Day 1:
Joyce was ready and waiting when we all arrived at St Pancras International. It was lovely to finally meet some people from the forum, in particular Elaine (bosuncat) and Cindy (Nixon). Everything was timely, the Eurostar arriving and departing on time. We arrived in Lille after about an hour and a half, the Eurostar being an ideal time for those like me who travelled from up north and whose train left at 5:30 am for a snooze!
The hotel is about 5 minutes away from the station, so an almost negligible transfer time. The Novotel hotel lives up to it’s brand. Its very clean, staff are great, always ready to help, free internet, daily room cleans, and the many TV channels with programmes in English, French, Italian, and German. For some reason, BBC news, BBC1 and BBC2 were available! Watching CSI and Disney films in French was bizzare and fun at the same time haha! Staff widely spoke a good level of English, so language isn’t necessarily a barrier here. Breakfast was a good range, everything fresh, typical all you can eat continental breakfast.
It was VE bank holiday in France on the day we arrived but Joyce arranged for a tour around Lille which is a nice small city to get around and there were plenty of restaurants and shops open. The one thing that wasn’t open was the one thing most of us wanted to see- the cathedral!
A drink (or three) was included when we got back to the hotel.
The biggest expense on this holiday was food. I normally try and book half board because of the expense of food abroad, but be prepared to spend around 30 euros a day on food/drink.
Day 2:
This was a busy day, with the coach leaving at 8:45 and us not arriving back at the hotel until 9:30pm. We started our tour at Poperinge where we got to see Talbot House. This was a place where the troops used to hang out and has now been converted into a nice little museum. We also got to see the place where deserters were shot. From here we went to the Ypres Salient and Tyne Cot cemetery. This was a busy day as as well as all the advertised memorials, Joyce the TM managed to pack in a few more along the way before we ended up at Menin Gate for a last post memorial. I found three of the people from my local town that are memorialised which was good. The day was extremely busy, but there was plenty of opportunity to eat and have a look around, for which I think the whole group was appreciative.
Day 3:
Although I overlaid and woke up to the TM knocking on my door, it was much less hectic today, although we were out slightly earlier, new were home about 6:30 which gave everyone a better chance to chill out before the included meal at 7:30pm. Today we saw Thiepval memorial which was far more beautiful than I had imagined. We also visited the Newfoundland Memorial which was amazing,. We saw the trenches that had been preserved and there were a lot of ambitious tour guides to show us around.
Day 4:
Before going back to the station we went to Ypres to visit the Inflanders museum which was a delight! I learnt so much but it was also a relaxing day! Hadnt bought enough euros to get some of the souvenirs which is a bummer but I have learnt for next time!
Any questions about the trip, let me know!
Mark
