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Published: September 25th 2007
Menin Gate
Holly looking up to her Great Great Grandfather's name, Robert Thomas Logan, on the Menin Gate...First stop CHOCOLATE!! Literally the first stop we made in Belgium was to the town of Brugges and a museum called Choco-Story. It was a pretty cool little expo on the history of chocolate from the Aztecs use of it as a drink of the Gods, then later as a currency (100 cocao beans could buy you a slave) through to the Belgians perfecting it and adding praline to it. There was even a great live demo of how to make praline chocolates in moulds which we got to try afterwards.
Apart from walking around the very pretty little town (which we liked more than Prague) there was not much more to see. The church with Christ's blood was closed for lunch so we wandered around the canals and some markets before heading off for Ypres.
We arrived in Ypres earlier than expected so headed straight for the Menin Gate. My Great Great Grandfather, Robert Thomas Logan, was killed on 23rd September 1917 in the Third Battle of Ypres. We found his name on the Menin Gate as his body was never recovered/identified. Having found his name we were set for the next day (the 90 the anniversary of
Belgian CHOCOLATE!!!!
A demo on how to make Pralines.... his death) so we bought some groceries and headed out of town for dinner and bed.
The next morning we headed back into town (free parking on Sundays) and bought a guide book of a driving tour around the Ypres Salient. We didn't see all of the sights (82kms worth) but we did see Australian memorials, British trenches, Essex Farm Cemertary (where In Flanders Fields was written by ???), Tyne Cot cemetary and the cemetaries for the battle of Menin Road and the Battle of Polygon Wood (either of which my G.G. Grandfather may have died at). The Tyne Cot Cemetary is apparently the largest Commonwealth Cemetary in the world and it was pretty impressive. It had a little visitors centre with artifacts, stories and access to the database of Commonwealth soldiers.
We then headed back to town to visit the In Flanders Fields Museum housed in the beautiful cloth hall rebuilt exactly as it was before the war. We could have spent hours in there but had only an hour and a half before it closed. Although it didn't have as many artifacts as some other museums, it had an enormous amount of information so well presented.
Holly and a Pot of Mussles
A traditional Belgium dish... There were even speakers all over the roof and every now and then you would hear planes flying overhead or troups marching through.
We had decided earlier not to find accomodation for the night and instead shout ourselves a Belgian dinner. I had a pot of spicy mussles and Lew had a steak with pepper sauce washed down with Belgium beer. Much better than accommodation, even though we'll freeze tonight.
We're now off to Munich for Oktoberfest, giddy up!!!
Cheers,
Lew and Holly
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mum sheffer
non-member comment
moving time
that was so special being where your great great grandfather was. we are glad you were there and made the connection 90 years on. He would never have been able to imagine that one day the child of his great grandchild would be standing in the same place safe and sound with her husband. Time moves on. love nun.