Night time in the Grand Place, Arras.
And day time, after the rain.
A bite to eat in the Place des Héros, Le Beffroi d’Arras (the Belfry of Arras), voted France’s favourite monument in 2015 (you didn’t know that, did you?), in the background.
Beneath the arches…
…this little memorial remembers the men of the Arras Resistance who gave their lives for France during the Second World War.
Executed men…
…and other resistance fighters, male and female, who died during the occupation.
Nice to see British poppies at a French memorial.
A beautifully understated little memorial in my opinion. I believe, by the way, that somewhere inside this building there is another entrance to the Boves of Arras, the caverns and tunnels beneath the city that the British used before the Battle of Arras in April 1917, similar to, and connected with, the ones we visited a few posts back to the south east of the city.
Elsewhere in Arras. You have to keep your eyes peeled. Nobody else spotted this. But I did. Smartass.
Bullet holes, almost certainly World War II vintage (the Arras war memorial still bears multiple shell and bullet holes).
Evening draws in at the Place des Héros.
The cyclist’s nightmare – the dreaded pavé.
We were in Arras on Saturday afternoon 11th May 2019, whilst having a coffee in the square we heard people singing La Vie en Rose, the Edith Piaf wartime song. When we returned to the Hotel de Ville we noticed two French wreaths of fresh flowers, like those in your photos, had been laid at the French resistance memorial and one of poppies from the .British Legion, these were not there earlier. The singing must have followed the laying of the wreaths, it was very touching to hear and poignant. We consider ourselves to have been fortunate to have been there at that time.
What fortunate timing indeed! Nice when things like that happen. Thanks for sharing Cheryl.