On the ridge

Not once, not twice, but three times we have been to Vimy Ridge. We've seen it in each season except winter. And it's still awesome.

View from the front of the memorial. It was a gorgeous day and you could see for miles.

Yep, it's high.


The memorial smells like sheep. The use the sheep to trim the grass as it isn't a big deal if the sheep steps on an explosive.





When they restored the monument, they recarved a lot of the names. According to a video we watched in the interpretive centre, the stonecarvers came to treat each letter with such reverence.

On our tour of the tunnels the first time around, the guide pointed this out. The story goes that while waiting to attack above ground, some industrious soldier carved this out of the soft chalk. We didn't get a proper snapshot then. This time around, we were in larger group so we were herded around the tunnels quite quickly. Luckily, we both kept an eye out for this, ducking into each room.


There's a small band of metal that terminates at either end in a maple leaf stone.

I'm not sure what this statue is about in Lille. We went from London to Lille, and then Lille to Vimy. It was a French holiday so nobody was around in the morning.

Look at how skillful the stone is carved to resemble cloth.




Even in the icon, the figure of Canada mourning is kept. They could have just designed the icon to have two columns but I guess they felt it was important to have the figure there too.


George Devloo would pick up stranded Canadians at the Vimy rail station. See, the village Vimy is near the monument but it is way more convenient to go to Arras. He would drive wayward tourists and student guides to the memorial out of the kindness of his heart. He died last year. The photo was in the interpretive centre and the text came from an MP's speech in the House of Commons.


We took a lot of photos. I guess to prove that we were there.

Birka

Here are some photos of Birka. The one bad thing about the trip to Birka was that we only had the Viking sights pointed out to us near the end of our stay. We climbed the hill with the cross and saw a church which looked very picturesque. So we assumed those were the only sights to see. Fast forward to our tour and our guide points everything cool we didn't get to see. Thanks. Oh well. It was sunny and we got to make boat jokes.

This was a church honouring a monk who had come to the island to convert everyone. The door had scenes from the Bible.

Close-up of the church door.


Sign on the path that leads to the church. I like the dragon.

A cross honouring that same monk. Guess he was a big deal.

These are obviously Viking boats since they are boats on a Viking island.


Every summer archaeology students come to Birka to do some house building Viking style. I guess they discover how the Vikings built houses using tools and materials from that era. Looked pretty good for construction done by BAs. Thatching on the roof


I guess the students slept in the buildings? And had to have this because they ran fires?


DarNic


Bad bad pony. The museum had dioramas of what the town looked like back in its heyday.


This was a sleepy table on the way back.


Technically, this is not from Birka. This is a photo of aquavit. You eat it with the traditional Swedish appetizer of herring and bread. They keep it in the ice to keep it cool and pour a little bit into the glass. It's a bit licorice-cy.

What is the traditional fourth anniversary present?

I have a feeling it is not iPhones. Thanks honey for grouping up with
me in this epic quest called life. Here's hoping we reach level 60.