The last weekend of our holiday has been spent in England with our daughter Katherine and her family. They'd bought a London card so we accompanied them to a number of London tourist attractions - all very overpriced in our opinion. The Tower of London was worth seeing though, with nearly 1000 years of history along with the real Crown Jewels. There was a great collection of medieval armour and weapons which pleased our grandson Oliver, not to mention the various gruesome stories of executions in the Tower.
One thing we learned was not to go to the Natural History Museum on a Saturday. The queue was a block long and once we finally were let in the crowds were everywhere. It is a great museum though, very well set up for children to discover our world.
Afternoon tea at Fortnum and Masons was a treat for the whole family on our last day.

Dodo - not a real specimen as they died out in the 15th century

Natural History Museum

Tower of London

Beefeater tout guide - Tower of London

Tower of London Crown Jewels Building

Changing of the guards - Tower of London

Horse in Armour, Tower of London

Royal Residence, Tower of London - no longer used

War Memorial Poppies, Tower of London

In 2008, after extensive research and detective work, a mass grave was located near Pheasant Wood, Fromelles. It contained the bodies of 250 Australian and British Soldiers killed in the abortive battle of Fromelles on the 19th & 20th of July 1916 and buried there by the German army. The bodies were recovered and extensive research using DNA, body heights, etc was carried out to identify the soldiers. Many were identified but there are still many unnamed soldiers now buried in the newly built war cemetery known as Pheasant Wood. This was perhaps the saddest part of visiting the cemetery, to think of the families who still don't know where their loved ones are buried.
The cemetery is small and peaceful, sitting on the edge of Fromelles overlooking green fields.
We also visited the Lille Museum of Modern Art (the LAM) which holds a fascinating collection of modern and contemporary art.
This is our last day in France. Tomorrow we catch the train to London to see our daughter Katherine and her family who are also on holidays, then next week we return home to the task of unpacking a house full of boxes. We're looking forward to getting home, though not so much to the unpacking.

Pheasant Wood War Cemetery Fromelles

Pheasant Wood War Cemetery Fromelles

Australian War Memorial, Fromelles

Cobbers, Australian War Memorial, Fromelles

Lille Museum of Modern Art (LAM)

My Grandfather on my mother's side enlisted in the 7th Light Horse in 1915. He went first to Egypt then to France (without his horse - he was transferred to the 20th Infantry Battalion) where he was wounded twice. In 1918 he was involved with the rest of the Australian army in the campaign to liberate the Somme Valley.
So we took the train to Amiens this morning and then drove to Villers-Bretonneux to visit the Australian War Cemetery. The graves there are of not only Australians but British and Canadian troops who fought together with the French to liberate this part of France.
We then drove to Le Cateau where my grandfather was stationed in the last half of 1918. It's a good sized town and the birthplace of Henri Matisse. We discovered that they have a Matisse Museum, set up by Matisse himself, with a good range of his works from the earliest to the latest. Needless to say this was the highlight of the day.

Red Poppy - the symbol of the battlefields of France

Villers-Bretonneux Australian War Cemetery

Villers-Bretonneux Australian War Cemetery

Villers-Bretonneux Australian War Cemetery

Le Cateau Main Street

Works in the Matisse Museum

Now in Paris we're in a small studio apartment on the 6th floor of a building in Montmartre. Looking out the dormer window we can see the domes of the Sacré-Cœur Basilica. This morning we walked up the hill to see it close up. We weren't allowed in because we were wearing sandals! We're so lax at St Thomas'!
We then wandered the streets of Paris, through a beautiful set of arcades that went through three blocks of buildings, finishing up at the Seine near the Louvre. One of the pedestrian bridges across the Seine was glittering in the sun. As we drew closer we realised that it was reflections from thousands of padlocks (or love locks) in the fencing along the bridge. It seems this is an international phenomenon, having seen them in Prague, Verona and now Paris. No doubt you'll find them in Melbourne as well.

Sacré-Cœur

Sacré-Cœur

Paris Arcade

Gourmet food shop Paris

Typical Paris street scene

Love Locks on Paris Bridge

The Louvre

Eiffel Tower from Place de la Concorde

From Taroudant to Essaouira we again crossed the Atlas Mountains, this time at low altitudes. Road passes through Agadir, the seventh largest city in Morocco, with a large port and the place where we first sight the Atlantic ocean.. The nearby coastal towns have white sandy beaches and are popular holiday locations.
The area is arid, but there are signs of land being cultivated in readiness for planting barley. There are also large expanses of orange apple and peach orchards as well as banana plantations, covered in canvas to protect the bananas from the heat and wind.
Essaouira is a large beach holiday destination with lots of hotels, resorts, etc as well as a smallish Medina. The weather here is warm, low 20s, but the wind is quite brisk, making it a bit cool for swimming but it's pleasant to sit by the pool and read. After 10 weeks of holidays this is the first place we've stayed with a pool. Very bad planning!

Taroudant City wall

Agadir Beach

Boy on a donkey

Essaouira market

Essaouira Median Souk

Essaouira Median Wall

Essaouira Beach

The road from Marrakesh to Taroudant goes through the Atlas mountains, the highest of which is over 4000m. We hired a driver to take us on the 5 hour drive through spectacular mountains, with fascinating rock formations, cut by rivers that have formed deep gorges.
We passed a film crew preparing to shoot a movie as we wound through the mountains. Apparently Morocco is a popular place to make movies, thanks to the long days, good weather, good light and a tolerant population.
We stopped at a mosque, The Tinmel Mosque, built in the 12th century, but no longer in use. Its geometry was exquisite as were the stone carvings around the walls and arches.
In Taroudant we stayed at a the Palais Salam, once someone's palace, now looking a bit worn and in need of freshening up.

Berber Village, Atlas Mountains

Tinmel Mosque

Atlas Mountains

Palais Salam