Peronne

Anne is considering migrating and taking up a flowershop franchise .................

.... or buying up all the lace curtains in Picardy.

This beer is absolutely the worst beer we have EVER tasted. Perhaps it could be drunk in Lent.

However, it helped wash down the light salad we decided to have for lunch.

The more obsessive of our readers might go back through the blog and count how many photographs of food have been taken. This figure could be entered into an Excel spreadsheet, against the date, and an informative chart could be drawn. Or not.

Around the Somme

Potatoes

Mine crater at La Boisselle. Exploded on 1st day of the Somme battle.

British memorial at Theipval.

German cemetery at Fricourt.

Beluga anyone?

Several times a week, Airbus sends a giant gtransport plane to Albert, to ferry parts of the A380 fuselage back to Toulouse.
We waited and waited, and finally .....

... the Beluga appeared, and landed.

Amazing

But first, breakfast in Albert

Cathy was so proud of her disposable umbrella. What they didn't tell her was that the thing was designed to be disposed of on day one!

Meanwhile, Anne had sniffed out a patisserie. The following photos should be considered as a type of foreplay.

Peter had a headache - he had to decide where we are going today.

Morning in Albert

Anne and Peter woke up to this view into the square in Albert

The Basilica. During the battle of the Somme, the Virgin and Child statue on the top of the basilica was hit by a shell, and for 3 years, hung precariously above the church. Finally, some months before the war ended, the statue fell.

Our parisian weather deserted us, with cold, windy and rainy days.

And , of course, Incy Wincy wasn't going anywhere near that bloody water spout. It stayed in the Porter's shower instead.

Amiens

Soon after we arrived, this parking policeman appeared

but we managed to fob him off, and get round to the front of the cathedral.

which was truly magnificent.

Villers-Bretonneux

German trenches at Le Hamel

Primary school playground in Villers-Bretonneux

Australian War Memorial, Villers-Bretonneux

Le Hamel

A bleak, windy morning at Le Hamel, where Monash led Australian troops to a significant victory in 1918

an approaching rain squall

the village of Hamel, from which Monash's troops fought up to the top of the ridge

The Australian memorial

Shopping in Albert

No, it's not a Japanese translation - the Supermarket is called "Simply"

Peter really wanted to push this latest fashion in supermarket trolleys .....

.. and while he was fascinated with the hache au cheval (horse mince) on the left, he had no idea about what part of the horse was involved in the right-hand package.

still, it was good to see that some members of the family had opened up a branch in Albert.

En Albert

As I said, two beers, a cider and a Pastis

Anne in the town square in Albert

Interior of the Basilica

et un garcon gris avec le menu pour petit dejunier