Reflections on a weekend in France and Belgium

Monday morning started off as a fine and sunny day in London, however as the day advanced so too the cool weather including some rain this afternoon. I thought I'd post a few of the photos from my weekend in France and Belgium

I could write so much about this weekend having learnt so much about the battles that took place in this part of Europe during the Great War.

The magnitude of the war and its massive war dead only hits home when you visit the Memorials at places like Tyne Cot, Thiepval and the Newfoundland Memorial Park around the Somme.

Without turning this into a history lesson some numbers will put this war into perspective. Nearly 9 million soldiers died in the First World War and amazingly more than 400 000 Australian men enlisted to fight in it which represented more than a third of the adult male population aged between 18-44 years.

Of those 400 000 there were more than 200 000 casualties, 60 000 of those were killed. A tragic loss to a nation so young.

The weekend wasn't just about battlefields and memorials; we did travel through the country side and enjoy a night in the northern city of Lille.

Lille's reputation as a City of Heritage and Art is well justified. Its beautiful architecture narrow interesting streets and busy squares makes it an interesting town for the visitor.

Once navigating our way to our hotel (the very comfortable yet extremely affordable Novotel Grand Place my brother Paul and I ventured out in search of an aperitif followed by dinner. We stumbled across a lovely bar in Rue de la Monnaie, with low ceiling, friendly staff and a cozy atmosphere; it was a perfect spot for a pre-dinner meal.

After the drink it was on to dinner and although we spent a fair amount of time searching for a place with a suitable menu we did eventually choose a busy and warm looking restaurant further along the Rue de la Monnae.

After sitting down we realised that this busy establishment was being managed entirely by one man, possibly the owner who busily moved from table to table like a bee hovering between flowers. We waited to be served...and waited....and waited. Eventually this cross between Basil Fawlty and René from Allo Allo found his way to us, threw the menus down on the solid wooden tables and moved on to the next customers.

This one man operation was always going to test our patience and our hunger however we did finally get served, ate our dinner and after another lengthy delay paid our bill. Paul enjoyed a bowl of mussels and I had some lovely salmon with béarnaise sauce.

The quality of the food may not have been the highest however it was tasty, reasonably fresh and filled our tummies after a long day of travelling.

We manage to take a few photos in the evening including a couple of the Grand Place, the focal point of the old town of Lille. I've published a few and I have many more. Lille is well worth a visit and is the best place to stay if you intend doing the battlefields tour weekend.

We commenced our journey back to England on Sunday morning after a delightful coffee and croissant in Lille. Sunday was Election Day in France where Centre-right candidate Nicolas Sarkozy and the Socialist Segolene Royal (very popular with the fashion magazines) defeated 10 others in Sunday's ballot, with a record voter turnout of nearly 85%.

Amazingly as we snaked our way through the French countryside we failed to see a single polling booth and I'll be forever baffled to understand why.

We arrived back in London much later than expected due to a hatrick of circumstances. Firstly we were pulled over and booked for speeding by the very polite French police, we were then delayed on the shuttle service back to England when the car at the front of the train failed to start once we reached English soil and then there was traffic chaos as we moved ever so slowly up the M20. Despite these late hiccups the weekend was most enjoyable and I will come away with great memories.

Tomorrow I catch a morning flight to Barcelona and the next part of this European Adventure. Its now time to put my Spanish language skills to the test!

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