Paris to Istanbul

Sadly our Western Front Tour ends this morning after breakfast. The journey may be over but the memories will last a lifetime.

We caught the metro to the Airport - and got on plane to Istanbul. Only a 3 hour flight.

Picked up at the Airport and taken to our hotel in downtown touristy Istanbul.
We went our for some dinner and then came back and crashed!







Alzer Hotel is the only hotel located at the center of Sultanahmet’s historical hippodrome where the cultures and religions meet.

Alzer Hotel Website

The Somme to Paris

This is our last day of the tour. We follow in the footsteps of the Anzacs and see us return to the 1916 Somme battlefields, where we visited the maze of trenches at the Newfoundland Memorial Park. The Newfoundland Regiment was almost wiped out here on the first day of the Battle of the Somme.

We will then drove past the Ulster Tower, modelled on Helen's Tower in Northern Ireland, before visiting the spectacular Thiepval Memorial, where the names of more than 72,000 British men missing from the Somme fighting are recorded. This was very humbling.

We also saw Mouquet Farm, scene of a costly advance by Australian troops in August 1916. We then returned to Villers-Bretonneux, where we visited the Adelaide Cemetery, the place where Australia's Unknown Soldier lay for 75 years before being returned to Australia in 1993.

We then went to the remarkable Victoria School, home to a wonderful small Australian museum, and where a sign in the playground entreats that the students 'Do Not Forget Australia'.

We will then returned to the Australian National Memorial where we commemorated Anzac Day, to spend some peaceful time exploring the memorial, reading the names of the missing Australian soldiers and taking a last opportunity to pay our respects to the original Anzacs. Paul and I found a distant relative that Aunty Rosemary asked us to track down. We took photos for her.

We then farewelled the battlefields and boarded our coach for the return trip to Paris.

We had a farewell dinner in a restaurant in Montmatre, before being escorted on an Illuminations tour of Paris - a chance to see the city's famous landmarks bathed in glorious light. Plus, we got to find out a bit of background from our tour guide - David - he used to be a driver for Princess Diana....the stories he told us.....

Le Tour de Paris

Spent the day on a bus tour Paris with the group. In the morning we had a local guide to escort us on a Panoramic Tour of the city's iconic sights. The Eiffel Tour, Champs Elysées, the Arc de Triomphe, the Louvre and Notre Dame. We then enjoyed a scenic cruise along the River Seine, viewing the landmarks of Paris from the water.

Free time in the afternoon allowed us to get a sim card for our phone, go shopping in the Galleries Lafayette - Paul wanted a hat that covered his ears as it is a lot hotter than we anticipated and I wanted to buy some shoes Anne-Maree recommended - Camper Twins - check out the website
Camper shoes website and look for the Twins style
I got a cute pair of black courts with a garden pattern.

We had dinner at a cafe in the Opera distrcit before catching the metro back to the hotel....

Paris here we come...

Caught the Eurostar to Paris today. This is where we are staying for the next few nights.....






London to Paris on the Eurostar



Hotel Madeleine Website

Our room number is 303 which Paul is very excited about because it is the weapon calibre of WWI.




We walked down to the Arc de Triumph and climbed the 300 steps to the top for an awesome view of Paris. You may have to wait for photos while I work out how to transfer from this computer.

We just finished a great dinner complete with red wine recommended by the waiter and ended with creme brulee and profiteroles....