By the numbers
32490 steps
24.38 kms
The day started out a little wet from the fifth floor room I
have at the Ibis. I could see the rain falling and the window was wet too. I
was worried my day might actually be a washout, so the best thing I could do
was head downstairs for breakfast. For some reason my main travel card keeps
being declined and I don’t know if that is because I am in France and the
Amiens machines are not liking my card for some reason. I have checked my cards
online and they are active and also put my sim into the phone to see if
anything comes up and there is nothing. I think its just the type of eftpos
machines. My spare card works for the time being and I will see what happens
when I visit Paris. I don’t think there will be a problem in the UK.
I had breakfast and headed to the train station so that I
could get to Villers Bretonneux. The train arrived on time as we were the first
station and it went onto Leon, where ever that is. I knew the timetable for the
trains on the return and there were not that many, which had me worried. The
train got me into town and using my maps, which worked a treat, I followed the
map all the way into the cemetery along a very quiet back road. No way in hell
would I use the main road as that would lead to trouble and that might be in
for a world of hurt. I came to the back gate and thought I would try it to see
if I could get in that way. I had to go round the front to get in, luckily
where the tourist bus’ turn up. I walk straight in as I was a little bit late
as I said on the paperwork, I would be there. The lady in the Sir John Monash
Centre told me it was alright. I then fired off a few questions at her. I found
that today was a bank holiday, which explains the lack of trains and there were
machines at the station where I could get a ticket as the station only opens
for a short time for the workers. There was another actual walking track I
could have taken right to the front of the cemetery. I showed her how I arrived
and the lady was surprised I could go that way. I must have come across as the
worlds biggest idiot / goofball from Australia.
The Monash centre, I found to be interesting as it was
interactive and everything could be accessed through your phone if you have the
app installed. That I did and I had to activate blue tooth as the system must
run off that and the wifi too. You couldn’t really access Facebook from it as
outside sources must have no access. Each time you want past a display and
there is a number the video will play once you have selected that number. On
the wall a display will provide audio through your device telling you something
about the home front, time of the front lines and about the different types of
uniforms.. There were stories from people who served like Percy Pepper who was
a soldier settler, or even Albert Jacka a VC recipient. The little bits of
stories that could be used and nothing by it seems, He who must not be named Fitzsimons.
There was a full immersive video that had sound effects, lighting for machine
gun fire. That was really emotional and the impact of the light show with
strobe lighting and the guns even affected me. I was happy it didn’t go on for
too long. They did have some of the items around the room from where they had
constructed the centre. Pieces of tools, weaponry and belongings from kits. At
least they did explain the connection between the town and the Australians,
which was the best part. I would guess there would be a bit more found than was
on display. I had thought the museum would have been bigger and there were
people walking through without devices, so I don’t know if they knew about them
and wondered why some of the videos randomly played. Towards the exit there was
a list of medals for all services being shown and not just for the WW1 ones,
but right up to Iraq today. The burning question is, is the museum worth the
money spent? I don’t know, but more people should be told about it and should
be for all people maybe? Time will tell
I stopped for lunch before heading out to the memorial and
even went up to the top of the tower. I did see something about it being
damaged during WW2 and there were still battle scars on it. I did run my
fingers over the pockmarks in awe. I did have a look at the graves thinking
they would only be Australian, I was wrong actually as there were Canadians,
British and Australians there. I made my way out the front gate to find the
entrance to the whole complex. I also found the track that I had been told
about that I had somehow missed, but I headed back into town. I decided that I
would not visit the Franco Australian museum as I wanted to head back to Amiens
on the 150pm train instead of the 623pm. I did have a look inside the front
door to the museum, buit it was very quiet and I would have been the only one
there. I made it to the train station with 10 mins to spare. Turns out on a
normal week day there are way more trains and I didn’t get to explore the town
like I wanted to. That will have to be another trip away specifically to visit
the town. Today wouldn’t have been worth spending the whole day as nearly
everything was closed.
Once back in Amiens, it decided to pour down and I thought
it was best to return to the room to rest. After around an hour doing nothing
apart from surfing the net and reading my book. I looked out and the sun was
out. I decided that I would walk the 3 kms
to the cemetery and have a look at Jules Verne. I actually chose to
follow the river bank for most of the way and that was interesting as people
were using the paths and there were even people fishing. It was a nice area
along the River Somme and I was happy for the walk. I was being careful on some
parts as the road didn’t look that great. I found the cemetery and found the
gate I wanted in on was locked, yet I could see people inside. There was
another gate nearby that was open. I went for a walk around the cemetery and
parts were looked after and others were overgrown and darkish. A good place to
take some spooky type pictures. I did find Jules Verne, which was funny as my
Google maps knew where he was. I enjoyed my walk, but I did have to walk back
to the hotel and thats what I did. That was until I got to a historic canal
area that I thought would be a short cut to the Cathedral as then I knew which
way to go. The canals twisted each and every way as there were houses built all
around them and some where the only entrance seemed to be little bridges. No
idea if they floor or not, but they were interesting buildings. It was well
after 6pm that I headed back into the hotel to sort myself out for the next leg
of my journey and that would be to Paris.
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