Monthly Archive: January 2009

It’s Friday evening, the ninth, and we are in Lyon after travelling hal way across France. There doesn’t seem to be a to write about in the last two days, yet we have travelled...

Lunch was in Peronne, which has absorbed Mont St Quentin and happens to be Sylvestre’s home town. It was getting a bit grey and we were pleased that he insisted that we enjoy une...

I have very mixed feelings about this day; certainly, I had looked forward to it as another immersion in the history of the Great War, but I hadn’t banked on the depth of the...

I should be more upset: the cherished dream of visiting Ypres and Fromelles evaporated because our assumption that Avis in Amien could provide a GPS navigator proved unfounded. But given the weather and road...

It’s the fifth of January and we have made our way to Amiens through a rare Parisian snowfall. Normandy was cold enough to leave frost on the road side through the day, but as...

After yesterday, I don’t feel like writing an essay. The drive to the Mont was longer than expected, so I’m a bit tired. It was, of course, awe-inspiring. It’s pointless trying to paint word...

It is hard to encapsulate this day in a simple diary entry. It feels at once unreal to have been told the story of two major military campaigns, nine hundred years apart, and then...

The day started with a surprise after breakfast: snow! We walked through the front door of Hotel Magenta for one last constitutional and found the footpaths white and the air full of small, feathery...

We were not in bed until 1.30 this morning, so we made a somewhat late start. Paula had a recurrence of her virus, which left her a bit second hand, so we began the...

I’m sitting in the Champ de Mars, cold as charity because my gloves are off, but enjoying a spectacular view. The fireworks were a non-event, but the tower was spectacular. The best shots are...