Monday Nov 7, 2011 Arnhem WWII museum

Today has been a gray and dreary day and kind of suiting for today's tours.  We went to the WWII museum and then the Canadian War Cemetary.  Both are well tended by Dutch volunteers and provide a lot of information about a sad time with a large loss of life.  But, it provides good perspective and reminds us to be thankful for the sacrifices of those who came before us.

The Canadian War cemetary was beautiful, each grave has 3 plants and each headstone has a quote from the family, if they wished, of the person buried there.  Some dates were from after the war but when people died due to wounds they received in the war.  As I stood there and saw people from our tour looking amongst the graves at the names, the sayings and seeing the list of names of all the Canadians and other commonwealth men, it was very moving. 

I chose to stay in this afternoon but Mum explored Arnhem with some friends we have met on the tour and they found a coffee house.  Not a coffee house like we're used to but a coffee house that specializies in marijuana and other soft drugs.  They had a good giggle but assure me they did not go in...hmmm.

Today's picture is a group of friends we have met on the trip.  Joanne and Peter are mother and son and this is her 80th birthday trip.  Steve and Cathy are a couple and she is a retired nurse and he is a watercolour artist.  All 4 are from Pennsylvania and met on a tour of Italy a couple of years ago. They have added such a lot to our enjoyment on this cruise.