Hello all,
It has been a while since my last post and as usual, lots has happened here in France. I took a day trip to Amiens, went to see Vimy at night and a few more exciting things in between!
Amiens
I will start off by talking about my trip to Amiens with my coworker Verity. Last week was our “split week” where our days off were not in a row, but separated during the week. I had Tuesday and Sunday off and decided to spend Tuesday in Amiens. It was absolutely beautiful! We met up with a friend of Verity’s, Elizabeth, who is American (from Tennessee!) and is teaching abroad for the year. She was absolutely lovely and it was awesome to spend time with her and talk to her about her year teaching. Made me think about possibilities for after I’m done my degree!
Amiens is famous for it’s cathedral, so that was a must do. We got in at about 12pm and decided to start with lunch at an awesome crepe place. We then went to the cathedral and spent a good hour and a half walking around. It was amazing with so much architecture and rich with history. There were plaques dedicated to the soldiers that fought in Amiens during the First World War and it was beautiful to see. The architecture outside was stunning, Elizabeth even said she prefers the Amiens cathedral to Notre Dame in Paris! (not sure if I agree as I didn’t get to Notre Dame on my trip to Paris a while ago).
After this we decided to walk around and get a feel for the city. We wanted to go to the Jules Verne museum but unfortunately it was closed on Tuesdays (France and it’s weird hours!!), so we walked around a beautiful park and spent the majority of the afternoon shopping and wandering. We had a wonderful dinner along a canal and had moules et frites, yum! It was a quick trip but beautiful to see Amiens. I love seeing more of France, there is always so much to offer here.
Tours
Another exciting (well, nerve-racking) thing that happened last week: our tours were evaluated! My supervisor Louise followed my tour with two Nova Scotians and one Newfoundlander. The pressure was on! It was quite intimidating having her follow with such a small group because she was right there, whereas if she were following a school group I could focus on the bigger crowd. All in all, I think it went really well. The visitors did not know much about the site and were not the most enthusiastic visitors I’ve had (I was surprised especially because I had a Newfoundlander! Most Newfies I’ve had have cried so that was a dead give-away!) but they had very nice things to say at the end and I am happy with it. The Nova Scotians definitely perked up when I said I spent a year in Antigonish – they were from New Glasgow, about half an hour away and we had quite a few connections in common!
Louise is in Italy until next week so we haven’t had a full on meeting about it, but from what she said I am confident that it went well! Definitely happy to have that over with!
Assemblée Générale “Les Amis de Vimy” and Vimy at night
On Friday last week, me and a few others went to the General Meeting for an organization called “Les amis de Vimy”. The organization is run by the French citizens of the town of Vimy, and they help fund the site and a lot of the guide program. They are working a lot with us to prepare for the centennial (April 2017) and the construction of the new visitors centre. Every year the guides are invited to come along and see what their year looked like and listen to how much work they put into helping us keep the site running. It was really amazing! It made me very appreciative of all of their work, they are French organization dedicated to a Canadian monument which I think is incredible.
It is important to remember that Vimy is very important to Canada, but also to the British and the French, as they were integral parts of helping the Canadians to reach ultimate capture of Vimy Ridge. The French arrived in 1915 and helped push the front forward by 4km, a HUGE advancement that eased the attack for the Canadians in 1917. There are very large crater holes in No Man’s Land on the site that were made by the French in order to change the landscape of the terrain, so that the advancement into the German lines would be easier. This was huge in helping the Canadians take Vimy.
They showed a movie from 1998 which we found to be hilarious as there were many guide testimonies. Let’s just say the uniform has changed for the better! Also they mentioned a ton of “Vimy myths” such as the fact that there is one tree planted on the site for every soldier that died (totally false!!).
I was able to chat with a few of the members and we got free food, which was obviously a selling point for many. Most years apparently only 2 or 3 guides ever go, but this year it was a personal record and 9 of us went. Our manager Arlene was very happy! It is very important to support Les Amis de Vimy because without them, Vimy would not have so many amazing things to offer.
After the meeting our supervisor Caro surprised us with a trip to the monument to see it all lit up at night. It was indescribable! A completely different view and absolutely breathtaking. The monument is impressive and stunning in the day, but takes on a whole new look at night. It is eery but peaceful, and you see all of the lights of the towns below from the top of the ridge. We were all so happy to be there and I think it is probably one of my favourite moments here yet. When we were all together on top of the monument lit up, I couldn’t help but feel comforted and peaceful. Now being more than halfway through the session, it is hard to imagine that we will be heading home soon. I have grown to love everyone here and I am trying my best to cherish every moment.
Construction Madness
Now we move on to this week – the week of madness! It is March break in Ontario this week so we have had a HUGE increase of visitors. We are consistently busy throughout the day with almost no time to sit down and have lunch. We are only 5 guides at BH so we frequently have days where only 3 guides are working, so this makes things very tough when we have a ton of visitors on site. On top of all this; construction for the centennial is in full force!
BH pathways are currently being paved and since Monday, our trenches have been closed. The majority of tour groups come to see the trenches (these trenches are basically the only ones that have been preserved in the Somme) and when we have to tell them they are closed, the look of disappointment is killer! I try and spin it positively and note that the site will be much better and more accessible after the paving, but unfortunately with some people that just doesn’t work. We are all trying to make the best of it, but let’s just say the “entrée” shift (the one who greets people to the site) is not popular among us these days!
Tours have stopped almost completely because there is not enough of the site open that we can properly do a tour. We have resorted to “intros” where we give an overview of Newfoundland and the battle and what the site commemorates. These are not ideal but we have been given a lot of freedom on what we think works best. Leadership skills have been put to the test this week and so has all of our initiative and problem solving skills. This job puts you in situations where quick decisions are necessary and working under pressure is a skill we all have (or have come to learn)!
Other events included a pizza and movie night with a few of us, we saw Allegiant (the 3rd Divergent movie) and it was horrible but hilarious in French! I also went to dinner with the BH guides and Louise to see her off to Italy, and had a fun night out celebrating my coworker Julie’s 23rd birthday. On Monday, we went to les Carrières Wellington which were dug as a part of the Battle of Arras, really interesting but I didn’t find it very realistic. There were so many animations and artificial sound that took away from the reality and feeling. It was still a great tour a awesome to see, but I prefer the Vimy tunnels 😉 (maybe I’m biased)! Some pretty awesome outings!
We are hoping to have the trenches open by Monday and the construction is supposed to be done by the beginning of April. Fingers crossed!!
It is now the end of my week and I am heading to Paris in the morning to meet my sister who arrives tomorrow. I am so excited to see her, I can’t even put it into words! It will be so nice to have a break and to spend some time with her. We will be seeing Paris this weekend and then she will come back with me to Arras for the week!
I will write about what we get up to very soon!
Sending love to everyone,
Taylor
xoxox
Taylor's French Adventures 
Hope you two have a wonderful visit together. What an amazing place to explore! LOL