September 28-29, The Cdn War Cemetery in Normandy, Arc de Triomphe, & Champs-Élysées

BLOG ENTRY: September 28-29, The Cdn War Cemetery in Normandy, Arc de Triomphe, & Champs-Élysées

VISIT TO THE CANADIAN WAR CEMETERY

Monday we decided to travel 200kms, 2 hours by train, and rent a taxi to visit the Canadian War Cemetery, carved out of a field near Brettville-sur-Laize, a small village 14 kms from the regional city and provincial capital of Caen in Normandy (similar size 220,000 to Saskatoon), and 15kms from the English channel. My cousin Maurice (Slim) Bagley Rogers, 31, a gunner whose tank hit a land mine, is buried there. He died August 10, 1944, near Brettville sur Laize during the massive allied Normandy invasion, along with 2,793 other Canadian soldiers, a few from Australia, Poland, and France, and 91 unknown soldiers. It is chilling to think of the slaughter of allied and German forces which took place in that very area. What a price to pay in just a few days for the continued freedom of mankind from the tyranny of those who would be totalitarian. Even the death of one is tragic, but when tyranny raises its ugly head, and all else fails it is only the courage and bravery of those willing to fight that protects our freedom and ability to live in peace. It is in memory of this and my relative Slim Rogers that we strongly support the allied action against the tyranny of the unelected and unrepresentative Taliban and al-Qaeda in Afghanistan and other places in the world, with their threats and actions against many countries and people around the world.

We have family photos from the 1920s and 30s of Slim, his twin brother Gord, now 96, who lives in Lethbridge, and other family members, cousins and friends. In one photo Gord and Slim, likely around 5-6, were dressed in sailor outfits as they had tea with their mother. The times were good in the 1920s and bad in the 1930s. Gord and Slim along with my father and other relatives and friends were hockey, baseball and softball players. There were enough to make up very good teams who travelled the area in competitive sports. In fact, their ice skates in the photos look very similar to the ones which were handed down to me as a young boy. They were all full of life and liked to party – something like all young people I guess. When I telephoned Gord before we left and told him we would try to visit his brother’s grave he became very emotional – the long hand of the pain of war and death.

Slim served in Canada, in England for a year, and then for a few weeks in Normandy. The generals and the soldiers new that many of them would die, but they also knew that the evil of Nazi Germany had to be defeated. They certainly gave their lives for our freedom. Lt. Col. John McCrae wrote in his poem IN FLANDERS FIELDS “If ye break faith with us who die, We shall not sleep, though poppies grow

In Flanders fields.” Or to put it in today’s terms, ‘if we break faith with those who died, we too may not sleep, though poppies grow on the graves of our short sighted memories’.
We were struck immediately by the similarity in terrain to my home area of Edgeley, Saskatchewan. Another Edgeley man and brother-in-law of Slim, George Boxall, who lived until earlier this year, was a medic in the same battlefield. The cemetery seems a fitting place for our Canadian war dead, many from Saskatchewan. It is tastefully landscaped and the graves are arranged in perfect order. The white grave stones, purple chrysanthemums, deep red roses and other flowers between the grave stones were stunningly beautiful and yet tragic. The entrance is a concrete/sandstone portico, with round roman style columns supporting a large concrete/sandstone top. It reminds us of a miniature Arc de Triomphe.

The train trip to Caen flowed through much territory like Saskatchewan. The fields seemed larger than we had seen coming from Germany. The houses do not have the characteristic curved base to their roofs which we see around the outskirts of Paris, but look more like the wartime houses built in Canada; simple boxes with close cropped roofs. Arriving in Caen, we found a more modern city than Paris, perhaps because much of the city was destroyed in the Battle of Normandy. Some of the remaining buildings date back to William the Conqueror who invaded England in 1066. He is apparently buried in Caen.

Mondays Expenses: Train tickets to Caen and return, 93.60E; Brunch near Paris North Station 12.80E; Taxi to Brettville-sur-Laize plus 45 minute wait and return, 55E; Lunch 5:30pm at Caen train station 24.35E; Coffee at 9:30 on return from Caen 3.00E. TOTAL 188.75E x 1.65 = $CAD 311.44.

THE ARC DE TRIOMPHE and THE AVENUE DES CHAMPS-ÉLYSÉES

We don’t push ourselves too much which means we can get behind. After checking our email, doing our blog, and paying some credit card bills over the internet, we left our room at 10am. Breakfast at McDonalds, a reasonable breakfast which costs much less than other places, was 6.70E=$11.05. Then we walked about 1km, past a large India quarter to the La Chappelle metro which took us to the Arc de Triomphe and Avenue des Champs-Élysées, some of the most famous and beautiful sites in the world. We took several photos of the Arc and ourselves as we walked around it. The Arc is in the centre of a large traffic circle, 8 lanes wide, without any lane lines – pure chaos. There is no above ground access. Tunnels on the East and West sides go under the traffic circle to the Arc. They are not well marked. We walked around the entire traffic circle, the intersection of 12 streets, two times and finally found the entrance to tunnel to the Arc.

The Arc de Triomphe is certainly a grand monument. SEE: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arc_de_Triomphe . It is huge, standing 166 ft tall, 51 meters, about twice the height of a Saskatchewan grain elevator, and spells out its message of honouring those who have fought for France. It was originally commissioned by Napoleon to honour his soldiers, but was finished long after he was gone. We purchased tickets for 16E $26 for the two of us to walk the stairs to the top. The first level is up a long winding stairway in which Rose required a rest. At the first level is an interpretation centre and washrooms. Then two more stairways and you are on top. It is topped with marble and large metal spikes to keep people safe. The views around Paris are again panoramic and awesome.

Going down was much easier and we then headed East down the Champs-Élysées. This famous street islined with clipped chestnut trees, wide sidewalks, 20-30 feet, and many luxury shops and ‘galleries’ of shops. The Champs is also a busy and very noisy traffic street. It makes having lunch in one of Saskatoon’s 8th street outdoor patios a quiet pleasure. We had lunch at the Bistro Romain Cadires, 122 Avenue des Champs Elysees, both having the marinated steak, medium. I thought it came perfectly done at rare. Rose was not as happy but admitted that it was good. The meal which consisted of the steak, fries, and a glass of wine cost 26E $43 for both of us including tip.

After lunch we strolled further down the Champs-Élysées. We had been told about a well known electronics store FNAC, which we found on the street, but they did not have the part I need to charge my video camera batteries. I guess I will order one on Ebay and have it sent to our home in Saskatoon. Digital photo camera provide most of what we need for the short video clips of tourist action shots. Next time we travel I will buy a better digital photo camera with better video capabilities and leave the larger and heavier digital video camera at home.

As we were strolling down the street, we had been discussing using some of our remaining time in the day to visit the Basilica of the Sacred Heart, a beautiful looking building on the only large hill in Paris, which can be seen on the horizon from the Arc and the Eiffel Tower. However, we both admitted we were getting tired and we wanted to prepare for our Eurostar train trip to our London stopover hotel tomorrow, Wednesday. So we returned home, now easily selecting our two metro trains and finding our hotel. We even found a Sony store and they fixed Rose’s Ipod so that we can now synch it with the laptop and listen to our Rick Steeves podcasts on Rome and Italy.

THOUGHTS ON PARIS:

What an amazing city. Even though it seems more chaotic and dirty than Berlin, Paris works. We have hardly touched the things we could do in this city. There are many more fascinating sites to see and lots of plays, operas, musicals and concerts. I’m not sure how we would have faired without my French speaking abilities, which while not perfect, worked very well for us.
Our hotel was 90E $150 per night. It was a poor 2 star hotel. We had to complain about our room the first night, and they gave us a somewhat better room the next 5 nights but a 3 foot bathtub and broken shower without an enclosure does not provide suitable comfort. Thin carpet just laid down which was at least the third layer of flooring, is not impressive. There were even a few bugs. The Best Western nearby appears to cost 105-145E, $173-$240 per night, that is $138-540 more for the period. Reviews show it to be a good 3 star, so that is likely a better deal in any this city. We will be checking on our accommodation in Rome.

We leave Paris happy to have come, and looking forward to India and our friends, Jag and Pam Trana. We have been discussing our India time with Jag via Email and decided on arrival in New Delhi to go directly to his home in Chandigarh, north of New Delhi. Then to do some of the sight seeing later in our visit.