The road beckons
Thursday 9th of May and it was time to leave Paris. We caught the train to the airport and picked up our lease car, a Peugeot 308 with GPS. We needed the GPS just to get out of the airport, which took about 7km. Heading North our first stop was Villers-Bretonneux. We had planned on going to the French-Australian Museum but it was a French Public Holiday so that was shut, but we did go to the Australian National Memorial. The memorial lists 10,773 names of Australian soldiers who were killed but have no known grave. The memorial itself, along with many others, was damaged in WW2 and still bears some of the scars.
Continuing North we got to Ypres around 5:00 pm, having travelled about 350kms. Driving on the 'wrong' side of the road hasn't posed any real issues, but changing gears with my right hand has been a problem once or twice - mainly changing down.
We had a little bit of time so went to the Menin Gate,which again commemorates fallen Commonwealth soldiers who have no known grave. Each night they have a ceremony here and play the Last Post, something they have done since 1928 - except during WW2 when the ceremony continued in London. More on the gate later.
We are staying at a B&B in Ypres and it is very nice, with lovely gardens and a cordial host. Trace would have liked to go out into the garden but it had been raining almost all day and wasn't letting up into the night.
Friday and the weather still wasn't great. The rain had eased with some blue sky, but it was very windy and only about 14.
First stop today was Sanctuary Wood (Hill 62) Museum. When the locals returned to their homes after the war, this farmer found lots of trenches had been dug on parts of his property. He chose to leave them in place and has also collected uniforms, shells etc to create a museum. It was weird walking around these and looking up the hill, trying to imagine what it was like back then.
From here we went to Hill 60 where there are the remains of a German bunker. The ground around here is pockmarked with holes created from the shelling that occurred. At both these sites there were bus loads of school kids and other tourists but we managed to stay one step ahead - or sometimes behind - to get clear photos.
Next stop was Tyne-Cot cemetery, the largest cemetery of its kind with about 10,000 graves and a memorial wall containing the names of 35,000 soldiers with no known grave.
Still hunting down historical sites we went to the 'Yorkshire Trench', which was only discovered in 1992. The trench was a complex system built by the British, and included several kilometres of underground tunnels and rooms. (No access to the tunnels unfortunately) The trenches have been dug out and reconstructed by a team of archaeologists who also found 155 bodies as they uncovered the system. Only one of these was identified.
We then spent the rest of the afternoon in the Flanders Field Museum, which is in the old Cloth Hall (Used to be a huge market and the original dates back to the 1300's). The Hall itself had been basically destroyed during the war and rebuilt since. The museum was very good and helped us piece together some of the things we had seen earlier in the day.
After dinner we went to watch the Last Post ceremony at the Menin Gate. We got there about 45 minutes early, but it was almost too late. The area was packed with people and we counted 11 buses lined up along a nearby street. Overall there would have been 1000 people watching. We managed to get fairly close to the front and - thanks to our B&B host - were up the right end for the ceremony. The ceremony consisted of three buglers playing the Last Post, about 12 -15 wreaths being laid, a bagpiper and a reading of the Ode of Remembrance. The whole thing was very well done and we were really amazed at the numbers, considering this happens every night of the year.
We were thinking we might spend another night here but the B&B was booked out, so tomorrow we will leave Ypres and head to Germany, via Bruges.
Continuing North we got to Ypres around 5:00 pm, having travelled about 350kms. Driving on the 'wrong' side of the road hasn't posed any real issues, but changing gears with my right hand has been a problem once or twice - mainly changing down.
We had a little bit of time so went to the Menin Gate,which again commemorates fallen Commonwealth soldiers who have no known grave. Each night they have a ceremony here and play the Last Post, something they have done since 1928 - except during WW2 when the ceremony continued in London. More on the gate later.
We are staying at a B&B in Ypres and it is very nice, with lovely gardens and a cordial host. Trace would have liked to go out into the garden but it had been raining almost all day and wasn't letting up into the night.
Friday and the weather still wasn't great. The rain had eased with some blue sky, but it was very windy and only about 14.
First stop today was Sanctuary Wood (Hill 62) Museum. When the locals returned to their homes after the war, this farmer found lots of trenches had been dug on parts of his property. He chose to leave them in place and has also collected uniforms, shells etc to create a museum. It was weird walking around these and looking up the hill, trying to imagine what it was like back then.
From here we went to Hill 60 where there are the remains of a German bunker. The ground around here is pockmarked with holes created from the shelling that occurred. At both these sites there were bus loads of school kids and other tourists but we managed to stay one step ahead - or sometimes behind - to get clear photos.
Next stop was Tyne-Cot cemetery, the largest cemetery of its kind with about 10,000 graves and a memorial wall containing the names of 35,000 soldiers with no known grave.
Still hunting down historical sites we went to the 'Yorkshire Trench', which was only discovered in 1992. The trench was a complex system built by the British, and included several kilometres of underground tunnels and rooms. (No access to the tunnels unfortunately) The trenches have been dug out and reconstructed by a team of archaeologists who also found 155 bodies as they uncovered the system. Only one of these was identified.
After dinner we went to watch the Last Post ceremony at the Menin Gate. We got there about 45 minutes early, but it was almost too late. The area was packed with people and we counted 11 buses lined up along a nearby street. Overall there would have been 1000 people watching. We managed to get fairly close to the front and - thanks to our B&B host - were up the right end for the ceremony. The ceremony consisted of three buglers playing the Last Post, about 12 -15 wreaths being laid, a bagpiper and a reading of the Ode of Remembrance. The whole thing was very well done and we were really amazed at the numbers, considering this happens every night of the year.
We were thinking we might spend another night here but the B&B was booked out, so tomorrow we will leave Ypres and head to Germany, via Bruges.
Comments
Post a Comment