Vimy Ridge was a very significant Canadian battle during the Great War. I think most of us know the name, but not much about what happened. The site where the battle took place is now Canadian soil--the French government gave it to Canada as an act of thanks for the Canadian lives lost on that soil.
The site itself is found within a forest a ways north of Paris, near Arras. I rode my bike from Arras, and knew I had found it when I saw the pitched and rolling land, moulded by the shelling of one side by the other. The two sides' trenches were incredibly close at certain points--something like 30 feet. The forest around it is very peaceful now; I realise that the trees have only been there since that war ended. There were several forests in that area of Europe--in France and Belgium--that were completely flattened during WWI.
The funniest part, though, had to be the warnings not to enter the forest due to the risk of unexploded mines; except there were sheep all though there (I knew something was keeping the grass down!), and a guy showed up while I was there and simply hopped the electrical fence to round up his flock.The monument at Vimy Ridge is absolutely beautiful. It was recently restored (2007, I believe) at some incredible cost. It was really windy, but really sunny, and it couldn't have been a better day to take photos. The white of the monument makes it even more impressive, I think.
Riding back to Arras, I passed a German cemetary from WWI, and the difference was amazing. It was a field of plain metal crosses, with nothing elaborate--no monuments, and barely any signs. The Germans may have been the 'bad guys', but the soldiers were no different from the soldiers from any other country--drafted into a nightmare.
I remember being really struck by the undulating ground too, when I went to Normandy. It's crazy that the ground still bears those scars, but good that they left it that way as a reminder.
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