amiens

A masterpiece of human achievement

My Europe Tour 2025 – Blog #28 – Summary of my 44day Tour

The below blog can be more detailed in referring to Blog #1 by scrolling down beyond my 27 Europe blogs in my website of https://bhlifestyles.travel.blog for this amazing tour. My website has this recent Blog #28 first. My life mantra is to always make a positive difference/ improvement to whoever I meet & a slight twist to a Pericles quote (Died 429BC). “What you leave behind is not what is engraved on your headstone, but what is engraved into the minds & lives of others”

My initial passport was obtained in March 2016 at 60yrs old … yes, a late starter. Since then, in the last 10yrs I have been in 9 countries, such as, USA, Japan, Sth Korea, Vietnam, Cambodia, Peru, Ecuador, Chile & New Zealand whilst also travelling through my own country of Australia.

Europe is one region I thought was well beyond my means & capability, plus the currency killer however, it is time to be selfish & take time out from my ongoing extended family renovations & repairs assistance I’ve been providing over the years in my so-called retirement. LOL!! As I’ve aged, I had realised it is not the amount of moments that I breathe .. but the amount of moments my breath is taken away & that, as you will read on is how this Europe tour unfolded.

I am an ‘owner’ in Wyndham Resorts & through my credit level I can use their in-house Travel Club for assistance in compiling my tour proposal. I was blessed to have Nilli help me out where she organised my Sth America trip years prior & she remembered me too. I first compiled a list of my ex-backpacker friends I wanted to see over there in various countries & checked their availability for timing. Looks like 1st October 2025 to start my trip. From this list I was able to source the expected route & see what I can achieve to link up with everyone. This was quite a challenge to be practical & make it all work. Nili was impressed with my Excel spreadsheet & information provided & made her role much easier she said.

My friends live in Nuremberg, Munich, Amsterdam & Bristol UK. Drawing this out on a Europe map & checking the major places & sights I’d like to experience near to this route, plus keep my mum & youngest brother’s (both dec’d) wishes of places they never got to see. From this, I had to work out how many days I would need to use in each place of stay & to analyze what activities & tours to undertake to fully activate each day. Easy .. sarcasm. One could never do enough research, for there is so much to see & do.

From the above paragraph my tour now included Rome (1st stop), Nuremberg, Amsterdam, Paris, Amiens (brother for WW1 experience), Barcelona (my wish), Lisbon, Dublin, Bristol & London (mine & Mum’s wishes). These places were my most wished places to visit & the transport was relatively easy to address. I had to obtain entry requirements with the new ETA for England at £16 (2yr approval) & took 7mins to gain their approval, plus the upcoming 12th Oct 2025 new EES for the Schengen area entry.

With all this compiled information, Nilli set into action & also gained the best travel insurance which isn’t cheap at my age + still have the COVID part covered due to remaining world uncertainty. She made a few adjustments & upon my approval booked all the flights & most hotels stays & left me to do the train ticket purchases & a couple of accommodations where she couldn’t have access to. From my hometown to Europe & back will entail 44days in total, starting from Brisbane & leaving on 1st October 2025. If you review the calendar photo you can see most of my itinerary.

Europe, for me was always in the too-hard basket & when you throw all the current events we are fed on our media & travel alerts stemming from mass immigration to Germany, France & Italy to name a few then the anxiety steps in & for me I’ll be on my own even though I had done most of my travelling on my own over these past 10years.

My flight out from Brisbane entailed a 14hrs 50mins 1st leg to Doha & that is stretching my flight endurance limit & with a 3.5hr layover left a 5hr flight to Rome, arriving at 7.25am on 2nd Oct. I had obtained an eSIM with Saily within 30days of my departure & they had an excellent plan & with a set VPN too which activated the moment I landed in Rome, albeit my flight mode on my phone kept interacting after landing which knocked me out of internet until I had it sorted, via WiFi later in the day.  As you can see, I managed to do 28blogs for my Europe tour so keep scrolling down on my website to get the full itinerary tour & massive volume of photos to view.

From my blogs you will notice I never took a bus in cities to do the sightseeing like a Hop on Hop Off bus as it never suited me & I was watching my AUD to Euros (2 for 1) comparison, noting my pensioner status. Overall, I managed to travel 47,474klms through 8 countries, by 9 plane trips & 7 train trips using my Polarsteps App (you can follow my trips through this free app too). I highly recommend Polarsteps for travelling where people can trace where you are in real time plus you can write up your blogs & whatever photos you wish & when the trip is over you can get a deal to review & change your entries into a high-quality bound tour book at a set rate. In this 44day tour I walked 609,651 steps which was compiled by my Samsung Health in my phone that equals 475.23klms so that’s a lot of walking. I endeavoured to undertake a city walking tour wherever I can but sometimes the timing doesn’t work out so it’s back to my research & city walking. Hope you like this summary & please refer to my blogs for even more information, facts & statistics.

Rome – Italy

Rome was beyond amazing & you could spend countless days there & still not see everything. I would return to Rome in a heartbeat. That is the major thing to overcome; to realise you can’t see everything. The next thing is to assign a good travel time. I fluked October, being into Autumn mode where it is far cooler at around 20°C, less people but still packed in certain sights whereas in Summer, June to August is really hot in Rome for the pavements are black basalt paving everywhere & the streets & lanes are slightly narrow with the added tourist numbers.  The Piazzas (plazas) offer open spaces but are packed with tourists, especially, The Pantheon & Trevi Fountain. Always best to see these in early morning or late afternoon including the Colosseum, Roman Forum & Palantine Hill due to potential crowd crush & high temps.

There is an underground train station adjacent to the Colosseum & that should be looked at, for it’s also an underground museum which I didn’t know at the time. Same for The Pantheon in having an underground museum. The original street level of Rome is some 7m below the current street levels.

The Vatican is always busy & don’t sit at a table for coffee along the streets getting there as you could be slugged the table fee of some €20 for the pleasure. Take notice of the local laws for some fines are hefty including any train trips to validate your ticket, etc & don’t get confused with economy or 1st class trains. I got stung with an economy ticket on a 1st class train & was conned by the platform lady guiding me to the 1st Class train. Felt like a planned tourist trap. This was the train from the airport to the CBD Termini Station. They have since installed a ticket verification system & with substantial fines so be very diligent.

I spent a full day (13hrs) undertaking a bus guide tour to Positano (Amalfi Coast) & Pompeii which was amazing & on Blog #4. Most of my activity & access tours were through Viator, City Wonders, Get Your Guide, & Crown Tours. To repeat, Rome I would go back in a heartbeat.

Nuremberg – Germany

I was staying for 6nights with a young friend, AJ (privacy) who I helped tour New Zealand back in 2017 when she was backpacking & her & her family were keen to spend time with me seeing I had looked after her so well. I flew into Munich, then caught a 1hr train to Nuremberg. AJ took me to Tegernsee (South of Munich, a perfect getaway resort area) via a quick tour of the Audi Production Factory prior. We spent half a day in Munich & more time in Nuremberg which is a city that is amazing & so much history. Later I spent a night at AJ’s parents’ home NW of Nuremberg in the wine region & it was fantastic to enjoy a loving family’s home & cooking (lots of it!!) & to see such great countryside & very cute villages. Thoroughly enjoyed this friend week & hope to see AJ again soon for she really looked after this old man.

Amsterdam – Netherlands

I was able to fly direct via Nuremberg airport which was a bonus & getting through a tiny airport for a change. Airport train from Schiphol Airport was a breeze to Centraal Station (correct spelling). This city takes a while to get your bearings seeing it is a canal city so be patient. Amsterdam has a very expensive City Tax to pay when you check in to your hotel. My 5night stay & value of hotel rate plus a coefficient in a formula calculates a €128 fee. OUCH!!

Amsterdam is a tram & bike city, so I booked a bike tour & while riding a bike is simple you have the added pressure of avoiding people, cyclists & above all, the dreaded tram lines. Trust me, I saved a woman from getting hit by a tram she didn’t hear or see & most likely saved her life. It was a good way of covering a good distance & to see sights relatively easily. You can hire bikes, but I chose the foot walking mode for flexibility & ultimately safety. This city of freedom is so relaxed & at times I was quite ‘happy’ returning to my hotel for I could not avoid the constant fumes of weed throughout the day where it is legal in public, taverns, etc. You can’t avoid it.

I was so blessed to have my dear friends; Ayla & Renske who could meet with me over 2 separate days. It was like yesterday to seeing them again. 2 lovely women I met back in my hometown when they were backpacking. They both have children now but of course they were all in school. Both these 2 days I never wished to end. Such a great time to see them again & both are so gorgeous & haven’t really changed at all. Amsterdam is so unique & well worth a visit in seeing a city built on top of a forest of trees (tree piles) with slanting houses & buildings. To see Ann Frank’s house, you must book well in advance & I challenge you to handle the maze of the Rembrandt Museum.

Paris – France

I caught a regional train from Centraal Station – Amsterdam to Gare du Nord (Northern station of Paris) 3.5hrs & not a bullet train. The train was good, but Gare du Nord is one of the worst & complicated stations in Europe & I really found that out. It is HUGE & has 5 Halls (Sections of platforms). You have to get a cab, bus or another suburban interstop train to get to the Eifel Tower & main city area. I eventually got a ticket (4 RER B Sud) for €6.30 to Saint -Michel- Notre Dame Station & then changed to Champ de Mars Station, being the closest to the Eifel Tower & my Mercure Hotel. The City Tax was far cheaper at €25.35.

I only wanted to see the Eifel Tower, The Louvre, Notre Dame, Champs Elysees & Arc de Triomphe. If you read my relevant blog on Paris, you will note I was at The Louvre the morning it was robbed so I missed out on that plus the associated Seine River cruise & with the thousands awaiting to see inside Notre Dame I missed that too, but I got my outside photos at least & a good blog & life story. I found Paris to be rather dirty & slightly unkept of appearance, lots of Somalian market vendors selling Eifel trinkets, etc & would only return to see those missed internal landmarks mentioned above, possibly an overnight stay. My blog of the Eifel Tower shows the incredible history & statistics for this wonder of construction.

Amiens – France

I took a dreaded taxi to Gare Du Nord for the early set train departure. I was totally ripped off by an extremely rude French driver. I left by stating we (Australia) saved you (France) twice in 2 world wars & this is the shit we receive. I should have dropped the fare into the gutter for him to pick up. I was thankful my train was in Hall 1 (Ground Floor upon entry).

Travelling to & staying at Amiens is firstly for the train runs through it, has more accommodation available & is a bigger city than the village of Villers-Bretonneux (closer to the war section I am preferring to see). For my accommodation I selected La Pléiade Dorée from my Booking.com provider at my Genius Level rate. Travelling to the war locations I wanted to see involves a bit of hardship + hiring a car is a bit risky for me & to firstly obtain one, so I booked the best war tour available through Tripadvisor for a full day. It wasn’t cheap but goes for 8hrs & includes a private vehicle with a guide.

My WW1 Tour is an extra special day thought about long ago. It is about a ‘promise’ I secretly made to myself to visit the war area surrounding Villers-Bretonneux & The General Sir John Monash War Memorial just out of town. The promise came about when I was trying to organise a trip in 2017 for the 2018 opening of the underground War Museum at The General Sir John Monash War Memorial with my youngest brother, Rod but I won’t go into why he couldn’t agree to go, but it wasn’t his decision not to. Not long after my first planning of this trip & discussing it with him Rod suddenly passed away (at only 54). Rod was an avid reader of books on WW1 & knew a lot more than I on the subject. After he passed away, I made that promise to myself to take him with me .. much like I’ve done on every trip since 2017.

Our greatest ever Australian, General Sir John Monash who landed on Day 1 at Gallipoli 25th April 1915 & through his efforts & strategies saved countless lives & later ensured the safest retreat from the bloodbath of Gallipoli & in 1918 took control of the whole alliance armed forces of countries (England, USA, Canada, NZ & other countries) in an orchestrated front to defeat the German army. He was the only one to ever achieve that chief honour of such a combined force. Only cruel politics & jealousy kept him from being rightly called Field Marshall, for he was born in Melbourne of German Jew parents & as he grew always called Australia his country despite his heritage. He designed & constructed several rail bridges & the electricity network & brought concrete to Australia. A very famous Australian & forever remembered.

I am forever grateful for having the full day with my guide, Bridgitt on a Tripadvisor 8hr tour – Australian Battlefields Tour. She totally looked after me & spoke wonderful English & had supreme knowledge of the war & more recent history of the region. Totally blessed. The tour was well worth the money plus I added a good tip of €s too for driving me all the way back to my apartment.

Barcelona – Spain

My timetable & the rail timetable had me forced to stay overnight in Paris, back at Garde du Nord & then onto a hotel (Tim Hotel) near my departure point of Garde de Lyon for an early 3.5hr bullet train to Barcelona.

Almost every day my breath has been taken away in seeing such amazing sights but to see the Basilica de la Sagrada Familia is beyond any senses & imagination. I was just in awe of its magnificence & to know just one genius Antoni Gaudi at 31yrs old of age designed & engineered this amazing structure before my eyes. Beyond words & comprehension. I bought a booklet in their museum to grasp the many details, etc in this basilica.

How can anyone design the engineering, physics & still get the construction right when it comes to geological construction. If this is not the paramount of human design/ construction on earth I don’t know what is (forget the pyramids, Great Wall of China, etc). I hope you can get a grasp of this basilica, inside & out. The stats are beyond comprehension; there will be 20 towers when completed & with the central tower (under construction will reach 172.5m high, named Tower of Jesus Christ) & the 2nd highest tower, St Mary’s Tower at 138.5m high. 12 of the towers will represent the 12 apostles. I was able to take the tower lift option located within St Mary’s Tower & that is high!!! For a great city viewing & you are welcomed to exit by taking the spiral stone staircase all the way down, to which I did gracefully & carefully. June 2026 this basilica will be completed, making it the tallest church in the world & an observation platform showing 360 for the public within the Tower of Jesus Cross, recently installed.

Gaudi was killed by a tram in 1926 after leaving the basilica where he spent most of his life on-site. His funeral was massive & is body buried next the main altar in The Crypt below the main floor. Through other architects, engineers & sculptors he commissioned & trained carried on his innovative project. The Tower of Jesus with its upper arm of the 56-ft-tall four-armed cross, installed in late March 2026, making it the tallest church in the world & providing a full 360° view of Barcelona city. The cross was built in Germany using white enameled ceramic tiles, stone interior and glass that were made in the Spanish region of Catalonia. It was then transported in parts back to Barcelona by ferry and trucks and finally assembled at the church with precision crane work.

The outside of the basilica is fully biblical, with statues, symbols, nature & about everything else whereas the internal of the basilica is dedicated to light & peace & the stone columns representing trees of life. The colours of life (blue, yellow & green, etc) occur through the glass windows every morning & then changes to red/ orange for the setting sun. Every night, since the Cross installation the basilica has an amazing light show.

Barcelona is a must-see city & there is a lot to see but the Basilica de la Sagrada Familia totally did it for me. Blogs 14 & 15.

Lisbon – Portugal

I had a short flight into Lisbon from Barcelona & took a city bus into the Restauradores (CBD of the historic area). Not a great deal to see in this city however taking a full day bus tour to Sintra, Pena, Regaleira, Cabo Roca Coast & Cascais plus the additional Full Pena Palace and Regaleira really made this stay worthwhile. I was really surprised of what this day uncovered & was well worth the expenditure. Blog #18

Dublin – Ireland

A 3hr flight from beautiful sunny & mild Autumn of Portugal to the usual Dublin windy, rainy 11°C was not fun. Best to get the Dublin Express bus that takes you into the city for 30mins trip at €10. I did a very average walking city tour the next morning for 2hrs, but I’m sure there must be better ones so do your research. The Guinness Brewery Tour for ($52AUD) was well worth the long afternoon tour. Once you find the entrance, the facility is a great experience venturing up to the 7th Floor Guinness Gravity Bar for your free Guinness pint & mingling with a hundred or so thirsty drinkers & a great view of the city of the weather is fine. The history & statistics will blow your mind. 4hrs of free roaming can be over in just ‘minutes’.

The next day was my Walking Pub Tour & I wished I had done this before the city walking tour. Kevin Adams was an amazing guide with so much knowledge & he also does food tours http://www.walkingfoodtours.ie. There are 798 pubs in Dublin alone. He told us The Brazen Head on Liffeyside Bridge St is Dublin’s oldest pub where it started beer moonshining in 1198 & now on the same site the pub was built in 1754. Smithwick’s (Irish Red Ale) is traced back to 1710 as the first official beer produced in Dublin by John Smithwick’s Brewery at St Francis Abbey (Kilkenny) adding on to the same beer produced by the then monks. Pls read my respective blog of this tour to learn some old sayings of drinking & how they came about. So funny & forever in my memory. Blogs 20 & 21.

Bristol – UK

Leaving Dublin was easy for me being close to the River Liffey where I walked over in the dark to the Custom House bus stop (800m) for the Dublin Express to Dublin T2 (€10, booked online for 4.05am) for 06.35am – 07.55 BA (British Airways) on Aer Lingus flight to Bristol Airport, UK (1.5hrs) to stay with my married friends my eldest son & I met doing the Machu Picchu 4day Trek in Peru in 2019. This is where my ETA came into play (new entry tax for Britain).

David picked me up at this small airport & for the next few days, saw lots of Bristol & Bath which were quite surprising & enjoyable & had lots of Roman buildings & infrastructure plus the famous Roman Baths. Sue really looked after me & David at times had soccer commitments. I finally got to inspect the last operational Concorde aircraft jet where my last opportunity was missed back in 1986. Despite staying with great friends my blogs had plenty of info & photos. Sue managed to get me to my train after a 4day stay for London too which was amazing & so thoughtful. Such treasured memories with great friends.

London – UK

The train trip was such a breeze from Bristol (1hr 40mins) to Paddington Station (a very busy station) & it was just a simple 15mins walk to my Thistle Hyde Park Kensington Hotel on Bayswater Rd aligned with Hyde Park. The walk had a mixture of shops, apartments, pubs & basically everything else of a busy suburb. A great location.

Hyde Park is a fantastic green space & HUGE!!!! Kensington is a great suburb & rather close to most of Westminster CBD landmarks & then onto London CBD. Quite a few blogs on this major world city & our birthplace of Australia. Lots of photos & of course I was aligned to not seeing everything. No use writing more as you need to read my blogs. London was brilliant but had to watch the British Pounds against my poor AUD. So much history & architecture.

Home – Australia

I took an iconic taxicab to Paddington Station. The driver was a pleasant surprise to experience a real taxi driver & cab. Without a hassle I caught the 4.30am direct train to Heathrow Airport T2/ T3 platform. At this terminal stop I must disembark but stay on this platform as per the platform announcement & digital signage for the next train in 5mins that took me to my required Terminal 4. So easy.

After my 5day stay in London I was back onto the long-haul flights back to Brisbane & then more travelling to my birthplace of Grafton, then to my new home of Yamba (40mins bus). All in all, my travelling time getting home was in total (allowing for layovers, hotel stay & waiting times) at 44hrs 20mins. 37hrs directly associated with travel & all of a sudden, it hit me … I had just completed Europe Stage 1 & saw so many things I thought were out of my reach in life. At some point I’ll be focussing on doing Europe Stage 2 asap. I quickly reviewed my Polarsteps App of all my Europe blogs & ordered 2 large volumes of my blogs & photos (high volume of writing & photos) & they arrived quickly & are such a blessing to review them to prove I did this tour.

I’ll finish this summary blog now, so please stay safe, happy & healthy & my usual quote I used to put at my endings follows.

Eckart Tolle – “If I am not the hero in my life .. who the hell could it be”? Ciao for now. Stay safe, happy & healthy.

My Europe Tour 2025 – Blog #13 – WW1 Tour 21/10/25

Blog #13 – Amiens – Villers-Bretonneux 21/10/25 Today is an extra special day thought about long ago. It is about a ‘promise’ I secretly made to myself to visit the war area surrounding Villers-Bretonneux & The General Sir John Monash War Memorial just out of town. The promise came about when I was trying to organise a trip in 2017 for the 2018 opening of the underground War Museum at The General Sir John Monash War Memorial with my youngest brother, Rod but I won’t go into why he couldn’t agree but it wasn’t his decision not to. Not long after my first planning of this trip & discussing it with him Rod suddenly passed away (at only 54). Rod was an avid reader of books on WW1 & knew a lot more than I on the subject. After he passed away, I made that promise to myself to take him with me .. much like I’ve done on every trip since 2017.

I have read 2 large, detailed books on who I call our greatest ever Australian, General Sir John Monash who landed on Day 1 at Gallipoli 25th April 1915 & through his efforts & strategies saved countless lives & later ensured the safest retreat from the bloodbath of Gallipoli & in 1918 took control of the whole alliance armed forces of countries (England, USA, Canada, NZ & other countries) in an orchestrated front to defeat the German army. He was the only one to ever achieve that chief honour of such a combined force. Only cruel politics kept him from being rightly called Field Marshall, for he was born in Melbourne of German Jew parents & as he grew always called Australia his country despite his heritage. Too many Field Marshalls & Generals failed miserably throughout this war until they reluctantly took notice of him. He brought the war to an earlier end & saved countless thousands of soldiers & civilians. He was the only Commander to be knighted on the battlefront for about 200years by a reigning monarch, King George V through his amazing & accurate strategies mentioned above. After the war, he also brought reinforced concrete to Australia through Monier, built & designed bridges & rail networks, electricity networks, chief organiser of ANZAC Day marches & Remembrance Day & the repatriation of soldiers & the list goes on. Every student must read his life stories & his achievements, for they are amazing. His name is honoured by universities, highways & hospitals, etc.

So today, 21/10/25 at 9am I meet my guide, Bridgitt on a Tripadvisor 8hr tour – Australian Battlefields Tour. Our first stop is where I met Brigitt at the Cathedrale Notre-Dame d’Amiens, just 200m from my apartment. This Cathedral celebrated its 800 years birthday in 2020 with the first stones laid in 1220! She is the largest gothic medieval cathedral in the world, double the space of Paris Notre Dame & has a 112m high spire. . We also have the opportunity for an early morning peak & to hear the large pipe organ being practiced on. What a sound! The bishop, before the war began, wrote to the Pope asking for him to ensure the German’s don’t destroy the cathedral. It worked however, the bishop being less positive made sure the elaborate stained-glass windows were removed & stored in a large warehouse for safe keeping. The warehouse was eventually blown up by the Germans & only 2 windows survived as per my photo. The ceiling is solid stone & vaulted some 30m high which is an amazing sight in itself. There is just too much to see in this cathedral as well as the insane detail on the outside, carved in stone.

Moving on, you can see the beautiful rolling landscape of the Somme region. Farmland everywhere & perfectly manicured of sugar beet & seed sown ploughed acreage. The cows are kept warm in large sheds & allowed out twice a day, then milked. Such beautiful scenery now hiding the devastation of war.

Villers-Bretonneux is only a few kilometres away from Amiens & is a much smaller village but it has a stronger connection to Australia & it’s almost a religious following, as Australian troops saved this village & many others. There is a school, fully funded by the State of Victoria & is called Victoria School. Each student is fully schooled on the ANZACS & Australian history & culture. Robinvale in Victoria became its sister city in 1984/85 & the townships have had a close bond ever since. I had a chance look into the school due to school holidays & there’s certainly a lot of Australia here.

Just outside the township we visit the Villers-Bretonneux Military Cemetery linked to the Australian Memorial where Bridgitt explained the role to undertake the carving of the Portland stone back in England & shipped out for the required grave after the soldier was clearly identified. Some families were even allowed to have something carved on their headstone along with their regiment or country war insignias, etc. Sadly, the Portland stone is a bit porous & some erosion is happening, making them difficult to read depending upon wind, etc. We saw 2 headstones side by side of 2 brothers who enlisted together & died in the same trench. One was 25 & the other 31yrs old. What a shock for the family.

Turning 180° from the thousand or so headstones, we walked a short distance to the General Sir John Monash Museum where thousands of names are engraved on external walls who could be identified who died in this region. I believe there are 300,000 still declared as missing (never found or identified) for this war. The Western Front & the counterattack led by the Allies in April 1918 shows the amazing courage the Australian troops displayed but also suffered terrible losses.

From looking at the walls of names Bridgitt takes me downstairs to venture into the underground museum but first, we partake in great Australian made barista coffee. The best one since arriving in Europe. This centre tells Australia’s story of the Western Front in the words of those who served through a cutting-edge multimedia centre revealing the Australian Western Front experience through a series of interactive media installations and immersive experiences. You are provided a smartphone to trace your steps & for the respective narration to take place & you have to pay €3 if you didn’t bring your own earpiece for it. I left mine in the apartment. Argh!! There are lots of exhibits & displays. I spent an hour interacting with the displays while Bridgitt organised our lunch there & talked to other tour colleagues. The below images you can see the interactive Western Front images on the floor screen.

Leaving the museum & just up the road towards Le Hamel is the Australian Corps Memorial where it was inaugurated on the 22nd of July 1922 by King George VI and is the last memorial of the Great War to have been erected. On its walls are engraved the names of 10,729 Australian servicemen. Every year, on the 25th of April thousands of people gather on this site at dawn, to commemorate “ANZAC Day”.

After a brief stop we venture down to Chipilly, Somme, Hauts-de-France where from “Camp Cesar viewpoint” you get a fantastic panoramic view of the valley of the Somme which gave its name to the famous “Battle of the Somme” in 1916. On our way to Albert (Albere) you can see for miles the Basilica Notre-Dame de Brebieres, which is of Neo-Byzantine style and was built at the end of the 19th Century. The original was completely destroyed by the Great War & was reconstructed identically by the son of the original architect: Edmond Duthoit. Its dome is covered with gold sheets & bares the statue of the Virgin Marie holding baby Jesus. The gold sheets with the sunlight on it glows like a strong beacon for miles.

Our next stop is the Lochnagar Crater, on Route de la Grande Mine, 80300 Ovillers-la-Boisselle. It is on private property & there are controls in place to limit erosion. The owner has placed a large carpark for buses & cars to see the crater from the fence line. We are in the middle of the Somme offensive of 1916. This crater was one of 19 underground mines planned to explode under the German lines to assist the infantry advance at the start of the battle. This impressive site is 70 feet deep and 330 feet wide which makes it the largest crater in the Somme. The earth & dust was seen to rise over 1,000’ into the air, let alone the noise & vibration. Due to the stalemate in this sector it was discovered the Germans were building their own range of tunnels, but the British beat them with their timing. One tunnel set was found to be only 3m apart, so it was a wonder they couldn’t hear each other dig.

Following part of the Somme River we stop at the 1st Australian Division Memorial, 268 Route d Albert, 80300 Pozieres where the Australian official historian accompanying the troops, Charles Bean would say about Pozières that it “is more densely sown with Australian sacrifice than any other place on earth.” Pozieres sadly is well known to Australians where almost 7,000 men lost their lives here. We also pass by the Windmill Memorial at Pozières where an Australian memorial was established in the 1930s at the suggestion of Australia’s official war historian, Charles Bean. It commemorates the 23,000 casualties; some of which died in the surrounding countryside. Just opposite this site stands the “Tank Memorial” which gives an insight about the part played by the tanks on the Western Front.

Not far from here is the site where the Red Baron, Manfred von Richthofen crashed his plane & died in a dog fight in the sky while taking a reconnaissance flight over to the allied forces. Canadian planes were in the dog fight against other German planes but a few years ago experts disclaimed the Canadian pilot shot him down for it was an Australian machine gunner at his post did the duty. Out of respect (his plane was painted red also) The Red Barron was buried by the allies with military honours after a few days in a village some klms away. Bridgitt states his body has been exhumed 7times until his final resting place since. He died April 21, 1918, at 25yrs old just 4 days until the big push from the allies that ultimately won the war. Monash chose 25th April as the ultimate date for the push as a Gallipoli landing anniversary motivation I suspect.

We later passed by Moquet Farm Pozieres where there were mass tragedies from 1st Australian, 2nd Australian & 4th Australian regiments doing the hard slog into battle. Everything was destroyed but we suffered huge losses. Circling back, we stopped at the Memorial de Thiepval, Rue de L’Ancre, 80300 Thiepval for the “Memorial of the Missing” where it is the largest British War Memorial in the world. This imposing monument overlooks the surrounding rolling countryside. On its walls are engraved the names of over 72,000 soldiers who are rather missing or whose bodies were found but not identified.

We then pass by the Ulster Memorial Tower & Thiepval Wood, Route de Saint-Pierre-Divion, 80300 Thiepval for Ulster Tower, Northern Ireland’s national war memorial. It was one of the first Memorials to be erected on the Western Front and commemorates the men of the 36th Division and all those from Ulster who served in the First World War. The memorial was officially opened on 19 November 1921. From the top of the hill, in the opposite field, you can still see the traces of the Battle of the Somme frontlines and the remains of a German machinegun post.

Getting late in the day 5pm this new parkland called The Memorial Terre-neuvien De Beaumont-hamel, Rue de l’Eglise, 80300 Beaumont-Hamel closes early now into Autumn by we are free to walk the grounds. This parkland is commonly called The Newfoundland Memorial Park which had money raised in Canada for 17 hectares bought & controlled by Canadian Newfoundlanders. It is the largest actual remaining battlefield site in the Somme and a memorial dedicated to all Newfoundlanders who served during the First World War.

The Battle of the Somme was the first major engagement of the regiment where they suffered staggering losses on the 1st of July 1916. The ground, purchased in 1921 by the women of Newfoundland and their government has become the symbol of sacrifice and a source of identity of the island. Here you will find the routes of trenches, craters & the view looking down at the German line after pushing them back with huge losses & countless bravery. The Germans had the prime location to defend themselves. Brigitt refers back down to the creek we just crossed by car where it was found a huge underground bunker was created by the Germans (villagers said the Germans took 2 yrs to build). It starts near the creek bank & then several branches are formed & each branch has well equipped rooms for the commanders & other huge rooms for the soldiers, kitchen, dining, a medical centre, ammunition stores, etc, all underground. This tunnel system nears about 1klm long & goes even past the ridge of machine gun outposts that could see the Australians coming up the hill. The Australians were sitting ducks with no cover.

Just up the road we pull over to a carpark & Brigitt shows me where a house once stood. Totally obliterated, yet you can see in the crater the house footings but with concrete walls between them where the Germans had a tunnel system connecting each house or farmland house, totally out of view of the enemy.

Brigitt points to where her home is & further away her dad’s farm along these fighting lines. Her current home is just 3klms away, yet she has to take me 30mins down the road to Amiens for my drop off. I really felt for her driving all that way & then returning. I did find sufficient Euros to tip her which she was very hesitant to taking, but I won. She is a marvelous tour guide & the history & research she has done is staggering. I was so blessed to have her but couldn’t take too many photos or remember everything she stated, such was the type of tour we were doing. Far too much info but it was very well received. I’ll end my Blog #13 here. Many thanks for reading my blogs. My next blogs will be leaving Amiens for an overnight stay in Paris, then my hi-speed train trip to Barcelona Spain (6.5hrs) where I hope the sun is stronger. Please stay safe, happy & healthy. Cheers.

My Europe Tour 2025 – Blog #12 – Paris to Amiens 20/10/25 

To lessen my perceived stress levels, I thought it best to pay for a taxi direct to Garde de Nord Station instead of taking a domestic line & changing at another station where anything could happen. I pre-booked my 1hr train trip from Paris (Garde de Nord Station) to Amiens long ago in Australia but will be tested by the enormous Garde de Nord train station for the correct platform on which Hall (Zone), as per my previous blogs.

Looking out the front of my Mercure Hotel, it has just stopped raining at 7.45am so I headed off, hoping to see a taxi, but no, so kept walking towards the other Mercure Hotel where there was a taxi rank. I should have had my hotel call a taxi .. der!!! Next to this other Mercure Hotel was the Australian Embassy with our 3 flags for God’s sake!! Arghhh!  .. Go figure, I never saw it before walking past it. Should go in & complain about our treasonous Communist Albanese Government & Commie Governor General, the flogs!!

I see the line of taxis, so I do the right thing & go to the front taxi & stated “Garde de Nord”. The driver repeated in clear English & talked as we loaded my bags into the boot & away, we go. It normally takes around 20mins & €20 for the one-way. I noticed he went another way to my compass brain, so I tracked using Google Maps. The 1st bridge crossing came up & he did a quick turn left at the Eifel Tower, right behind a 6klms/hr street sweeper (I think he saw it, then turned hard). I said “really?”. He shrugged his shoulders. He was supposed to take the 2nd bridge & go to the Arc de Triomphe but no, he took another 2 diversions, then I showed him my Google Maps stating the bleeding obvious. No real English now but in French says he’s in the Bus Lane in peak traffic. Another 2 blocks & we are now at The Notre Dame .. shit!! … not even close to the train station & so far from the hotel, then after me stating a few words, he repeatedly states “Fuck you” x 4 times, to which I stated right back to him. The next turn, he then heads straight to the station in peak crawling traffic. The fare ended up at €28.50 & 33mins. He did know I was right & pissed! ☹ These drivers don’t display any badges, licenses, etc so I took a picture of his number plate to vent to the company later. Don’t ever rip me off or disrespect me!! Kharma comes in many forms, but I hope in this case it hurries up.

Now for the Garde de Nord station. Looking up at the first large board I can see my train # but had to wait to see Amiens (ha .. 2nd stop). The next winning bonus is Hall A (Ground Level) & this is where I entered the station. A win!!! Now to wait the hour or so till boarding. Being early, this Hall 1 is partly deserted, but it won’t be long till it’s crowded & insane.

Travelling to Amiens is for three reasons. The first is where the train runs through it, has more accommodation available & is a bigger city than the village of Villers-Bretonneux (closer to the war section I am preferring to see). For my accommodation I selected La Pléiade Dorée from my Booking.com provider at my Genius Level rate. Travelling to the war locations I wanted to see involves a bit of hardship + hiring a car is a bit risky for me & to firstly obtain one, so I booked the best war tour available through Tripadvisor for tomorrow. It wasn’t cheap but goes for 8hrs & includes a private vehicle with guide.

Arriving at Amiens too early to check in I found this great bakery & coffee shop .. but they need to improve on their coffee. Not good .. but bakery & seating are excellent. I did a bit more of my travel blog, but internet is not working that well, so more frustrations. Jose (off-site manager) contacted me through Booking.com stating in French that my apartment is ready. He continually sends everything in French & I must use Google Translate all the time. He now wants me to go to another address & find a lockbox with a code. Google Maps got me to the street corner but still had to find #6 & then the lockbox. 2 vehicles were up against the small steps, but in more detailed searching, something caught my eye; it was the small lockbox around a water tap & the code worked. Yay!! Now I had to go to another address (turns out around the corner). Opened the steel security gate & then said go to ground floor, room 103 or use the lift or the stairs. Well, I went into that building. No rm 103, lift access doesn’t operate for me. Security is tight at every door I see, so what do I do now?

Obviously, something is wrong, so I went back out to the security gate & reread the message. A young, very accommodating lady with French speaking only, helped me for quite some time & she was also confused on Jose’s messaging. With huge thankful smiles I let her go. Then my frustration boiled again. Nothing makes sense. Contemplating what strategies are open to me & after complete frustration I went back to see the people at the lockbox, but they shrugged their shoulders on having limited English. I typed a strong msg back to Jose & in doing so some photos turned up showing the lockbox near the concrete steps, the gate & then the back doors of building 1. I retraced my steps back through the gate (Building 1) & found more building units behind it. Entering each foyer, I was able to see the letterboxes & that told me which building had Rm103. Why he said to use the stairs or the lift got me. Well, I arrived & the apartment is very clean & well set out. Kitchen, dining & bedroom all 1 room. Quite small in area but it all fits. Separate bathroom & WC. Washing machine under kitchen bench (common in France & Germany) & that is a bonus for my laundry needs.

Unloading all my gear & wanting to venture out more & to find a grocery store for my stay I followed the security advice & escaped through the security gate to stroll down the main corridor street (no traffic allowed). This corridor was quite wide & fully paved & a little slippery when some drizzle rain started. The older buildings were quite impressive but some of the new buildings were ordinary. The first ugly one is Amiens Train Station as per my photo & the second one is right out front of the railway station & was an architect’s/ owner’s ego to build the highest building in the region but the Amiens citizens call it the “ugly pencil“. I note, down another street is the Cathedrale Notre-Dame d’Amiens with restoration works happening. It is obvious this cathedral has a very important history for more of my research.

Now closer to dinner time I’ll venture out before dark & then bed early for a HUGE day tomorrow, so I’ll end my Blog #12 here. Many thanks for reading my blogs. My next blogs will be living the WW1 experience & keeping a ‘promise’ I made some time ago to visit the Sir John Monash War Memorial at Villers-Bretonneux & other places he was well-versed on, etc for my youngest brother, Rod who suddenly passed away in 2017. Please stay safe, happy & healthy. Cheers.