Day 10

It's 10am and I'm sitting outside Les Anges, waiting for P to arrive. The only sounds I can hear are those of the birds chirping and the wind rustling in the trees. It's such a peaceful place, I could get used to staying here.

We visited the church next door first and went inside. It's a very plain church, totally different than the ones in Austria that we are used to. I was delighted to see the glass picture on display on the lectern. When I looked at it I saw it was the one I had given to P. The one I had given to the village was in the small museum down the road and they asked to keep his in the church, so both pictures are in the village!

We went outside and visited the graves of the airmen. I left flowers and a poppy, with a dedication from Ormskirk School. 

From here we drove to the crash site where I placed a single white rose and another poppy with the same dedication. A Union Jack is placed on the grave every year for the anniversary of the crash on July 14th. 

After this P took us on a tour of the area showing us various places where incidents had taken place during the war and telling us the stories. 

We went to his house for lunch, meeting his family yet again. This was interesting as they spoke no English and my French is negligible! It's lucky that P is fluent in English!

After a wonderful lunch we were off on our travels again. This time we were taken to visit Orval Abbey, occupied by Cistercian monks who make beer! The buildings had been rebuilt in loa all sandstone,  having been destroyed during the French reformation. It is only a short distance from the French border.

We spent the rest of our afternoon here and then it began to pour with torrential rain. this brought the tour to an en end and we retrained to Les Anges, shattered.