Villers-Bretoneaux - Champagne

Simon not well, Rose very tired & also concerned about her tiredness etc. Flight to Paris was on-time. Simon dosed-up with Cold and Flu tablkets. Rose very tired. Long flight with some turbulence, just for fun - both kids threw up during turbulence. Rose not good on flight, I also felt sick – Steve seemed only one to be unaffected. Eventually landed in Paris – 5:30am, pitch black & 0⁰. Took ages for bags to come through. Charles De Gaulle airport quite a maze with travelators in all directions & angles. Car was delayed so we had some breakfast & waited for the sun to rise before heading out of Paris.

This was our first experience with our Tom Tom GPS - now affectionately known as Tommy - a bit of a challenge as Tom Tom seemed to take quite a while to get signal & then work out where we were/how to get to Villers Bretonneaux. But succeed he did!!

Country incredibly foggy, a “real pea-souper” – visibly was extremely limited as we headed north west. Kids slept – hard to see anything beyond about 20-50 mtrs. Arrived Villers Bretonneaux & found the Franco-Australian Museum & spoke with curator, current president of the association. Museum quite moving. Visited the Australian cemetery outside V-B (incredibly cold & damp – everyone tired & freezing). Visited Hamel where new display & memorial set up for Australian story of Hamel offensive (this is where the G-G recently visited and laid wreath). Open aired & I’m sure in summer the picnic areas, vastness of area showing exactly what happened would be more appreciated than when jet lagged & freezing. All the wreaths were still there left over from Remembrance Day – so grey, overcast & foggy – quite depressing.

By this time I think we had all had enough of Somme battlegrounds so headed to Amien to visit the cathedral & have lunch. Still bitterly cold & not a lot of inspiration. A warm lunch & respite from the cold helped cheer everyone. Cathedral cold, but quite wonderful & very old. Then headed directly to Lavanne (just north east of Reims), where beds & 3 nights without moving, flying or doing anything else awaited us. Rose slept approx. 4 hours during the day – she wasn’t well & complained of feeling sick, headaches etc. Simon not complaining, but still sounding awful.

Arrived Lavanne – tiny village, gorgeous B&B in converted stables. Our rooms are perfect. Left the kids to unpack while Steve & I drove to nearby village to obtain some dinner supplies – as there was no facilities for dinner in the village, we decided to go to the supermarket & get some stuff to cook back at the B&B. Check-out seemed to take a long time, Steve & I both tired & just wanting by this stage to get back, have a shower & “stop”. Unfortunately Steve took wrong turn on return trip & we ended up on unknown motorway. It was peak-hour & very very busy. Eventually Tommy managed to get us home, but took a lot longer & was more stressful than was really needed at that time of the day - very interesting silence in the car strangely enough. Rose not at all well – very droopy, lots of tears & feeling quite awful. Rest of family tired & jet-lagged.
Heated dinner we had purchased from the supermarket (very yummy), before all retiring to bed – I think last light’s out was at 8.00pm! It was wonderful to stretch out in fabulous bed & know that we could sleep until we wanted stretch out & not cramped in an airline seat!

Tuesday 8 December: Fog lifted, but still very typical winter European sky – grey & overcast. We all awoke early, but refreshed & very comfortable. Rose still not good. Breakfast was wonderful. Rose still very teary & not wanting to eat & complaining of feeling awful. Steve losing patience (quite unlike him!!). After breakfast, Simon Steve & I took a walk around the village of Lavanne – not a lot to see, but good to get out & stretch the legs. Still very cold & overcast. Rose curled up on bed.

Headed off to Reims to visit cathedral & get a feel for the area. Weather clear, but overcast. All in good spirits. Tablets seem to have helped Rose. Still very cold. Reims Cathedral large, cold & amazing – foundations laid in 1211, 25 French kings' coronations took place in the cathedral. The cathedral is also famous for its stained glass window by Chagall and its smiling angel. Visited large Christmas market stalls, Rose bought her cross which she had been searching for for a while. Christmas carols broadcast, weather cold – everyone in good mood (tablets obviously working for Rosie!) – as Simon said, Christmas carols took on a whole new meaning in that environment. Decided to visit a museum however as we had missed the morning session (half of France seems to stop between 12:30 – 2.00pm for lunch), we headed into the Hemingway bar for a coffee. While in there it started snowing. Weather seemed a lot colder & novelty of snow became quite less of a novelty as walking around with snow blowing in faces, hair & jackets getting wet became more of a reality.

Museum we had wanted to see & was supposedly open, appeared to be locked. Weather so cold & snow now becoming more determined we bought some dinner & headed back to supermarket to stock up on supplies before heading home for a night in, in front of fire. Rose headed down-hill & feeling awful. Hot showers & change into dry clothes, sitting in front of fire with a restorative while snow fell outside was quite comforting.