From Vimy Ridge, we drove to Ypres in Belgium and stayed at a wonderful bed and breakfast called Alegria. Luc the host was very knowledgable about the area and recommended a variety of World War One sites as well as some great restaurants to visit while in Ypres. Ypres has a very interesting World War One History. Five major battles were fought in the area with an estimated loss on the allied side of 1 million men. We left the bed and breakfast and headed towards Passchendaele where the Battle of Passchendaele or the Third battle of Ypres took place. This battle occurred between July and November 1917 resulting in a third of a million dead or wounded allied soldiers during the fighting. We went to the museum there which was very informative. Like many of the other areas we visited, this museum had places where the old trenches were during the war. We learned that the trenches were not dug in a straight line because if a grenade or an artillery round landed in that part of the trench, it would not wipe out solders along the rest of the trench line. The trenches were muddy, lice-filled places. In the picture below, you can see how the trench is configured.
Countless numbers of soldiers in the war died in these muddy trenches. One of the more moving items in the museum is a memorial with hands coming out of the ground and reaching towards the sky.
From there we went to the St Julien Canadian Memorial. This memorial is of a brooding soldier. This marks the spot where the First Canadian Division fought and the first German gas attack took place during the war. This spot is marked by the monument of the brooding soldier, signifying the /depth of the tragedy that occurred here.
We then returned to Ypres. This city has a very interesting history for it was first mentioned by the Romans in 1066 and became known for its linen trade in the 1200s. Ypre's famous cloth hall was built in the 1300s. At that time, cats were thought to be a sign of the devil so the townspeople threw them off the tower of the cloth factory. Now, this is celebrated by a cat parade through the town which occurs every three+- years. Today they throw stuffed cats, not real ones, off the tower!
The town was totally destroyed except the tower of the cloth factory during the Great War. After the war, it was decided to rebuild it exactly the same way as it was before the war. So the downtown area was totally restored to what it was before the war. This was possible because during the war they safely moved the blueprint plans of the town to a safe place.
Ypres also contains some wonderful restaurants in town. On the first night, we ate at "The Captain Cook" and the second night we ate at the "In't Klein Stadhiusn." Both nights we had flemish stew, french fries, and Belgium Beer.
The town is full of wonderful shops where you can buy an assortment of chocolate, souvenirs and different Belgium beers. The ice cream shop had a large ice cream cone statue out front, At the Leonidas Chocolaterie, the staff was very friendly and very helpful because one cannot visit Belgium without getting some chocolate to take home!
On both nights, we attended the Last Post at the Menin Gate. This is a ceremony to honor the 90.000 soldiers who have no graves on the Ypres salient during World War One. This ceremony has taken place every day since 1922 at the Menin Gate except during the occupation during World War Two where it took place in England. All 90,000 soldiers' names are inscribed on the walls of the gate which is a very moving sight.
On our second day in Ypres, we went to the "In Flander's Fields" museum which is located in the old cloth factory. This gave us a wonderful history of the town. We then went on an amazing and moving tour of the surrounding area through the Flanders Battlefield Tour company. One of the highlights of the tour included a visit to one of the bunkers that the Canadians used as a field hospital and where Major John McCrae, a physician the Canadian Army, wrote the famous poem "In Flanders fields."
In Flanders fields, the poppies blow
Between the crosses, row by row,
That mark our place; and in the sky
The larks, still bravely singing, fly
Scarce heard and the guns below.
We are Dead, Short days ago
We lived, felt dawn, saw sunset glow,
Loved and were loved, and now we lie.
In Flanders fields.
Take up our quarrel with the foe:
To you from failing hands we throw
The torch; be yours to hold in high.
If ye break faith with us who die
We shall not sleep, though poppies grow
In Flanders fields.
On the same tour, we also visited Langemark Cemetery which was a German Cemetery. In this cemetery, over 44,000 soldiers are buried. There is a large crypt there where they bury unknown soldiers remains and that number is being added to as they find bodies still throughout the battlefield, even after a hundred years. As you come into the cemetery, you go through an entrance that has the names of German soldiers whose remains were placed in a large mass crypt but were later identified.
The last place we went on this tour was the Tyne Cot Commonwealth War Graves Cemetery. This is the largest cemetery for commonwealth soldiers in the world. I was emotionally moved to see the over 11,965 gravesites. It is also quite moving to understand that most of these tombstones have no name attached to them.
Visiting Ypres was a worthwhile trip not only from a historical context but also from a cultural context. The people in Ypres are friendly and I had no communication difficulties as most of the people there also speak English.
