Arras

We got to the airport - Malcolm thwarting a would-be pick pocket in the metro - and picked up our hire car.  Malcolm had a steep learning curve then, the car has 6 gears plus reverse, button start, push button for park (no handbrake)and other unusual modifications. Luckily the built in sat nav, that I quickly mastered, took us to the motorway and north.  We stopped at the town of Arras and, after looking around two impressive squares lined with dutch-style buildings, we found the information centre and got directions to the Wellington Tunnels.

The rows of building all had arched covered walkways

One of the squares

In the Cathedral there were some giant puppets

An English telephone box for some reason

At the Wellington Tunnels we took a tour which included a short film explaining what was happening in the Arras area in WW1 and why the tunnels (in old quarries) were needed to get past the German lines. New Zealanders dug the tunnels, naming parts of them Auckland, Wellington, etc.  Malcolm's uncle, Thomas Arthur Mack, was one of the thousands of Gordon Highlanders (and others) that met their deaths here.

We went deep underground, hard hats and audio commentary

Waitomo

Part of the audio visual display in the tunnels (NZ tunnelers)

One of the exits onto the battlefield