Another cool day greeted us for our next train trip, this time heading west to Ypres for an Anzac Day dawn service. Georgina will send through a separate blog with more detail on this service and Anzac Day spent on the Western Front.
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| The main square in Ypres |
We settled in for a straight forward train trip with only one change (we didn't even need to change platforms!). Georgina found a taxi for us and after the standard bag "drop off" at the hotel and a quick refresh, we started out to discover Ypres. What a beautiful town full of cobbled streets and a gorgeous town square, surrounded by 'typical' Belgium architecture. Ypres suffered greatly during the First World War and was truly decimated, something that really can't be understated here. The town was fortunately re-built - a true replication of the original, beautiful buildings, some of which dated back to the 13th Century. The Cloth Hall and Grote Markt are truly beautiful at night.
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| Grote Market during the Day |
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| Grote Market at night |
One of the main reasons we all wanted to visit Ypres was Australia's connection to this part of the world during WW1. Georgina will post a separate blog about this, but to put it bluntly, there was no greater loss of Aussie lives on any other battlefields anywhere during any war. Georgina's family lost a relative here, as did Caron's husband's family. Ypres is now known as The City of Peace for very good reason.
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| View of Ypres out towards Australian Memorial (Tyencot & Passchendale) from the Bellfry Tower |
After a great walk around the town, lunch and grabbing a few supplies we spilt up for a few hours so that G could visit the In Flanders Fields Museum. Caz and Caron wandered down to the Menin Gate Memorial and yes, you guessed it, back to a cafe in the sun-drenched square for a beer! We re-grouped and headed down to the Menin Gate Memorial for the Last Post ceremony. If you would like more information on the Menin Gate click here (or wait for G's ANZAC Day post). In short, the Menin Gate is a memorial to the Commonwealth soldiers who lost their lives and whose graves are unknown. The ceremony is quite solemn and very moving . No chance of front row - just too many people. Not to worry as there's always tomorrow night!
A quick dinner, back to the hotel then up early for a 4.45am pick up for the Anzac Day dawn service. We were eventually delivered to Polygon Wood and had to make a dash from the bus to get to the service just as it was starting. Pretty disappointed really as we had specifically booked a private tour for the day so that we didn't have to worry about timing etc.
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| Polygon Wood ANZAC Dawn Service |
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| Polygon Wood ANZAC Dawn Service |
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| Polygon Wood ANZAC Dawn Service |
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| Polygon Wood ANZAC Dawn Service |
After an incredibly moving service we were loaded into buses to head back towards Zonnebeke (the local village) for a breakfast hosted by the Mayor. They put on a decent spread of hot and cold drinks, mountains of pastries and a shot of rum to warm everyone up. Georgina will cover the rest of the Anzac Day tour separately.
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| Caz & G - ANZAC Day 2013 |
Caron and Caz farewelled the tour about mid-morning and headed back to Ypres for an afternoon of meandering and eventually a glass of .... wine!! Well, Caron did; Caz stuck to beer. Georgina landed back in town at about 5pm and Caz joined her to head back to the Menin Gate for 8pm. We made sure we arrived 1 hour ahead of time to get a good position - with G politely moving us into the front row.
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| Menin Gate ANZAC Day |
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| ANZAC Day Menin Gate Service |
Caz thinks it was all worth it just to get this photo:
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| Caz and "The Girls" |
It seems that students from far and wide (well, maybe only France!) carted around Belgium by the bus-load. They have been absolutely everywhere at every single moment, clipboards in hand doing bugger all really. We wondered whether they had an idea of how special it is to be able to travel to another country and have the chance to learn so much cultural history in one day. In Australia our students can make the big trip to the local state museum! Having said that, we have still loved every moment we have spent here - we're the very, very lucky ones!
We leave for Paris on the 26th April for four days......
Lest We Forget.