Monday 29th March

The plan for today was to visit the WWI battlefields in the Somme Valley. We had breakfast in the B and B at 8am to be ready for another busy day.

The first destination was the village of Villers-Bretonneux where there were decisive battles involving Australian troops. The main battle was on the third anniversary of Anzac day, 25th April 1918.

We were looking for the Franco-Australian Museum. We didn't know the address and so we drove around the streets of the village until we found it. When I went up to the front door, it was closed but a woman standing outside side reassured me (in French) that it opened in 5 minutes at 9:30am.

The museum is on the second story of a school that we learned had been a gift of the Victorian Government. There are strong connections to Australia and particularly Melbourne and Victoria throughout the building. For example, after we had visited the museum, we went to the school assembly hall that has huge floor-to-ceiling Australian posters (such as Australian scenery), Australian animals carved into the woodwork, flags, etc.

The museum itself runs the full length of the building. It contains a fascinating variety of memorabilia such as plaques, weapons, uniforms, flags and photographs. You could spend hours there but we had a lot to cover today.

Somebody had told me that there was a sign somewhere in the village saying don't forget Australia. I had seen one small sign near the entrance to the museum saying "Noublions jamais L'Australie" (We will never forget Australia) but I thought there was something more. So on our way out from the museum, I asked one of the staff if there was such a sign. She said there is an it is in the school grounds. She showed me the sign through the window. It reads "DO NOT FORGET AUSTRALIA".

We walked downstairs, through the assembly hall and into the school playground. The sign is directly above the classrooms and the sits in full view of the entire playground. It's not just a token sign. It is about 8m long by about 1.5m high. The text is in capital letters. It was a moving experience.

The staff told us about several other small memorials in the village but the big one was the Australian National Memorial which is located a few kilometres north of the village. So we drove off in search of it.

You really couldn't miss this one - it is right next to the road and it is big. It is on a grassy hill overlooking the valley and contains many hundreds of headstones. The structures at the entrance and at the top of the hill are very tasteful and elegant.

As we walked past the gravestones, we looked at the names on the stones. Many were simply marked "Australian soldier of the Great War - Known unto God". In other words, the body had not been identified. Other gravestones were for non-Australians such as British, Canadian, South African and Indian soldiers.

Past the gravestones, there was a large area of lawn and then a memorial at the top of the hill that included a tall tower. On both sides of the tower there were walls with the names of thousands of soldiers.

The gate was open and so I climbed to the top of the staircase inside the tower. It turned out to be higher than I thought and so I was puffing when I got to the top. But it was worthwhile because it gave me a great view of the entire site and the beautiful French countryside into the distance.

The next destination was the Australian Corps Memorial Park near another tiny village called Le Hamel on a different road just north of Villers-Bretonneux. This memorial is only about 10 years old.

Along the path, it has a series of information displays telling the story of the battles in this area. One of the displays is about the Red Baron. He was shot down in this area - probably by the Australians. At the end of the path, there is a commemorative wall with the AMF coat of arms and tributes from the French Prime Minister in English and in French.

After leaving Le Hamel, we stopped at another memorial before heading on to the town of Albert. We managed to get lost looking for the museum but eventually located it next to the church in the centre of the town. This memorial is completely underground because it shows the tunnels that were constructed a long time ago by the French and re-used in WWI.

When we returned to our car, it wouldn't start. We had visions of being stuck in this town for hours waiting for EuroCars to rescue us. We remembered that John and Gaye had been stranded back home in a remote location when a similar fancy system had failed on them. Mild panic was setting in. The car's owners manual didn't help because it was in a different language - possibly Flemish or German.

When we were picking up the car in Belgium, the man behind the counter had told us that I need to put my foot on the clutch when I start the car. At the time I had pointed out to him that the car is automatic and so doesn't have a clutch. He then corrected himself to say that he meant the break pedal. I found today that it wasn't good enough to just tap the break pedal - I needed to hold it firmly down and then the car would start. What a relief!

It was lunchtime but we couldn't find anywhere open in town. While we were lost earlier looking for the museum, we had noticed a McDonalds just out of town and so we decided to go there. They offered some similar food to Australia but there were differences. It took us a while to communicate our selections to the staff.

The next destination was the Franco-British memorial at Thiepval. On the way we stopped at another Australian memorial we found. In fact, there were so many memorials in the whole Somme Valley that we could have spent weeks there. It really brought home to you the magnitude of the human misery caused by this war when everywhere you went there were gravestones, crosses and memorials.

At the British memorial, there is a glass building with information displays, videos and a shop. It was crowded with British schoolchildren.

The monument is very impressive. At 45m in height, it dominates the area. There are an extraordinary number of names engraved on the walls of the monument.

Our hosts at the B and B had mentioned that the Newfoundland memorial was worth a visit. When we got there, we found that it was quite different from other memorials. Apparently the Newfoundland soldiers had been very proud that they were fighting along side British troops.

Their memorial emphasises the trenches that are still visible in the area. We didn't have time to walk through the entire site because it would have taken hours. As I walked through the site, I came across busloads of Canadian school children being given guided tours of the site.

Heading south-east, we came to the South African National Memorial and then the French memorial. The French memorial had a very large graveyard behind an elegant chapel. There was a large flagpole in the middle of the graveyard carrying a proud French flag.

One difference between the French graves and the Commonwealth graves was that the French mark the grave with a cross. Commonwealth gravestones are rectangular with a rounded top.

The final stop was the museum at Peronne. We got there at about 5pm and decided it was too late to go though the museum and so we drove back to the B and B.

For dinner, we drove into Amiens again and parked in the same carpark next to the river. We had expected that there would be more cafes open because it was a weekday but it was still very quiet. We decided to go to a cafe we had noticed last night. The cafe had plastic flaps down to protect customers from the weather and the flap at the entrance was so firmly closed that it was difficult to get in.

The menu was only in French but I noticed one dish that looked suitable because it contained the word "veau" which means veal. When the waiter brought my meal, he was spilling the sauce all over the floor as he approached. Suzy was telling him to be careful (in English) but I just got up and backed away as quickly as I could.

The veal dish didn't look like veal to me because it was round rather than flat. I ate the salad and chips before trying a mouthful of the veal. It was totally disgusting. Completely vile. Revolting. I felt ill immediately and didn't eat any more. As soon as I felt well enough to stand up, we paid the bill and left.

During our meal, the rain and wind had got stronger and there was thunder and lightning. By the time we got back to the car, there was even some light hail falling. I'm not sure how I managed to drive back to the B and B. It was bad enough feeling ill but the weather made it even harder. Perhaps it helped that we left the restaurant early and it was still light.

The dish that I'd ordered was call "Rognon de veau". I understood the "veau" but not the "rognon". Back at the B and B, I looked up this word in a French dictionary and found out that it means kidney. No wonder I was so sick. I buy kidneys for the cat and the dog but I would never dream of eating one myself. I decided that I would take a French dictionary with me from now on when I went to a restaurant in France.

It had been a very memorable and exciting day that had been somewhat spoilt by the dreadful food I'd had for dinner. It took me a long time to get to sleep because of the way I felt.