Day #13: Monday, April 25 - ANZAC Day
France: Sunny, approx. 25 degrees....
This is it!! The day we have been working towards! I can't believe it is here!! I also can't believe that I was up at 3am!! Seriously though, who cares what time we get up. I will be at the Dawn Service at Villers-Bretteneux...it doesn't get much better than that.
Doubled with the early start was making sure that everything was packed and ready to go. This was our last night in the dodgy Novotel by the side of a road in....where are we??? So it was all systems go in the morning!
On the bus, bleary eyed but totally stoked. We were in total darkness and then suddenly we were in a traffic jam. So many people, buses and cars trying to all get to the same destination. And whilst I had a small panic attack that we wouldn't get there on time, all was good....off the bus, walking into blinking lights that edged along the 'path' to our seats.
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| The Memorial all lit up.... |
We found our seats easily enough and were about 4 or 5 rows from the front. In front of us was the lectern for the MC and the Wesley College Band. They were in their school uniforms and looked f-f-f-freezing. I had at least 4 layers on and it was pretty fresh! It was just a beautiful, crisp, clear morning. In the background we were being serenaded by birds and they just became more and more musical as the sky lightened.
The MC, Brigadier Chris Appleton, CSC, Retd, was BRILLIANT! He conducted the ceremony really well and his comments were beautiful! The order of the service was as follows:
Introduction by the MC
Catafalque Party is mounted
Welcome and Call to Remembrance (Australian Ambassador to France, His Excellency Mr David Ritchie)
'Spirit of Place'
Prayer of Remembrance and Prayer for Peace
Hymn: O God, Or Help in Ages Past
Bible Reading: Isiah 40:21-31
Commemorative Address from The Hon Kevin Rudd MP, Minister for Foreign Affairs (I'm sure his seat was adequately warmed for him....*smirk*....)
Hymn: How Great Thou Art!
Commemorative Address from a French Government Representative (I can't remember who)
Poem Reading: There Lie Forgotten Men
Official Wreath Laying
Ode of Remembrance (try not to cry Kristy!)
Acte du Souvenie (the Ode in French)
Last Post
One Minute Silence (those beautiful birds in the background, thinking of all the places we've been to, those cliffs at Gallipoli, the flat land and barbed wire of the Western Front, thinking of Dad....)
National Anthems (French first and doesn't 'La Marseillaise' stir your blood and make you feel like rushing out to battle....I must admit I had visions of that scene in 'Casablanca' where everyone in Rick's Cafe starts singing....then 'Advance Australia Fair'....bloody hell I'm proud to be Australian!)
Catafalque Party Dismounts
Members of the public invited to lay floral tributes
Benediction
Official Party Departs
Then it was all over! I must admit I wasn't as sooky as I thought I would be. But I will never forget the sounds of that bugle calling out from the top of the Memorial. Those birds. The beautiful sunrise. All those gorgeous floral tributes. Hopefully I never forget any of it!!
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| That's how close to the front we were....I'm standing just in front and to the left of where our seats were for the ceremony..... |
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| Here comes the sun.... |
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| Pretty amazing sight.... |
I hope that I can retain all of these memories. It was just an unbelievable experience!!
After taking photos….most unlike me….we then headed off the French version of the Gunfire Breakfast: coffee or tea and cake or biscuits. Jean and I stopped for a chat with one of the men from the War Museum in Perrone. Then it was time to round everyone up and try and find our bus in the nutso parking lot that the road in front of the Memorial had become.
Our breakfast was at Le Hamel and was hosted by the Mayor. A rotund, excitable man who seems to do and say everything with great passion. Hardly a clue as to what he is saying, but whatever he said he obviously was quite vehement about it. An absolute dag!!
Breakfast was put on by the town and a feed of croissant, bread, ham, cheese, hot chocolate and strawberry juice (YUM!!) was much appreciated. Then a procession of townspeople, other guests from the battlefield tours, the SOAPS and the Mayor headed to the town memorial to those Frenchmen lost in the war. A further procession led up to the memorial for the Australians who fought in the area. It was here that the SOAP Tour would lay a wreath and then present some small gifts to the Mayor. Paul did a great job in presenting the gifts from Australia and a good time seemed to be had by all.
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| The Mayor....with sash....at the Town Memorial.... |
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| Australian-French relations at their finest!! |
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When the Australians came to France
the French people expected a great deal of you...
We knew that you would fight a real fight,
but we did not know that from the very beginning
you would astonish the whole continent.
I shall go back tomorrow and say to my countrymen
I have seen the Australians, I have looked in their faces.
I know that these men will fight alongside of us
again until the cause for which we are all
fighting is safe for us and our children.
French Prime Minister George Clemenceau
2 June 1918 |
We were lucky enough to have Will Davies (author of Beneath Hill 60) to conduct a short talk about the area and the battles that took place near here. I must admit to being over-tired and a bit over all the talking and took myself off to have a look at the different information panels along our route to the memorial. The land around here is still incredibly flat, but where we were was up on a hill. It’s all about ground, hey David??!! On this sunny ANZAC Day morning, the land looked peaceful and kind of sleepy. I wanted to take that image with me and try not to imagine the horror that would have been here during the war.
A quick change, on the bus or in the loos, and it was off to gay Paris for our final destination. Can’t tell you much about the trip as I woke up about 5 minutes before we needed to get off the bus. That was fun….
We’re staying in the Opera District and I have no idea where that is. Only that we are going to have time to head out this afternoon. A quick bank stop for some ‘Bob Money’ and a baguette and we were off!!
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| Tom |
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| Liz |
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| Moi |
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| Rachel |
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| Bridget |
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| Martin |
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| Laura |
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| Evan....nice work....using both hands!! |
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| GiGi |
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| Hadley |
We (the kids, Paul, Bruce and I) caught the Metro to the Arc de Triomphe, getting off at Charles de Gaulle-Etoile Station with Richard leading the way. After dropping us off in the queue and helping us by tickets, Richard asked me to get everyone back to the hotel safely. HA!!! Good one….but apparently I’m better oriented in Paris than here in Oz. I did get everyone home safely. Yay me!
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| Woo hoo!!! |
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| Yeaaaaaaaaaah!!! |
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| Oh what a feeling.....Paris style.... |
The climb up the spiral staircase was nuts!! 234 steps or something ridiculous like that. And they just didn’t seem to stop. I started to get a bit dizzy at one stage. However, by the time we got to the top, all of that was forgotten. WOW!! What fantastic views!! All of the roads just converge to this one spot. Mental as anything traffic down below. I was able to spot a few of the obvious landmarks including Sacre Coeur and the Eiffel Tower. Woo hoo!!
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| Are we there yet??? |
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| Yikes! Don't look down!! |
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| Made it! |
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| Sacre Couer in the distance.... |
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| Our hotel is in the direction of Liz (hands in the air).... |
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| Tee hee....I'm in Paris!!!! |
We all had a great time trying to take a photo of us picking up the Eiffel Tower. You can take the Australian out of the country……It was a magic introduction to Paris!! I was surprised by the smog that seemed to hang over the city. But I guess in a city of 2 million plus, that is to be expected.
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| Got it!!! |
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| What a wicked expression!! |
On climbing down, we visited the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier. According to Bruce, he was selected at random by a blind soldier. It seemed fitting after our morning that we take the time to pay tribute here. Lest we forget.
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| ICI REPOSE UN SOLDAT FRANÇAIS MORT POUR LA PATRIE 1914–1918 ("Here lies a French soldier who died for the fatherland 1914–1918")....Thanks Wikipedia!! |
Due to my excellent navigation skills, we survived the Metro and made it back to the hotel and got ready for dinner. On the way to the Arc this afternoon, we had passed a restaurant that I thought looked fab-o. And that is where we had dinner. Fantastic artwork on the walls and a lovely dinner.
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| We did some window shopping on the way back to the hotel....Printemps is a department store....Paris has lots of shoe stores....I think I'm in LURVE!!! |
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| A great bunch to travel with: Paul, Jean, Moi, David and in the front: Bruce and Helen.... |
Then it was off on the Metro again. We were quickly becoming professionals at reading the maps and navigating to our destinations. Liz had done a 6 hour whirlwind tour of Paris previously and she was a great help in finding the right train lines and stops. The trains on the Metro run very regularly, it was like being in Yokohama again!! But bloody hell do those doors close quickly and with a bang!!
Trocadero was our stop for views of the Eiffel Tower. Almost as soon as we reached ground level from the Metro, we were being pestered by African (??) dodgy souvenir sellers. Now I can’t pass up a dodgy souvenir and by the end of our time there, I had accumulated some Eiffel Tower key rings and two very lovely (trashy??) statuettes of the Tower that flash different colours. Many thanks to Jean for her superior bargaining skills!! Of course, many a photo was taken here. It just looked sensation. Holy monuments Batman, I’m in Paris!!!!!!!!
We didn't stick around for the light show, although we did see the Tower lit up in orange. Considering the length of the day, we were already to crash!
And what an unbelievable day! Up at 3am, to the most unbelievable and memorable Dawn Service of my life, breakfast with a Mayor, climbing the Arc de Triomphe, walking the street of Paris (my what lovely shoes they have!) and seeing the Eiffel Tower. Pinch me!! Surely I am dreaming. And what a bloody good dream it is at that!!!
WOW!! What a day!
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