Visiting Vimy Ridge.

[WesternCanadaKing]

Originally Posted by Mean Mr. Mustard

I believe that is the Maple Leaf in question carved into the wall of that god awful trench in which so many Canadians died.

I know seeing the green fields of France is going to be one of the things that I see before I die. I can't even imagine what those boys went through over there.

Great pictures by the way.

Its actually in the tunnels that the Canadians built before launching the assault. Theres tonnes of graffiti on the walls, but thats the only one that they're sure is originally from the battle.

Vimy is amazing. I was there a couple summers ago and it was a very humbling experience. The monument is really stunning, plus you get a free tour of the tunnels from a Canadian university student.

As another poster mentioned, its a bit difficult to get there. I was lucky in that I was staying with a friend who lived in Arras and she was able to drive me out there. I'd recommend staying in a hotel there; its a great town and you'll see tonnes of Canadian flags everywhere. I remember when I first got there off the train, the first thing I saw was a war memorial and large Canadian flag hanging outside a hotel behind it.
The German trenches are the ones close to you in this pic, and the Canadian ones are the ones further away. Only a couple metres between them. Its really cool how all the ground is still full of craters, some of them are very deep.







Also, Arras is a really beautiful town, its been around since the time period when the Romans controlled France, so its really cool to see.

Edit: Also, Brussels (I'm not sure if thats where you'll be in Belgium, but I'm assuming) is an amazing city, I liked it just as much as I did Paris. The Grand Place and the Atomium were really cool sites to see

[burn_baby_burn]

Just a comment on the maple leaf carved in the tunnels at Vimy Ridge. According to my tour guide, I'm sure there is a slightly different interpretation with every guide, they are not 100% sure that the maple leaf was carved by a Canadian soldier during the war. The assumption is that it was. I think they said that the caverns were closed off to the public and access was only permitted by guided tour in the 1960's. Before that anybody could have gone below and walked through the caverns at their leisure. That is why there is so much other graffiti down there.

Also there are caverns that are closed to the public that have a lot more carvings from Canadian Soldiers during the war. I saw a program on CBC years ago, possibly the 80th anniversary of the battle, that showed numerous carvings. The one that struck me was a solider from Manyberries (its near where I grew up), who carved his name with the date on the eve of the assault.