Ka Pai Visits Wellington and Then Has Lunch With a French Family

Friday August 6th

Today Mary and Alan had been invited to have lunch with a French family in Arras so they needed Hemi to take them there. It was decided that they would take two vehicles into town and visit La Carriere Wellington (the Wellington Quarry) known as The Battle of Arras Memorial. They all got a bit lost getting there because of the one way street system, but eventually Mary picked up the signs and got them there just in time for the last guided tour of the morning.

This is one of the prime tourist attractions in Arras and it would have been a travesty had they not all gone there. It has only been open to the public since March 2008. In the foyer was a huge art installation called “Fall the Shadow”, by Helen Pollock. It is a forest of arms emerging from the water and reaching skyward. She is a descendant of a New Zealander who fought on the Western front. The work commemorates the great war, and was commissioned to commemorate 90th anniversary of the Armistice. I got my photo taken sitting on one of the hands. The man behind the counter went and got his camera to take a photo of me well to put on his facebook page! He said he supported the All Whites all through the World Cup and he had good friend living in Wellington.

The whole underground tour experience was exceptionally well done. You travel down in glass elevator and the limestone is all lit up. At the end there is a very moving film about the Battle of Arras. There would not be another New Zealand experience like it in France. During World War One, a contingent of 400 New Zealanders with tunnelling skills, dug out a twenty kilometre network of passages twenty metres under the City of Arras to reach the frontline. For days on end they dug in the limestone to connect the old extraction tunnels that had been used as quarries in the previous ages. They ran water and electricity into them and created a town under the city of Arras. It included a 700 bed hospital. These passages formed a confusing labyrinth. To enable the regiments to find their bearings some of the tunnels were are named after various places in NZ, so there is Russell, Auckland, Wellington, Blenheim, Christchurch Dunedin and even Bluff. It was a strategic base but also the military living quarters for large numbers of troops. It was very damp and cold, always at a constant temperature of 11 degrees. The tour combines state of the art audio and visual to tell the story of the 24,000 soldiers who were stationed in the tunnels and camped underground before surprising the enemy and charging onto the battle field on 9 April. There was a huge loss of life, hence the number of British and commonwealth graves dotted all around Arras.
After this we had a quick look at another static exhibition about the battle of Arras in a nearby museum. Hamish and Louise went off to do their own thing and Mary and Alan took me to visit a French family.

Mark and Barbara Humphrey had put them in touch with a French family that they had stayed with in Arras on one of their trips. Mary had been in touch with Maryse by email several times. It was realatively easy to find their house which was right in town near the railway station. Maryse had prepared a typical French lunch at her house. Her husband, Emanuel and daughter Eleanor were there also. It was lovely to sit and have a leisurely time over food. The French take a two hour lunch break and eat four or more courses in what is the main meal of the day. We started with a fresh tomato dish followed by a cucumber salad. There was then a course of cheeses. Maryse explained that you ate the cheese in a certain order from lightest and softest to hardest and strongest. After this there was a dessert of Chocolate brownie with coffee. Of course this is all served with wine, but they don’t drink a lot.

Maryse teaches English in a French school and her English is excellent. She translated some of the conversation to her husband and daughter who could only understand a bit of what we were saying. She was happy to show us around their house which was a fairly typical French town house on 3 levels with a cellar as well. It is quite usual for French houses to well stocked wine cellars. They don’t buy today and drink today like the kiwis. Neither do they eat food on the run. Even at school they have the two hour lunch break and they eat and enjoy their food.
It was great to have been able to have a typical and authentic French experience and we hope to be able to return the compliment one day. Maryse may be visiting New Zealand on a school exchange next year to the Wellington area.

Back at the camp Mary cooked dinner for her troops. She and Alan had already eaten well, but Mo and Lou were up for a steak and salad with a nice French dessert to follow. It was a warmer evening than the previous ones so they all sat out to nearly midnight chatting over a few drinks and playing 500.