Visiting World War 1 Cemeteries in Arras, France with Savvy Mom Ruth Paget
Most people come to Arras, the capital of France’s Artois region, to visit the various cemeteries and war memorials set up by the different governments involved in what is known as the Battles of Artois during World War I.
According to Michelin’s Touring Guide, the Germans
established themselves in the hills around Arras after the Battle of the Marne
in the autumn of 1914. The three battles
that made up this offensive are known as the Battles of Ablain-Saint Nazaire,
Carency, and La Targette. The French
counter offensive in May and June 1915 retook Neuville-Saint-Vaast and Notre
Dame de la Lorette, but the Canadians reconquered the total area in 1917.
Driving to Notre Dame de la Lorette, you pass the elegant,
white English memorial in downtown Arras with green lawns and Polish,
Czechoslovakian, German, and French cemeteries in the countryside. The German cemetery in Neuville-Saint-Vaast
alone tells of the vast numbers who died her: 48,830 in the German cemetery. The German markers are brown metal and
enduring war memorials. The Moroccan
memorial across from the monumental Canadian memorial at Vimy is unvisited it
seems.
Back in downtown Arras, rain greeted us on Memorial Day
Weekend. The bells from Abbaye
Saint-Vaast sounded muffled in the downpour.
The Abbey was founded in the 7th century by Saint Aubert, the
first bishop of Arras. Close to the
Abbaye St. Vaast is the Grande Place.
The building of the Grande Place has had to be built in
stone or brick since 1583 according to building code. The result is a square that is totally built
in Baroque Flemish style. The Grande
Place was badly damaged during World War I, but has been restored. On Saturdays, a large market takes place
there.
Arras and the Artois region are famous for their brasserie
tradition – pubs with excellent food.
Brasseries are on every corner it seems and offer respite from the rain
and cold weather in winter. We tried the
Eurostar Café for all its allusions to the Eurostar train that links London,
Paris, and Brussels together via the Eurotunnel, or Chunnel, that goes under
the English Channel between Great Britain and France.
We began our meal with a Kir, a sweet wine with black
currant syrup, which makes a colorful beginning to a meal. We started with a Salade Périgourdienne,
which was a salad topped off with strips of foie gras and Bayonne ham and
scatterlings of sliced chicken gizzards.
This course was followed by Tournedos à l’ardennaise, beef tenderloin
with bacon barding. I imagined the bacon
came from the Ardennes region.
Scalloped potatoes and salad accompanied this dish. We drank Belgian Leffe brown beer with our
dishes and relished participating in the brasserie tradition of the Artois
region. Strawberries Melba, strawberries
with vanilla ice cream and whipped cream on top, gave us even sweeter lasting
memories of Arras.
By Ruth Paget - Author of Eating Soup with Chopsticks and Marrying France
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| Laurent Paget Photography |
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| Laurent Paget Photography |
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| Ruth Paget Selfie |
