Main Square Festival

Who can resist Canadians and their Birkenstocks?

This past weekend was the Main Square Festival in Arras. Main Square is a pretty big concert venue, especially for the size of Arras, and it attracts some pretty big bands. The concert is usually held in the main square of the city, but this year the square is experiencing some pretty intensive cobble stone street restoration, so the concert was moved to the Citadel. Andre’s good friend from home, who now lives in Europe, came to visit us and attend the concert with his girlfriend and two friends. They arrived Friday night after the football match. We all had tickets for Saturday, so the next morning after touring Arras, and a delicious lunch at Le Carpe Diem we headed to the concert.

It was a bit rainy in the morning

I think the Citadel made a fantastic venue

We got there just in time to catch Phoenix. Their two most popular songs are Lisztomania and 1901. There were two stages, but it was so packed we all opted to stay in the area of the main stage.

who's the mystery man in the middle?

After phoenix was –M-, a French musician, who is…. interesting. His full name is Mattieu Chedid, -M- is supposed to be a superhero alter ego to help the artist over come his shyness. Which might explain why there was someone dancing around in a superman costume shortly followed by “-M-“ returning to the stage sans his extreme getup.

unimpressed by -M-

Following -M- came Ben Harper, who was phenomenal. Pearl Jam was the last to play and ended off the night with many of their old classics. The whole concert and weekend was a lot of fun, especially with our first house guests!

And now it is almost another weekend. Most of my week was spent trying to keep out of the heat. For Andre’s days off we plan to take it easy and maybe check out the soldes!

A Quiet Canada Day in France

Canada Day also falls on the anniversary of the Battle of the Somme at Beaumont-Hamel and a memorial is held for all Newfoundlanders who fought in the war. It was Andre’s first on site ceremony, and they have been in preparation mode for weeks. He left early in the morning, and I was able to catch a ride later in the day from some visiting family members of Andre’s co-worker.

It was a very hot day at Beaumont-Hamel. We had arrived around two with more then enough time to tour the site before the ceremony, which started at 4:00. It is a very impressive site with much of the trenches still preserved and intact. Because of the hazardous nature of the landscape sheep are used to cut the grass.

"The sheep keeping cool in the shade"

At four o’clock the ceremony begun with the entrance flag bearers and bag pipers. Short speeches were given and the wreaths were lain at the foot of the monument. The ceremony ended with the Newfoundland provincial anthem the national anthems of England, France, and Canada. It was a beautiful ceremony, and amazing to see the attention, dedication, respect, and effort that is placed in commemorating the loss of World War I.

-Click to read more at the Veteran Affairs Canada website-

A Trip to the Beach

Now to catch up to the present day all that is left is our trip to the beach. This past weekend Andre’s schedule changed to weekends off. Saturday we stayed in Arras; sleeping in and going to the market. On Sunday we went to Le Touquet Paris Plage. Located on the Northern shores along the English Channel, Le Touquet began as a refuge for deserters in the Napoleonic era and from there developed into a resort town for high society vacationers from both England and France. After the Second World War though much of the town was destroyed, and is still trying to recover its lost position in the top echelon of resort towns.

It is still a nice little spot. It seemed almost a mixture of Wasaga Beach and Miami, though a little more Wasaga then Miami of course. We took the train up and arrived in time to have a picnic lunch on the beach. It was packed with people. After a nice lunch, walking up and down the beach a ways, and a quick dip we headed into the town. It was a lot bigger then I had imagined, with picturesque narrow streets making it feel very pedestrian friendly. We stopped at a Café Leffe for a pint and a spot in the shade before getting some sorbet and heading back to catch our train home.

HAPPY CANADA DAY!!