Apologies

I know the readership have been eagerly awaiting an update so I apologise for not providing one earlier. It’s been really hard to get to Internet Cafes; some towns haven’t heard of the internet quite yet, in other places the only option has been $25.00 per hour and then London was just too busy!

So what have we been doing? Travelling and being in London is the answer. The first day in London was quite good. Most people spent their time just shopping in the general region of Leceister Square/Regent Street/Haymarket. The second day was absorbed by our meeting with the (Honourable?) Jonathan Hunt at New Zealand house. Unfortunately he didn’t seem to be well informed on what we had been doing in Europe but the views from the top were magnificent. In Singapore now but my time is up!

Wipers (Ypres)

Parris was indeed a beautiful city. Rather than the huge monuments of the Effiel Tower and Notre Dame I hugely enjoyed sitting in the grubby bars having cups of coffee. Thats not to say Raphaels religous scenes weren’t cool also the early Iranian and Egyptian antiquities were spectacular. So we spent time today looking at the the New Zealand involvement in the battles around Ypres, I was pleased to see a relative of mine marked on the Messines Memorial to the missing.
- David Satherley.

Today we’ve seen a staggering amount of graves and monuments. We did our second haka today at the Messines Memorial which was again pretty powerful. It’s kind of amazing how flat this country is – we drove past a slight mound, perhaps a little higher than the height difference between the field and the art block at school, and people were putting on their hiking boots to go walking up it! It just reinforces how important these little ‘ridges’ – slightly higher rolls of rolling countryside – were. In talking other guys on these battlefields and cemetaries, it has become apparent to all of us just how terrifying it would have been to fight in the middle of these featureless fields that would have been even more featureless when churned up with mud and dust. Myself, I really just can’t take in seeing 20, 30 and 40 thousand men buried under your feet. These cemetaries aren’t neccessarily sad places to be, but when you think about what the place would look like with 40,000 men standing up with all their families and their descendants it’s quite overwhelming. The Menin Gate ceremony tonight went very well.

Paris and Arras

I’ve just realised I haven’t written anything about our second day in Paris. I went with the group going to the Louvre. I don’t really know anything about art nor even particularly like the type of stuff they hold but I thought it would be worth a visit. I made the pilgrimage to see La Joconde (the Mona Lisa) and then was at a loss at what else to see in the 2-3 hours we were there. I guess I found it interesting enough but I wouldn’t go again unless I had something specific to see. Having said that, I don’t feel dissatisfied with having gone since I expected it to be like that. I gather the guys who went to Versailles had a great time. We spent that afternoon at Montmatre amongst throngs of tourists and hawkers trying to catch your wrist in ‘friendship bracelets’ which they weave on  unsolicited then demand money for.

 Today was all Battlefields in the Somme. First visit was to the Newfoundland Cemetary which was interesting since at the time, the Newfoundlanders (?) were independent of Canada and formed their own battalion. Went on to the Lochnagar Mine crater which was absolutely immense and then several large cemetaries and the Thiepval monument. They’re very calm places and it was nice to just to spend some time wandering around in the sun contemplating. Im sure theyll only get more profound.

Rouen and Paris

Thanks to the kindness of Mark Ranby (ex-All Black and general Good Guy) I have a laptop and internet to use along with an English keyboard which means you can enjoy the full range of punctuation from me today! So what have we been up to since the last post?

That last post was in an internet cafe in Roeun where we were in a hurry as usual, hence its brevity. So I didn’t get to tell you how cool Rouen was. If it hadn’t been raining then it would have been a perfect day. A lot of guys went shopping for clothes and shoes since just about everywhere was having a sale. In fact, so many guys bought shirts that we had a sort of ‘Shirt Dinner’ tonight with everyone showing off their new fashions.

I had a more domestic morning in Rouen, doing some washing in a launderette which nearly confounded us but we persevered and did our mothers proud. Lunch out was a popular option and then it was free time again before getting back on the buses to head for Paris.

Our coach drivers, Fred and Terry, manoeuvred us around the Arc de Triomphe roundabout and got us to the hotel safely (no mean feat when you realise that the Arc de Triomphe is basically a five lane roundabout with no lanes and over 10 roads leading off it) before we went out on a night tour of Paris. Sure, it was great and I got some good photos, but that left everyone pretty tired for today’s marathon effort.

This morning (Thursday) was our tour around Paris. French speakers were assigned 7 guys and then sent on the Métro to the Eiffel Tower were we met up for the first visit of the day. The queues for the lifts being so long, we opted to take stairs up to the second level which was not appreciated by some. Great views and good times though. We followed up with a trip on the bateaux-mouches on the Seine seeing all the sights along the river.

The rest of the day was essentially free time along the Champs-Elysees, Notre-Dame and around the Pompidou Centre, being periodically shepherded from place to place by the staff.

It’s been a long and tiring day but definitely enjoyable. It’s hard not to have fun in Paris!

Rouen

So this is being written in Rouen. Weve been having a lazy morning about town shopping and seeing a few sights independently. Myself, Michael, Rhys and James went to a great little place for a pizza, dessert and coffee for 9.90 Euros. Have a look at the pictures.

Normandy from Bayeux

Since the last entry in Rome weve now moved on to France. Spent a fairly grinding day travelling on what must surely rank amonst the best of the almost insolvent airlines of the world – Alitalia (Always Late In Taking-off Always Late In Arriving according to our roman guide Fabrizio)! Had a great meal here at Hotel Novotel Bayeux then a late start today to compensate for our lethargy.

 First stop today was the Bayeux tapestry which I found amazing. I couldnt believe how good it looked for something so old and the story seemed so engaging even though it was written/stitched by people who could hardly have imagined their audience. Following that was a visit to Arromanches to see the remains of the artificial Mulberry Habour and an amazing 360 degree film of original war footage interspersed with fly overs of the landscape today. We then made flying visits to gun emplacements and the vast American and German Cemetaries.

 Tonight, myself, some other (pidgin) french speakers, Mr Anderson and Mr Mance went to see a french art-house film with a name that had something to do with a gardiner. Despite not understanding all the dialogue that makes this kind of film interesting I still really enjoyed it and the cinematogrphy was beautiful.

Roma!

Wow! It seems we have quite a following now! In regards toMr Rosenthal, I cant put up the itinerary easily without typing it out manually (nor can I find the apostrophe on this keyboard for that matter) but someone could maybe send it to me in a word document (it was attached to one of the pre trip emails). My address is matthew.dodd at gmail.com.

Anyway, today weve been on a massive walking tour of Rome. We began in St Peters square then walked past the Castile of the Angel (not sure of spelling), the Trevi Fountain and then went to a gelateria where everyone enjoyed themselves! Spent an hour or so in the Colluseum which personally I was amazed by for the size and the degree to which it had been preserved. After that we had free time, some went shopping while a group of us including myself went back to the Vatican to see St Peters now that the lines had died down. It was free time again for dinner and I must thank Jack Kos for leading us to a really good little pizzeria. It has been a very satisfying  (if tiring) day.

 - Matt

Istanbul

Ive added two new photos quickly topday. You should be able to get them through the Flıckr lınk on the sıde of thıs page. If not then this lınk should take you there – http://www.flickr.com/photos/8626782@N08/. Evening cruıse on Bosphorus was awesome. Today equally as cool.

Gallipoli

Today was really our first full-on day and ıt has been a long one! Off at 9.30 and back at 7pm but ıt was really worth it. We started the morning by visiting some forts buılt by Sultan Mehmet ın the 1400s on the Gallıpolı penınsula before headıng south past Cape Helles to some of the sothern beaches before headıng north agaın for a great lunch at Hotel Kum on the way. I thınk the most powerful part has been goıng past all these famous beaches and hılls: Anzac Cove (whıch was a lot smaller than I thought), Quınns Post, Lone Pıne and Chunuk Baır. Small ceremony and haka at Chunuk Baır were well receıved by locals and boys alıke. It can only get better.

 Hopefully Ill get you some photos tomorrow when my camera ıs charged.

 Matt

Were in Cannakale now after a long 24hrs+ of travelling! I wont write much since the keys are ın all the wrong places on this keyboard but its about 35 degrees amkıng the pool a very welcoming proposition! Aside from a few people sick wıth colds everyone seems good. Hopefully tomorrow at Anzac Cove and Chunuk Bair wıll be great. – Matt