France and the Somme, 2006

Our visit to France in 2006, and the 90th Anniversary of the Battle of the Somme.
We centred our 2006 trip around a tour of the Somme battlefields, organized by Victor's cousin, Roger Gomersall. We commenced our holiday by flying (via Bangkok) to Paris. We took up residence in a tiny 'studio' appartment on Boulevarde Clichy, 5 doors from the Moulin Rouge in Monmartre. From our base we explored our local area of Monmartre, including La Place du Tertre, and L'Eglise du Sacre Coeur. Then we used the metro and suburban trains to visit L'Isle de la Cite, Le Champ de Mars and La Tour Eiffel, and Versailles. We walked under the streets of Paris through the ghoulish catacombes, where the bones and skulls of thousands of Parisians, victims of the plague, are stacked to form walls .

Our appartment entrance on Blvd Clichy, Monmartre.	Moulin Rouge (about 5 doors along Blvd Clichy)	Victor with a baguette in the old-fashioned, tiny lift.	The view of the inside courtyard from our appartment window

Notre Dame Cathedral and the river Seine.		Barbara by the Eiffel Tower
		;
Victor in front of the Ecole Militaire, at the other end of the Champ de Mars from the Tour Eiffel.		The front courtyard of the Royal Palace at Versailles

Hall of Mirrors at Versailles.		In the Catacombes under the streets of Paris

A street in Monmartre, with Eglise du Sacre Coeur in background.		Barbara in les jardins du Luxembourg

Eglise du Sacre Coeur, taken from the Seine with huge zoom!		Isle de la cite and Notre Dame
After our lovely sojourn in our Monmartre attic in Paris, we took the TGV (Train Grande Vitesse) to Calais, where we met with the bus with our Gomersall Somme Tour, which had just crossed the channel from Dover. Tour of the Somme Battlefields. This tour was organized by Roger Gomersall, with a specialist travel company, to commemorate the 90th Anniversary of the Battle of the Somme in 1916, with special reference to our Uncle William Gomersall (Lieut.), who was killed on 1st July 1916 by machine gun fire as he led his men out of the trench. On board the bus we met Roger Gomersall, who lives in county Durham, UK, and his brother David Gomersall, who lives in Birmingham, Alabama, USA. With David were his sons, Thomas Gomersall and Geoffrey Gomersall. and his grandson Chase Goodwin, all from USA.

Geoffrey,Thomas,Chase Goodwin, Victor, Barbara, Roger, David.		David Gomersall

Thomas Gomersall		Geoffrey Gomersall

Victor in a reconstructed WW1 trench.		Roger Gomersall at Thiepval Memorial.

Thiepval Memorial - arch, cross, and cemetery.		Walking towards Uncle William's trench from Mametz

We laid a poppy on a cross at the exact spot of Uncle William's last stand, in the middle of what is now a field of wheat.		Prince Charles delivered the address at the 90th Anniversary of the Battle of the Somme, at Thiepval on 1st July 2006.

The Australian memorial at Villers-Bretonneux		At Ypres, in Belgium, there is a daily last post ceremony commemorating the Commonwealth soldiers who fought and died there. Many members of the Belgian Fire Brigade are wearing Australian army uniforms.

Leaving Calais on a hot July day.		The channel ferry taking us across from Calais to Dover.

Victor's and Barbara's Travel Diaries