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La Targette French cemetery
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| Arras |
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| waiting for the train in Arras |
Serge, our host's husband drove us to Arras the next morning so we could catch the 0837 train to Amiens where we would board a bus to Caen. On the way we passed by the La Targette French Military cemetery (11,443 soldiers from WW1 and 593 from WW2), as well as an ossuary containing the bones of over 3200 soldiers unidentified. A few metres up the road we passed the German cemetery, Neuville-St Vaast, the largest German cemetery in France, containing 44,833 burials, yet another figure I found hard to comprehend. This part of France can be very sobering and although life goes on, times change and generations pass, we must always be aware of what happened here. Even now we are waging a war, the war on terrorism that is a daily concern here in France and as I write this it is two days before an election that might change the course of this country's future... We arrived in Arras only to be rudely reminded of this fact at the train station:
The train was late by almost a half hour thus making me a doubter of the official SNCF service but we arrived in Amiens early enough to allow me to walk about this beautiful old city for a while. Amiens Cathedral is the tallest of the large Gothic churches of the 13th century and the largest in France of its kind. Jules Verne lived here until his death in 1905. The city is known for its macarons d'Amiens, almond paste biscuits, and flamiche aux poireaux, a puff pastry tart made with leeks and cream. Rouen was our next stop, another port city on the Seine with a rich history, the site of the execution of Joan of Arc. Caen was next, our destination for the next four days.
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Amiens cathedral
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| Rouen from the bus |
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| coffee stop between Rouen and Caen |
We found 19 Rue du Pot d'Ètain after taking a No.3 bus from the
Gare Routiere in Caen to the
Planitere stop and walking a few metres to the address, meeting up with our host Valerie and her two cats. We would be here for 4 days, ample time we hope to explore the region and the city itself.
gws
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| 19 Rue du Pot d'Ètain, Caen, France |
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| les Candidates |
