Vimy or Dday Beaches - Or Both and either be tired or skip a day in Paris
Aug 3rd, 2011, 06:53 PM
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Vimy or Dday Beaches - Or Both and either be tired or skip a day in Paris
Wow - It's been a long time since I've been here! Our last few trips have been very local and haven't required the expertise of fellow travellers!
My husband and I are on our way to France for two weeks. This is our first trip to France. We have been to Greece and three times to Italy. So we are not new to Europe but are new to France.
The first bit is booked - 4 nights in Vaquerayas (sorry haven't learned to spell it off by heart yet) in Provence and then 3 nights in Beaune, Burgundy. From Beaune we have 7 more nights.
My thought was to spend 3 nights visiting war sites and then 4 nights in Paris. We are Canadian so would like to see both Vimy Ridge and Juno Beach, in particular. However I can't quite make the driving times/distance fit into 3 nights in one place - which we generally prefer - leaving the 4 nights in Paris.
I feel like my options are:
1. Spend the three nights in a place roughly in the middle - Reims? Amiens? Something else? - and just deal with 3 long days of driving around to see everything.
2. Split it into 2 nights - Reims? - and then 1 night - Honfleur? St.Malo? - and then head to Paris.
3. We're not huge fans of a one-nighter - so, could decide to skip one or the other of the war sites (which would you choose?) and spend the 3 nights in one place.
4. Split into 2 nights near Vimy, 2 nights near the beaches and leave ourselves only 3 nights in Paris. We have never been to Paris.
It's kind of hurting my head and I would really really really appreciate any tips from anyone! It seems like a lot of driving time between Vimy and the DDay Beaches, and it seems to require a car - but perhaps I am not interpreting everything correctly.
Thank you in advance!
PN
My husband and I are on our way to France for two weeks. This is our first trip to France. We have been to Greece and three times to Italy. So we are not new to Europe but are new to France.
The first bit is booked - 4 nights in Vaquerayas (sorry haven't learned to spell it off by heart yet) in Provence and then 3 nights in Beaune, Burgundy. From Beaune we have 7 more nights.
My thought was to spend 3 nights visiting war sites and then 4 nights in Paris. We are Canadian so would like to see both Vimy Ridge and Juno Beach, in particular. However I can't quite make the driving times/distance fit into 3 nights in one place - which we generally prefer - leaving the 4 nights in Paris.
I feel like my options are:
1. Spend the three nights in a place roughly in the middle - Reims? Amiens? Something else? - and just deal with 3 long days of driving around to see everything.
2. Split it into 2 nights - Reims? - and then 1 night - Honfleur? St.Malo? - and then head to Paris.
3. We're not huge fans of a one-nighter - so, could decide to skip one or the other of the war sites (which would you choose?) and spend the 3 nights in one place.
4. Split into 2 nights near Vimy, 2 nights near the beaches and leave ourselves only 3 nights in Paris. We have never been to Paris.
It's kind of hurting my head and I would really really really appreciate any tips from anyone! It seems like a lot of driving time between Vimy and the DDay Beaches, and it seems to require a car - but perhaps I am not interpreting everything correctly.
Thank you in advance!
PN
Aug 3rd, 2011, 09:08 PM
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There's no easy public transport option between Vimy and Normandy, and you're going to write off at least a day for each. You can get to either by public transport - but you then really need to book a tour or have a car
In Britain, choosing the WW1 sites almost always wins hands down. Immense numbers of our forbears were mown down there for half a decade, and practically every family in the land has a relative somewhere in the mud. The Normandy landings, by contrast, lasted a few days, incurred a tiny butcher's bill by the standards of industrialised war and involved relatively few Britons in a war which affected the entire population (the whole Normandy campaign killed fewer Britons than one night in the Blitz)
I suspect it's much the same for Canadians. The Normandy beaches were the site of one shortish battle which killed relatively few Canadians (there are 5,000 Canadians in Norman WW2 cemeteries - mostly killed in later battles inland: Allied bombing between June and July 1944 killed 20,000 French civilians in Normandy). Vimy, by contrast, commemorates the deaths of what must have felt like an entire generation of Canadians throughout a five-year war almost entirely concentrated into the area 100 miles around Vimy.
May be different for your family, of course. But Vimy commemorates something that affected far more Canadians, over a far longer period, than the D-Day landings.
In Britain, choosing the WW1 sites almost always wins hands down. Immense numbers of our forbears were mown down there for half a decade, and practically every family in the land has a relative somewhere in the mud. The Normandy landings, by contrast, lasted a few days, incurred a tiny butcher's bill by the standards of industrialised war and involved relatively few Britons in a war which affected the entire population (the whole Normandy campaign killed fewer Britons than one night in the Blitz)
I suspect it's much the same for Canadians. The Normandy beaches were the site of one shortish battle which killed relatively few Canadians (there are 5,000 Canadians in Norman WW2 cemeteries - mostly killed in later battles inland: Allied bombing between June and July 1944 killed 20,000 French civilians in Normandy). Vimy, by contrast, commemorates the deaths of what must have felt like an entire generation of Canadians throughout a five-year war almost entirely concentrated into the area 100 miles around Vimy.
May be different for your family, of course. But Vimy commemorates something that affected far more Canadians, over a far longer period, than the D-Day landings.
Aug 3rd, 2011, 09:31 PM
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Just a clarification, please...so you won't already have a car during your Provence/Burgundy portion of the trip. Is that correct? And if not, you prefer to not rent a car for the remainder of the trip, or you don't care?
Aug 3rd, 2011, 11:58 PM
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Definitely Vimy. At the risk of being lashed at, I found the Normandy beaches to be just that..beaches. I know the history but just looking at them is not terrribly evocative. Lots died but the forces swept over the beaches and went inland. The monument alone is worth the trip
Aug 4th, 2011, 02:25 AM
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PN, I can't comment on your logistics, as I have not yet visited Juno Beach. But I have spent time at Vimy Ridge.
You might find this trip report an interesting read, and it will give you some indication of how profoundly moving the Great War sites are, including Vimy Ridge:
http://www.fodors.com/community/euro...nd-picardy.cfm
You might find this trip report an interesting read, and it will give you some indication of how profoundly moving the Great War sites are, including Vimy Ridge:
http://www.fodors.com/community/euro...nd-picardy.cfm
Aug 4th, 2011, 03:01 AM
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We have been to both but if you only have time for one then another vote for Vimy. I think it could be done as a long day trip - here is a link to the Veteran's Affairs website that has info regarding the train from Paris and the shuttle bus to the site
http://www.veterans.gc.ca/eng/sub.cf...ctions/vimymem
Also - suggest you read The Stone Carvers by Jane Urquhart before you go - I think it would make a visit to Vimy even more interesting
http://www.chapters.indigo.ca/books/...6397-item.html
http://www.veterans.gc.ca/eng/sub.cf...ctions/vimymem
Also - suggest you read The Stone Carvers by Jane Urquhart before you go - I think it would make a visit to Vimy even more interesting
http://www.chapters.indigo.ca/books/...6397-item.html
Aug 4th, 2011, 04:18 PM
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Thank you! You've totally helped me to make up my mind.
Would anyone have advice on a good city/town to stay in, in the vicinity of VImy? Reims seems to be a fairly big dot on the map (and we'll have just spent a week in smaller areas) and my book tells me it's the gateway to Champagne country so that also appeals to us. But am open to any other suggestions, for sure.
For what it's worth - yes we will have a car upon departing Beaune and I figured to keep it until heading into Paris. I just wasn't quite sure if the sites were accessible by train which would make for faster, and less tiring travel time.
I have indeed read the Stone Carvers, thank you Elizabeth! I quite enjoyed it.
Thank you again - your perspectives really helped!
Would anyone have advice on a good city/town to stay in, in the vicinity of VImy? Reims seems to be a fairly big dot on the map (and we'll have just spent a week in smaller areas) and my book tells me it's the gateway to Champagne country so that also appeals to us. But am open to any other suggestions, for sure.
For what it's worth - yes we will have a car upon departing Beaune and I figured to keep it until heading into Paris. I just wasn't quite sure if the sites were accessible by train which would make for faster, and less tiring travel time.
I have indeed read the Stone Carvers, thank you Elizabeth! I quite enjoyed it.
Thank you again - your perspectives really helped!
Aug 11th, 2011, 04:21 AM
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I have visited both Vimy and Juno and the other Normandy beaches a number of times, and I agree with the others that with the time available your clear choice is Vimy.
The monument at Vimy is Canada's principal overseas memorial for the First World War and it is simply stunning. It is by no means a glorification of the victory, but a very moving tribute to the toil and suffering by Canadians to achieve that victory.
The place to stay is certainly Arras, as it is very close to Vimy and quite an interesting town--much of which was rebuilt after the war.
If you devote three days to this area, you should definitely stop on the way at the Newfoundland Memorial at Beaumont-Hamel which pays tribute to the terrible losses by the Newfoundland Regiment on the first day of the Somme. You can still walk the trenches there, and as at Vimy, there is an interpretation Centre staffed by knowledgeable young Canadians.
The battle of Normandy was a very bloody battle indeed, especially for the Canadian Army, but much of the fighting took place inland in the two and a half months after the landings. To really appreciate this achievement requires a visit of several days.
There is much worth reading on Vimy, but Pierre Berton's book is a good quick read.
The monument at Vimy is Canada's principal overseas memorial for the First World War and it is simply stunning. It is by no means a glorification of the victory, but a very moving tribute to the toil and suffering by Canadians to achieve that victory.
The place to stay is certainly Arras, as it is very close to Vimy and quite an interesting town--much of which was rebuilt after the war.
If you devote three days to this area, you should definitely stop on the way at the Newfoundland Memorial at Beaumont-Hamel which pays tribute to the terrible losses by the Newfoundland Regiment on the first day of the Somme. You can still walk the trenches there, and as at Vimy, there is an interpretation Centre staffed by knowledgeable young Canadians.
The battle of Normandy was a very bloody battle indeed, especially for the Canadian Army, but much of the fighting took place inland in the two and a half months after the landings. To really appreciate this achievement requires a visit of several days.
There is much worth reading on Vimy, but Pierre Berton's book is a good quick read.
Aug 11th, 2011, 04:52 AM
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Another vote for Arras. There is an excellent train from Paris and there are taxis that will take you to the monument and pick you up at a later time. Arras itself is a very pleasant town and certainly worth a visit. I also agree with the Stone Carvers as an excellent pre-trip read.
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