Following the Fallen

We were up at 5.40 this morning! Nothing like a sleep in on holidays 😂

After throwing on several layers of clothes we hit the road back towards Bullecourt and the start of Neil’s battlefield tour. His own blog goes into it in much more detail but I’ve been amazed at the amount of research he has put into it. At the old railway embankment where the 17th Battalion assembled for the battle he could explain to me the location of the trenches of both sides and the path the battalion took in trying to break through the Hindenburg line.

We drove slowly up the hill till we reached the field where Tom Brown fell in battle and was originally buried in a makeshift grave. The sky was grey and the landscape swathed in a light mist as Neil planted an Australian flag in the dirt and laid a few poppies. There wasn’t a sound to be heard and I was suddenly overwhelmed at the thought of the young man who died here, and as the Mum of two young men, one the same age as Tom was, I wept for his loss.

At the Queant Road Cemetery we found his grave, one among many ,and planted more poppies. This cemetery, like all those maintained by the Commonwealth War Graves commission, is kept immaculate.

Finally we drove on to see the Bullecourt Digger Memorial, the official Australian memorial here. As at Ypres, there were many wreaths laid at the diggers feet, left here on ANZAC Day.

The sky was much lighter when we returned to the chateau for a wonderful breakfast. The croissants were superb! Genevieve’s husband had cooked brioche for us to eat as well, there’s nothing like the smell of baking bread!

Bidding farewell to our wonderful hosts with the classic Gallic two cheek kiss we set off towards another memorial for another war. Bastogne in Belgium was the site of a critically important defense during the famed Battle of the Bulge in December 1944. The town and its defending American soldiers were cut of from supplies and endured bitter cold and harsh fighting until they were relieved by General Patton’s advancing forces.

There is an excellent museum and a colossal circular memorial with the states of the USA engraved on its sides. Between the two stands a more irreverent tribute to the American soldier, a huge statue of the famous kiss between an American sailor and nurse that was photographed on V-J Day

We grabbed a tasty hot dog for lunch and took to the road for our stop for the night, Maastricht in Holland. The later stretches of the road through Belgium were hilly and forested with several gorges and a pretty river, it was a pleasant change from the dead flatness of northern France, Belgium and Holland.

We planned the stay in Maastricht partly as a stop off that would get us closer to Amsterdam for the start of our cruise tomorrow, but primarily as we were familiar with the look of its pretty  “Vritjhof” square from watching Andre Rieu concerts. Maastricht is Andre’s home town and he holds a concert season here every July where the entire square is filled with chairs and a massive stage set up next to the two massive churches that dominate the square.

These cafes are always packed during an Andre Rieu concert

The square during a concert, our hotel is behind the stage.

Our hotel faces the Vritjhof and we could almost touch the church from our side window, I just hope they don’t go in for rousing dawn bell ringing, I’ve had enough of early rising for a few days! The helpful desk clerk directed us to a department store where we could buy a replacement for our damaged suitcase and the young sales girl who took our money was kind enough to suggest a couple of good restaurants on the square where the locals eat.

We can almost touch

We took her advice and ate dinner at “il Bacaro” , an excellent Italian joint packed with hungry people. My Vitello Tornato was wonderful but Neil’s choice was the best, a steaming plate of garlicky Spaghetti Vongole, I’ve never seen so many clams on one plate. Yum!

Tomorrow it’s back to Amsterdam and our much anticipated cruise. We’ve been following our friend’s travels all over Europe but tomorrow we finally converge for two weeks of fun on the Emerald Sun.

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