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luckykaaFinal day; flickums being the history nerd she is, wanted to go to Ypres.
Cold still causing problems sleeping so we left a lot later than we wanted. Still, we got there. It's a very trendy (i.e. expensive) place. Decided to forgo the café charging €10 for a bowl of soup, because I'm too tight-fisted, and instead went for the only slightly pricey museum café.
I wanted to see the Yorkshire trenches. Very helpful information person called a taxi for us. We had a very jolly taxi driver take us there; once he worked out where the place was.
The Yorkshire Trenches are some restored trenches unearthed by some amateur archaeologists in the 1990's, in a site that was being zoned for industrial development. As a result we have this small preserved field surrounded by substations, car showrooms, and warehouses. The site has a short section of trench that we can walk through and some markings indicating where the underground dugouts would have been.
It was a small place so it only took 20 minutes or so to look around. Taxi driver was happy to wait.
This took a lot less time than expected, so we had time to look around the "In Flanders Field" museum. A museum mostly about the trench warfare in the area. Bought a postcard to compare before and after, and took a photo from around the same camera position. Then backed into one of the locals. Ooops. She seemed to find it hilarious, whereas I was mortified.
Had a look at one of the war grave sites. Really sad just how many of the graves are marked with nothing except "A soldier of the great war. Known to God". A few of these had a little more detail where the rank markings or uniform gave indication of which country or regiment they were from, or their rank.
We wanted to stay around until the Last Post. Found a place that promised steak and chips at affordable prices, and without too much searching so we ate there. Odd place that seemed to have the décor of a fashionable restaurant and the menu of a fast food outlet. I dumped an increasingly suffering Flickums in a cafe and had a look at the ramparts and a general look at the Menin gate Memorial to the missing - a large war memorial listing all the soldiers who fought in the area, whose graves are unknown. There are a lot of names.
Had a quick look around and then fetched Flickums for the last post ceremony.
Ypres has performed this ceremony every day (except during German occupation) since the 1920's. This was the 32 thousandth and something last post ceremony. It's a simple ceremony, performed within the Menin Gate. Traffic is stopped 30 minutes before the ceremony. The Last Post is played, a volunteer read a tribute to the fallen, and various groups (this seemed to be representatives of a couple of English schools) placed wreathes. The lad who did the reading was clearly a little anxious about doing it right but he did well.
It's a very moving ceremony. Certainly worth waiting around for.
flickums being the history nerd she is, wanted to go to Ypres.Cold still causing problems sleeping so we left a lot later than we wanted. Still, we got there. It's a very trendy (i.e. expensive) place. Decided to forgo the café charging €10 for a bowl of soup, because I'm too tight-fisted, and instead went for the only slightly pricey museum café.
I wanted to see the Yorkshire trenches. Very helpful information person called a taxi for us. We had a very jolly taxi driver take us there; once he worked out where the place was.
The Yorkshire Trenches are some restored trenches unearthed by some amateur archaeologists in the 1990's, in a site that was being zoned for industrial development. As a result we have this small preserved field surrounded by substations, car showrooms, and warehouses. The site has a short section of trench that we can walk through and some markings indicating where the underground dugouts would have been.
It was a small place so it only took 20 minutes or so to look around. Taxi driver was happy to wait.
This took a lot less time than expected, so we had time to look around the "In Flanders Field" museum. A museum mostly about the trench warfare in the area. Bought a postcard to compare before and after, and took a photo from around the same camera position. Then backed into one of the locals. Ooops. She seemed to find it hilarious, whereas I was mortified.
Had a look at one of the war grave sites. Really sad just how many of the graves are marked with nothing except "A soldier of the great war. Known to God". A few of these had a little more detail where the rank markings or uniform gave indication of which country or regiment they were from, or their rank.
We wanted to stay around until the Last Post. Found a place that promised steak and chips at affordable prices, and without too much searching so we ate there. Odd place that seemed to have the décor of a fashionable restaurant and the menu of a fast food outlet. I dumped an increasingly suffering Flickums in a cafe and had a look at the ramparts and a general look at the Menin gate Memorial to the missing - a large war memorial listing all the soldiers who fought in the area, whose graves are unknown. There are a lot of names.
Had a quick look around and then fetched Flickums for the last post ceremony.
Ypres has performed this ceremony every day (except during German occupation) since the 1920's. This was the 32 thousandth and something last post ceremony. It's a simple ceremony, performed within the Menin Gate. Traffic is stopped 30 minutes before the ceremony. The Last Post is played, a volunteer read a tribute to the fallen, and various groups (this seemed to be representatives of a couple of English schools) placed wreathes. The lad who did the reading was clearly a little anxious about doing it right but he did well.
It's a very moving ceremony. Certainly worth waiting around for.
