Vimy

We made a stop at Vimy Ridge on the way to Calais from Paris.  Sobering and isolated.  You drive down country roads until you come to a turning with a small sign saying Canadian Vimy Memorial.  Through a forest with eerie green bumps covered in grass - so green and silent, towering dark trees.  Onto an open plain where you can see the towering monument in the distance.  There was no one there.  It was cold and rainy.  Fitting somehow.  You can walk right up to the monument and over it.  The day we were there was the day after the anniversary of the battle of Vimy Ridge where Canadian soldiers distinguished themselves by winning this ridge from the enemy.  Thousands dead.  There were small bouquets set at the base of the memorial from India, and South Africa and an elementary school in the nearby village, and Newfoundland, and Canada.  From the top of the hill, through the rain and mist you could see the land falling away from the ridge.  Signs still warned of unexploded shells.  There's not much to say but we were glad that we went.