Belgium to Ieper

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Tues 1st Dec - Arrived in the Netherlands at 11.30am (saw a paddock beside the motorway enroute that was part of Germany!). Met Marjolein's mother who had made salad rolls for lunch. Had a chat, exchanged some gifts and then had some homemade cake - YUM!Then her father piled us all in the van and took us sightseeing. Went to a very large American War Cemetery - 8000+ graves. Finished the day off by taking us out to a GREEK restaurant for dinner, then drove us back to our hotel in Brussels, but not before giving us all some more gifts - wonderful friendly people.

Weds 2nd Dec - Had a sleep in, then did a bit more shopping! Found a nice cafe and had waffles,strawberries, ice cream & cream for lunch. Sorted out our suitcases for the traintrip the next day. Then did some more - wait for it - SHOPPING, took the goodies to our room, and then had dinner at an ITALIAN restaurant.

Thurs 3rd Dec - Decided to catch the train from the station nearby and dragged our suitcases the 1/2 km over the cobblestones. Actually caught the right train - not bad considering we had difficulty deciphering the timetable! Arrived in Ieper approx 1hr 40m later. Across more cobblestones to our hotel. Our accommodation here is very impressive. We are on the 3rd floor, only 9 rooms, cooked breakfast every day and the hosts are very friendly and helpful. We are 200 metres from the Great Market, and it is only another 200 m to the Menin Gate. Went there in the afternoon to look at some of the 55,000 names on it and take some photos. At 7.45pm we arrived back there for the Last Post ceremony at 8pm. Just prior there were about 30/40 people there, and then all of a sudden hundreds showed up!

Fri 4th Dec - After our nice cooked breakfast, we met our Battlefield guide Jacques in the foyer at 8.30am, and we were off on the first of our tours. He was extremely knowledgeable about the First World War and passionate about his job of showing people as much as he could of the surrounding area. One of our early stops was Fromelles which was good to see as we had not long read about the mass grave found there with many Australians that died there during the battle nearby. On one side of the road they are exhuming graves and carrying out DNA testing, and on the other side of the road they are building the new cemetery which they hope to have finished by July next year ( 93 years after the battle). We had a good day ( mostly sunny,very little rain ) touring the Battlefields near Ieper, saw many cemeteries and places of interest ( too many to mention here ) and must have covered well over 150km. Had a nice picnic lunch inside a cafe that had a museum attached to it at Hill 62/Sanctuary Wood. 2 of the cemeteries we visited were truly amazing. Buttes New British Cemetery across the road from the Polygon Wood cemetery has a Memorial to the Australian 5th Battalion situated on a large hill overlooking more than 1500 graves - nearly 600 are Australian. One we spent a lot of time looking around was Tyne Cot, which has over 12000 graves - nearly 1400 Australian. It was a fascinating and at times moving tour.

Sat 5th - Had a mostly lazy day, venturing out to do a spot of shopping and then went to the Flanders Fields Museum in the Cloth Hall nearby for a couple of hours. Museum was well worth seeing - lots of info and interactive displays. After dinner tonight we went to the Last Post ceremony again at the Menin Gate, and there were a number of Army cadets and Pipers, as well as the regular Buglers from the local Fire Brigade. Although it was raining there would have been at least 2000 people there - huge crowd! Looking forward to our next Tour through the Somme area of France tomorrow.

PS - photos attached here include some from the Somme - just need time to fill you in on the adventures of the 6th Dec

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Photos

Chocolate Shop
Yummo - need I say more

Brussels Grand Place
this pic was taken at around 4.00pm in the afternoon.

Christmas Tree
a huge Christmas Tree stood in the middle of the Grand Place and at night there was a light show and christmas carols in the square - very nice

Belgium Beer
no trip to Belgium is without a sample of their many ales....and poor Rob didn't get to taste test as many as he thought.

Shopping
yes we did a lot of Christmas shopping in Belgium - especially in the chocolate shops - and it all arrived back in Aus. unbroken!! and uneaten LOL!!

Manniquin Pis
New York has the Statue of Liberty, Copenhagen has the mermaid and Brussels has the ...... Manneken Pis. This statue of a little boy in a somewhat compromising position has since several centuries been a major tourist attraction in the city. Nobody actually knows why the manneken is there. He is believed to be nothing more than a decoration on top of a fountain, where people in the Middle-Ages came to get fresh water. He has a wardrobe of over 600 costumes and we found him dressed in the colours of Belgiums flag.

Waffles
Beer, Chocolate and the other thing Belgium is famous for - waffles - this was our lunch!!

Penpals
after 13 years of writing the girls actually met!!!

Shopping
at the Valkenburg Caves Christmas market in the south of Holland

Ambrosia Hotel
our cute hotel in Ypres ( Ieper ) - can you see us waving to the camera man from our room??

Ieper Shops
a street view of Ieper

Christmas Decorations
The street lights of Ieper

Warloy Baillion Cemetery
we laid poppies at my great uncles burial spot at the Commonwealth War Cemetery at Warloy Baillon - France

3rd Division Memorial
this is the memorial in the Somme - near the village of Sailly-le-Sec - my grandfather's battalion was part of the AIF 3rd Division....we laid poppies here too.

3rd Division Memorial
Larissa laying a poppy in memory of my Pa

Unkown Soldier
taken from Adelaide Cemetery just on the outskirts of Villers-Bretonneux,

Tyne Cot Cemetery
'Tyne Cot' or 'Tyne Cottage' was the name given by the Northumberland Fusiliers to a barn which stood near the level crossing on the Passchendaele-Broodseinde road. The barn, which had become the centre of five or six German blockhouses, or pill-boxes, was captured by the 3rd Australian Division on 4 October 1917, in the advance on Passchendaele. My grandfather was wounded in this field you see in the foreground on that day - the 4/10/1917

Cobbers Corner
Australian Memorial near Fromelles

Christmas Truce
commemorating the site

Fromelles
the site of the new Commonwealth War Cemetery for the recently found Aussies on a farm in Fromelles

Shell Casing
ammo is still being dug up in the farmland around Fromelles