The end of 2 World Wars

Good morning team, this time from Reims – champagne country you’ll be pleased to know😊.

I'll be honest, this author has at times found it hard to know how often publish a blog.  One doesn’t wish to post unless one has something of interest to say.  However if one leaves it too long between drinks, it may become a little long and cumbersome.  Which may possibly have occurred on this occasion.

So with that in mind, grab a cuppa and a comfy chair and hopefully by the end we won’t have lost too many of you to boredom or cold cups of tea!

Our story today starts at La Citė Souterraine de Naours which, as the title suggests, is indeed an underground city.  Starting life as a chalk quarry, it was tunneled out by locals and from the 16^th century was used as a refuge from foreign invaders on and off for several hundred years.  The most interesting thing about this place was the size and scale – something like 130 rooms, 4 chapels, bakeries etc & loads of room for livestock and other stores.  Rediscovered and restored in the late 19^th century, it was an absolute treat to visit.

Next stop was Amiens and it was time to buy some electric bikes.  To cut a long story short we needed a couple of bits for the bikes, an inverter and a trailer hitch converter. We had been warned that the French could be painful and unhelpful, however in our experience so far the complete opposite is true.  We found the most helpful chap ever at the Giant bike store, he referred us to the largest motorhome fixit place for hard-wiring the inverter.  Again, they couldn’t have been more helpful as has been the case with hospo workers and, on several occasions, strangers who have heard a foreign language and stopped by to say gidday.  As the trailer hitch converter had a 5-day delivery lead time we changed tack heading south-east and will circle back to Amiens next week & collect the bikes. The Normandy Coast will have to wait a bit longer.

France is very well set up for and welcoming of motorhomers and there is a network of Aires throughout the country.  Basically, they’re a parking area designated for motorhomes, are usually free, often have rubbish bins, water and waste services (for a small fee) and are first-come-first-served.  We’ve now stayed in a couple of these and they really are good.  The weather is just starting to warm up and we’ve had a few days now with highs in the early 20’s however the next 2-3 days have a forecast high of 27deg.  Looks like it’s no more jeans for us, just shorts, t-shirts and pretty dresses 😊

The thing we're already loving about this trip is the places we get to which are off the beaten track.  Due to time constraints most kiwis visiting Europe only have time for what I call a ‘greatest hits tour’.  We, on the other hand, are free to follow our travel bible (the lonely planet) and go down whatever rabbit hole takes our fancy.  And I can tell you, there have been some pretty interesting ones…

(how’s that cuppa going?)

The town of Compiègne is exactly one such place.  Had you ever even heard the name before reading it just then?  I certainly hadn’t, however what a place in history the town has.  For a start there’s the Château de Compiègne which was the summer home of French rulers from Charles V in the 14^th century through to Napoleon III in the mid-19^th century – much like Hampton Court Palace in London, it was spectacularly opulent.  Also housed there is the National Car Museum – wait, before some of you think this another boring Dave car story and hit the back button, hang on…  it’s a little more interesting than that!  Car museum is hardly accurate because there was almost nothing there built after 1900 so you had only the very earliest mechanised vehicles (including bicycles and motorcycles) ever built.  Of more interest however was the collection of horse-drawn-carriages - you’ll have to check out the photos because it’s hard to describe the elegance, sophistication and, again, opulence of many of these vehicles which dated from the 16^th to early 20^th century.  And so many of them, I’d say at least 50 and they were so stacked up you could really only see the front row in detail.

Changing tack completely - do you know where the WWI armistice was signed?  Ok, I’ll tell you…  it was in a train carriage in a clearing just outside of Compiègne, presided over by Frenchman Marshall Foch, the supreme allied commander at the time.  Next question... do you know where the French signed their surrender to Nazi Germany in 1940?  The very same train carriage in the very same spot as had occurred 22 years earlier.  On that day one Adolf Hitler insisted upon sitting in the very same seat as Foch had done in 1918, thus ‘righting the wrongs’ of the Great War as he saw them.  Hitler then instructed that the carriage be moved to Berlin where it became a tourist attraction for a couple of years. In 1945, again on Hitler’s orders, it was burned to the ground to prevent it being used for the humiliation of Germany for the 2^nd time.  So although not the original carriage, the one we visited was in the original clearing and was another of the same model produced at the time with the interior recreated as it would have been in 1918.

Another thing we’ve discovered about France is that every little town and city seems to have most amazing church or cathedral.  On the drive between Compiègne and Reims we went past 3 or 4 little villages, each with a magnificent church where I said to Anita “Do you think that church is larger or smaller than Christchurch Cathedral?”  But in the bigger towns and cities these places of worship are really a thing of wonder.  Here in Reims we were wandering about looking for a restaurant last night, turned a corner and nek minit wow!  Just wow!!

Today is May 8^th which is VE Day here in Europe so we decided to visit the war memorial and take in the commemorations.  Unlike ANZAC day, the ceremony was at a much more civilised 11.30am however there were significantly fewer people present than you would expect for a town of 185,000 people had it been in NZ.  The ceremonies were still moving, the first paying tribute to the resistance movement, then later, celebrating the victory itself.  The canine division of the armed forces was present, including one dog (Max) who received a medal as part of the day’s investatures.

Reims has a special place in the story of WWII in that it was the military headquarters from which the latter part of the war was fought.  However it is also the place where the armistice document was signed on May 7 1945 – so of course a visit to that room was in order.  At the time, even though they were a signatory, the Ruskies were miffed that the signing occurred in France, so another ceremony was held in Berlin a couple of days later. As hostilities effectively ceased on May 8 that is the day of commemoration.

That’s it for today, hopefully you’re all still with me and no-one has nodded off – I’ll try to keep things a little more frequent and succinct in future.  Tomorrow we’re off to find some of the finest local produce – shall we start with Veuve Cliquot, Mumm or Taittinger? Oh the decisions 😊

With much love from the travelling Woodies. 

Photos:

La Citė Souterraine de Naours #1

La Citė Souterraine de Naours #2

7 very delicious local beers for €10 - Dave's happy place!

Harvey's first night in a French aire

The end of WWI,

Our first bbq and meal outside

Château de Compiègne

The town square & town hall in Compiègne and another very cool old building

'Car' museum #1

'Car' museum #2

'Car' museum #3

'Car' museum #4

The cathedral at Reims - photos don't do it justice

Cathedral all lit up at night

There was a football game so we had a (thankfully semi-expected) knock on the door at 7am by the local gendarmerie asking us to vacate our parking spot.  "Do you know of anywhere else nearby we could move to?" asks I.  "Non problem monsieur, follow me" 

The park in Reims

Paying tribute to La Resistance

WWII ended here