May 8 - Photo of the day

Photo of the day # 9!

As Sam wrote, early in the morning we walked to the waterfront and took some photos. It was beautiful! I'm so glad I was able to charge my batteries and take these photographs. Definitely a highlight of the trip! The colours were incredible.

May 8: Juno Beach

On May 8 at around 5.45 AM, John and me and David walked along Juno Beach and watched the sun rise over the water. It was stunning and beautiful and amazing and beyond words. John and David have some great photos of it, but nothing could live up to being there. It was amazing because around that time on June 6, 1944, Canadian troops walked on the same spots, ran up the same sand, and led to the end of the war.

We had a guided tour through the memorial which was a different experience than Vimy Ridge because it is not a centre funded / organized by the Canadian government but by Canadian veterans. The stories told and the way the experience was expressed was from a different perspective which I appreciate.

I have to say, it's sad that the centre was only founded in 2006. Veterans visited the site and to their dismay, it was a camp ground. It really was an experience but to get the full effect I am glad we were there early morning.

We left France and went back toward England, arriving late last night and finally getting a good night's sleep and a great sleep-in.

Overall the Europe war-site experience was emotionally exhausting, educational, liberating, fun, overwhelming, and something to be proud of. I do appreciate the experiences of soldiers and the effort they put towards winning the war, I appreciate it so much more than beforehand and felt a consistent pride in Canada's contribution. I will never forget or regret any experience I've had on this trip to Belgium, Germany and France. It was phenomenal and I think that every Canadian should have the opportunity to see our history, outside of Canada.

I still have mixed emotions about the cause of the wars and Canada's participation in WWI, the sheer treatment of people - real people - by governments and other real people... the propaganda used to force people into becoming soldiers, the scare tactics, the brutality of real war, the history, the way the world has changed so much after it.. it's all so much.. but it's reality, it's what happened and as cliche as this is, every Canadian needs to be educated about it and know where the world went wrong so we don't do it again.

May 7 - Photo of the day

Photo of the Day # 8!

This is a photograph taken with my fish eye of the Vimy Ridge Memorial. I could have stood back and taken a straight, technically correct image, but the strength and size of the sculptures on this memorial could only be defined individually. This is the one sitting on the front right of the memorial. It was huge! I couldn't get over the size of it...of everything! There is nothing that compares to it. Of all the memorials we saw in Europe paying respects to the fallen soldiers of the war, this was the most amazing (they all were, but you know). AND IT'S FOR CANADA!

May 7: Vimy Ridge

May 7, we went to Vimy Ridge in France which was quite amazing. Vimy Ridge is maintained by the Canadian government and runs tours through it which are something to experience. Do it if you can.

We walked through the outpost trenches which the Canadians fought from. In the war it was made of sandbags and duckboards, but has been reinforced with cement to show how it worked. We also saw the German outpost trenches which were only about 20 metres across. The trenches of both sides were very similar (except that the German side had a pillbox) and this truly made it clear to me that the two 'sides' were essentially the same people, just on different teams. On a political and social level, the Allies and Axis were incomparable but personally there was little distinction. They were people with families, friends, lives, interests and futures.

We also saw the tunnels which the Canadians built up to 6 months before the attack. It is frightening to think of the realities which happened in these tunnels, damp and dark and sickly.

The no-man's land between the German and Canadian trenches were crater-like, deep huge holes in the ground from defensive strategies and shelling. These holes were through the entire site, there were areas and forests where civilians could not walk because they still have undetonated mines - most of the area is actually like that. Just huge, huge forests where nobody should walk because their life would be at risk.

We also drove over to the Vimy Ridge memorial which was amazing and glorious and huge. From it you could see the France landscape. Something I will never forget.

We went back to Vimy so John could take more pictures but my blessing/curse of talking to as many random people as possible came into play and we met an old man who was more than willing to chat. He came from Poland during the war and was part of the resistance movement. He participated in the war because he was a Chemist, he manufactured Benzyne for the Allied side but had friends and family who did the same for the Axis side. This man and his colleagues fueled the war, literally. They were so much more than chemists. This gave me a real realization of the responsibility that each person has to the world around them.

The words of Flanders Fields, the poem, hit me this day:

In Flanders fields the poppies blow
Between the crosses, row on row,
That mark our place; and in the sky
The larks, still bravely singing, fly
Scarce heard amid the guns below.

We are the Dead. Short days ago
We lived, felt dawn, saw sunset glow,
Loved and were loved, and now we lie
In Flanders fields.

Take up our quarrel with the foe:
To you from failing hands we throw
The torch; be yours to hold it high.
If ye break faith with us who die
We shall not sleep, though poppies grow
In Flanders fields.

May 6 - Photo of the day

Photo of the day # 7!

This flower was sitting on the ground at the Buttes New British Cemetery. In the background is the Australian Memorial, on top of a hill overlooking the cemetery.
This flower represented the mourning that is still happening over the lost soldiers, from both the first and second world war. I hope that we never get desensitized.

May 6: The crosses, row on row

May 6 was a day of mourning the dead in Belgium.

We visited memorials and cemeteries of fallen soldiers from World War One.
I'm a pacifist, I don't believe in war*.
I feel strongly that World War One was a cause of attrition, experimentation (with technologies and techniques) and ultimately sparked the atrocities of WWII, all because of the assassination of one man, Franz Ferdinand.
However, this does not mean that I think the actions of the soldiers were in vain. Ultimately the soldiers who fought were heroic and courageous. But they shouldn't have needed to be. They did fight for freedom, but no fight would have been necessary without an arms race, without a struggle for power and control by the leaders of the involved countries.

First we went to Flanders Fields, the American grave site. Contrary to what I thought, the poem Flanders Fields was not based on 1 graveyard but a town called Flanders where war took place.
It was smaller than I expected, but very beautiful and ornate and peaceful.

Next we went to Polygon Wood Cemetary in the countryside which was interesting because graves were scattered. The cemetary was well kept but the gravestones were scattered because the soldiers had to quickly bury their dead, Polygon Wood was a real battle site.

Across from this was Buttes British Cemetary which held commonwealth soldiers - British, many many Australian, New Zealanders, and some Canadians. There were thousands of graves. Here I felt a strong mix of emotions because the men were the same age as David and John. I took a photo of them with their mom (Carol) because I could just imagine them being born in a different time period.. I'm so glad they weren't.

We also went to the Tyne Cot Cemetary which is where Passchendaele was fought. I felt a strong sadness here because I know that they fought for freedom, I know they worked so hard, but it seemed that they fought and died there to be buried there. The result was a win of 8 kilometres. A high price. I know in my heart that so much more was achieved but seeing those graves made that no consolation. I found one Bateman grave, from Canada - HG Bateman.

We stopped at some smaller memorials on the way to Ypres. Ypres memorial was huge and incredible, the names of so many allied soldiers are inscribed on the walls of it. We went to downtown Ypres which was beautiful.

At this point I was getting very drained and tired.



*I have mixed feelings about World War II. Hitler was a bad man. He needed to be removed from power. If you want to talk to me about it, then give'r.

May 5 - Photo of the day

Photo of the day # 6!

We went to Neuengamme Concentration Camp, and though I took many photographs at the site, of relics, and buildings in which horrible things happened.. The sky captured the mix of emotions that I (and the group of us) felt while we were there.

May 5: Neuengamme

May 5 was sobering. We visited Neuengamme concentration camp around Hamburg, Germany. It was built in 1940 by prisoner hands, operating mainly for labour and production and housed thousands of people. The things that took place there were too terrible for words.

Neuengamme was turned into a historic site around 2003 but after the war was used as a prison by British troops, then by the German government. The construction and destruction which took place on the site was intended to 'obliterate the history' of what happened there, but protestors and those who didn't want to hide reality had it turned into historical grounds. It is a place of much debate because it is one of the most preserved concentration camps.

There were a few things which really stood out.
One was that the cabin bunkers, where prisoners lived and slept, were torn down but their rubble was put in fences in place of where the bunkers were, so visitors could understand the sheer magnitude of the buildings. John and I walked around the outside of them for a very long time, just looking at the bricks, the rocks, everything which had crumbled and used to house dying prisoners, overstocked and sick. We kept finding rocks which said 'fernsicht' but I don't know what that means, I think it's a town.

Next was the personal stories of the children who had expirements done on them, one in particular of a boy named Sergei - I watched a video of his family telling his story, and then there was a display with his photo. It grounded me.

The train tracks which were built by the hands of prisoners, on which new prisoners came in. There were remains of the tracks throughout different parts of the camp.

The brick and concrete and clay plant, there was a massive clay pit where prisoners had to dig out clay and push it on trolleys by hand, although it weighed about a tonne, and push it up a ramp to a building. The ramp still stands today and the clay pit has been recreated.

The way people were treated, hung, injected, expiremented on, malnourished, inadequately housed, women were subjected, and the fact that it only became a protected site - the citizens of the town only came to terms with the realities of Neuengamme - in 2003 and that the womens' prison was only torn down in 2006.

I kept feeling like I should pray, but I didn't know what for. Or I felt like I needed to say something, but nothing was good enough.

May 4 - Photo of the day

Photo of the day # 5!

WE CROSSED THE ENGLISH CHANNEL ON A FERRY AND SAW THE WHITE CLIFFS OF DOVER!
It was pretty...
:D

May 4: 5 countries, 1 day.

On May 4th we went through 5 countries in 1 day - so cool!

We woke up at 3 AM to drive from Ann's to Port Dover (yes, I saw the Cliffs of Dover early morning! It was beautiful!) and took a ferry across the English Channel to Calais, France. We then drove through France, Belgium, and Holland (note to Anne Bowering - I made up a new hand gesture thing! You know normally when people go "Holla!" ? Well, now it's "Holla-nd!" It's cooler.)
then we went to Germany. All in 1 day with Rory driving. For us in the back (Dave, Sophie, John and I) it was filled with lots of Sudoku, Ipods, and sleeping.

We drove on the Autobahn! It was so cool! Cars were driving.. so fast! Because it was after 8 pm! Like I'm talking 260 KMpH beside our 9 seater van.. which was going normal people speed.. in VERY narrow lanes. Scary but fun. And every time a car passed I would be like "woah. that's fast".. until I realized we were on the Autobahn. Anyway.

We stayed the night at a place called the Australian Motel in Germany (strange I know) and got an alright night sleep =)

May 3: Winchfield Church

Sunday May 3, Carol, Rory, Ann (John's Granny), David, John, Sophie and I went to Winchfield Church which is where Ann goes to Church, and Rory & Carol were married. The church was built in the 12th century with amazing architecture and memorials inside of it from the 16 and 17th century, and a graveyard with graves from even the 1800s. It was interesting because the service was very traditional, but nice because the words we sung and recited were the same that contemporary services use - so we were saying and expressing the same things to God but in different ways. I appreciate that.

Next we did some photos of Rory & Carol in the church, becuase they were married there almost 26 years ago, which is very special, then photos of them with their kids. It was really nice.
We also went for a walk through the woods behind the church with the English Bluebells, and Sophie made friends with some of the animals in the area.

When we got home, we cleaned out the attic and watched Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat, and that night John and I went out for a date to The Oatsheaf.. and the Emporium.. and the Fox and Hound - we just checked out a few places, and walked home by street light. It was a ton of fun!

On the road

Haven't had much internet access because we've been on the road. We left England at 3 AM yesterday and took the English Channel to France, then Belgium, Holland and Germany. It was quite a trip and we got to Germany at night, stayed the night and today we went to Neuengamme, a concentration camp in Hamburg. It was originally a satellite camp, opened in 1940 built by prisoners, but became so big it started its own satellite camps. It had a stench and the whole thing was sobering, to say the least. We're on the road again tonight back to France, and tomorrow are going to Flanders' Fields. John has been taking some amazing photos but internet is scarce & expensive if we can find it, apparentley nothing is free in Europe (including bathrooms...) but he will upload them as soon as possible.

Missing home, but loving it here.


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"His fingerprints are all over our world. Or maybe it's His world, and they're our fingerprints."
 

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May 3 - Photo of the day

Photo of the day #4!

My Mum and Dad in front of the church that they got married in, Winchfield Anglican Church. We went there for church today. Good service. Old school, but good :)