cafes and cobbled streets, its art shops and trinket shops until we found we had our fill and couldn't absorb any more.

We have enjoyed our fleeting stay in Paris, and experienced enough of a taste to want to come back again at some time.
But for now, after almost six weeks, seven countries, umpteen dozen beds, too many packups /unpacks to mention, and goodness knows how many kilometres, it's time to start heading home.

We fly out tomorrow via Hong Kong, to break the very long flight and we are all looking forward to being home soon....as Dorothy said.....etc.

....and on to London

After spending a couple of days in Boxworth, a tiny village just out of Cambridge, we arrived in London to do some sighseeing.

Cambridge was to follow up my grandmother's side, the Harts/
Fowlers who were farm labourers from the Fen country. After a quick trip into Cambridge proper to see the uni and the punts on the river, we drove out to Chatteris and visited the musem and library. They had some really interesting old maps, photos and documents that gave us an insight into the area and the place that she was born.

The Fen country is very rich agriculturally, and was quite low and swampy. The road winds its way through the fields on a narrow raised embankment about two or three metres high so it is a bit of a ride with no barriers and a steep drop off into fields and canals! In prehistoric times people had to live in settlements on gravel islands which became the villages and Chatteris became quite a large and prosperous one with lots of farms and therfore labourers......but not any more.

This is a house we came across in Chatteris when we got lost ....again .......in the back streets of the town.









The countryside was flat and rural and, because we were off the "beaten track, we found some interesting old houses that seem to have been left in a time warp......except for the T.V. aerials!

In fact, the pub we stayed at is an old thatched building hundreds of years old. The village itself would have about 200 people max and these houses are just normal village houses that people live in across and down the street.

Cambridge to London is not far and doesn't take long......except when you get into London proper. What a nightmare....but we finally found our apartment (shoebox) and Erin who has been here a couple of weeks and is quite adept at getting around on the "tube".

On our first day sightseeing we ended up at Buckingham Palace just as the "Changing of the Guards" ceremony was happening. What pomp and circumstance.....and what a crowd! Streets closed off, police and barricades everywhere, it certainly was a spectacle.

London is a big city with so many attractions that tourists are everywhere and there is a thriving souvenir shop business with shops lining the streets in many places like Leicester Square.

We did many of the icons, Big Ben, Nelson's Column, the Tower Bridge and the Palace etc but also went to more out of the way places like the Florence Nightingale Museum (unfortunately closed to a sewarage issue....nice!), the Globe Theatre, Beatles Shop and Baker St.


On the way we got a really good look around London and an appreciation of the history and culture of the place. It's little wonder London is such a popular destinstion.

We spent a couple of hours in the Natural History Museum .....together with a thousand school excursion groups from France and Germany.....but really could only manage a superficial look at the exhibits.......

...........and we criss crossed the Thames any number of times on Westminster Bridge, Waterloo Bridge, Southwark Bridge, London Bridge (didn't fall down) and the Millenium Bridge. We certainly wore out some shoe leather!

The weather has been kind ( relatively....but somewhat greyish) and we have been able to see a great deal in the time of our stay here but after a show at the West End (Miss Saigon) on Saturday with Erin and her friend Katherine, we will be catching the train to Paris for the last leg of our journey.....no genealogy there.

Yorkshire & the North

Our hosts in Keswick commented that Australians travel distances easily. Keswick to Whitby ( about 2.45 hours) in one go....amazing!.... but we seemed to manage just fine. Whitby was on the list of places to visit because of history, Cook, Banks and co. Whitby is the place that produced the ships and seafarers that made our European history of Australia what it is.

On the way from Keswick we crossed the Yorkshire Moors (scenes of Wuthering Heights) which were quite sparse and desolate. You could imagine it would be bleak in winter.....misty and snowy....but it was quite attractive, in an empty kind of way, and certainly a very different landscape to the ones we are used to.

We were impressed with the rugged cliffs and little villages nestled in the river esturies as we made our way along the coast to Whitby.......courtesy of an earlier wrong turn....but very scenic!

View from our breakfast table at the Whitehouse Hotel in Whitby. The view and the food were good....the room...not so!











Whitby is a very old seafairing town with a great seafairing history and culture as we found out in the Captain James Cook Museum. Just wonderful. We saw his charts and where he did his apprenticeship and actually walked the streets that he would have walked in the 1760s.

As a very old port, they have preserved their heritage really well with the tiny, windy cobbled streets and the wobbly, out of square old bulidings providing a historic atmosphere that we certainly don't have at home, but can appreciate.

We also have found they love their dogs in England, and they take them everwhere.
Big dogs ( I mean wolfhound style) little dogs, pampered and preened dogs, dogs in jackets, dogs with booties and quite often dogs in the cafes or pubs.....and very well behaved. There are almost as many dogs as people getting around the town and Wendy is up to 21 in her Jack Russel count.

We also visited the Whitby Abbey which dates from the 13 century, and what an impressive ruin it is.

It sits high over the town and is flanked by the rugged cliffs of The Yorkshire coast. With the storm clouds as a backdrop, it was an impressive sight.

Kingston Upon Hull sounds much better than it is! We went there because of the Megson branch of Wendy's family tree ........but it was just a run down port city without much charm so we headed off to York..... and my, what a contrast.

View from the bridge we cross going in to town.

The Romans were here in about 40AD and I was here about 40 years ago.....and for me not much has changed.....except it's become a bit more swank.......and I couldn't find the "Tavern in the Town" where I used to enjoy a few beers all those years ago.

We organised our flat ( really nice and really close to the centre of the city) and then strolled into town to check it out. Spent a number of hours at the Minster and shopping but there is so much to see that we have agreed that on Saturday we will go our own ways ( me to the museums and Wendy to the shops) so we can get our fill of the things we want to do and see.

The crowds have been huge in York, many shoppers but also many tourists......bus loads at times mostly to see the Minster but also the other museums and attractions.

The Minster is the second largest in Britain but has the largest windows dating from the 16C. It was slumping in the 1960s and when the engineers investigated they found it was built on a Roman fort which you can go down into and see the structures And where people lived their lives two thousand years ago.

Very impressive and quite an experience.

The lanes are all cobblestoned....and in places Roman stoned, and many of the buildings would have great difficulty meeting building codes these days....especially in the "Shambles" which is a street of old butcher shops dating from 1400s and mentioned in William the Conqueror's Doomsday book.

In keeping with our genealogocal theme, we headed out to Leeds and Armly to see where Tommy Palframan came from.

The shipping manifest had his address as 17 Whingate Ave, Armly. We were warned that it has changed, and our observations and my conversation with the current owner confirmed it. It's a bit like Newtown in the 70s. The houses were built for the textile mill workers very early last century. They are a typical terrace type houses which we are sure would have seen some interesting history.
No. 17 is on the far right, (and our Golf on the left...with the engine still going) the only free standing house and with a big basement, which is why the current owner, a muso, bought it five years ago....sound proof for band practice!

Well, after a really nice stay in York, it is off to Cambridge and then London for the next leg of our journey.