Charity May

April 8, 2007

Today was the rehearsal for the grand ceremony.  I met two men in the marching band from Winnipeg, Darren and Bart.

Afterwards we participated in the Freedom of the City Parade in Arras.  It was the coolest parade I’ve ever been in.  While waiting for the parade to start we talked to a few Veterans who were so happy to talk to us about Canada.  They called us their “cousins from Canada”!

Being in the parade made you feel so proud about being from Canada.  Everyone was shouting, clapping, cheering and wanted Canadian pins.  Once the parade was over we met up with Veterans and took pictures with them.

April 9, 2007

Today was the official ceremony.  The area was packed and we had trouble getting to the stage in time.  It was such an incredible experience to be up there singing with the band in front of thousands of people.  Seeing the Queen was amazing, and to hear her voice was really neat!  I’m glad it was televised so that people at home could see us and understand how official it was.  I’ll never forget this day and I will tell many people about it.

April 10, 2007

Today we visited many places including Tyne Cot Cemetery where more than 11,000 soldiers are buried.  We went to the St. Julien Memorial and also visited The Passchendaele Memorial that looks upon a beautiful countryside.  My favourite place was Hill 62, where we went to a museum that had equipment, weapons, pictures and statues from the First World War.  Outside of it there were real trenches that were neat to check out.  It was sad to think that soldiers used to fight in these as well as live in them.  We visited a few other grave sites and ended up at the In Flanders Field Museum in Belgium.  That night we watched the Last Post being played in the city of Ieper.  We met an elderly woman there who goes every night and had been there since the gate was opened.