Item 03: Roy Frederick Arnold letter diary, ca. March 1916-August 1917 - Page 10

[Page 10]

sixty hour journey. The trip through the Rhone valley was very nice and some of the scenery along the route was beautiful. We passed through Orange, where we had our first meal, Valence, Lyons, Gijon and other big towns, stooping occasionally for meals. We thought we we going through Paris and every one was horribly disappointed, when we branched off and went round. We pass'd the palace of Versailles and we could see the Eiffel Tower in the distance.

The day after (29th) we passed Paris we reached the village of Thiennes. The people were very curious as to what, and who we were, as we were the first Australians they had seen. Our slouch hats took their fancy, and they were very kind to us. We were billeted in a stable and most of our training consisted of route marches to neighbouring villages. Thiennes was about the cleanest