A town of Remembrance

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I visited this town because P&O provided a bus there from the port of Zeebrugge. Normally the ferry runs daily from Hull but the Pride of Bruges was out of action so Pride of York was going on alternate days. Only 7 people got on the bus with the rest of the foot passengers heading to Bruges on two other buses. The fare was a good deal for a single traveler and even cheaper for two as it included a cabin and the bus. Food onboard is pricey so it is wise to take a picnic for an evening meal.
I read up on what to do and decided that with 6 hours at most the Menon Gate and Flanders Museum, In Flanders Fields would be my priorities. As it happened, the bus driver got lost and was relying on two of us with maps on mobile phones! He also checked with passers by as many streets were too narrow. I was amazed when he turned the bus in one and straddled the junction, good for a laugh. However it meant we had little more than 4 hours in town.
I headed straight to the Menin Gate and spent quite a while reading the engraved names of soldiers without graves. Even without hearing the last post played at 8 pm it was moving to realise that this is the place family members can regard as a tomb. It was tranquil walking in the park on the ramparts there and looking over the town one side and canal the other. As with so many Belgian towns there are many picturesque buildings including churches and I was later to learn that this medieval site was totally rebuilt after the ravages of the first world war.
Returning to the main square I had lunch before going into the museum, 'In Flanders Fields'. When you pay the entry fee you are given a band with a wireless poppy. This enables you to register your home and triggers some accounts of events to be spoken in your language and relate them to your locality. I did not experience the latter. A very informative visitors' guide book '1917 Total War in Flanders' was also given, it includes sites to visit in the area (available June - December 2017).

I'd read that a couple of hours are needed in the museum and that is definitely true, the museum contains uniforms and memorabilia from the start of the war as well as showing - so many stages of it. There are many videos of actors re-enacting the true stories of events as if they were the people involved. The one that most caught my imagination was the field hospital 'remembered' by the staff. Unlike other actor presentations that were in small booths, this was in a small theatre space and the recounting by medics in the field were very moving.

The last part of the museum was a special exhibition of photography by Frank Hurley who created beautiful out of the terrible sight that was the destruction of Ypres. In all I feel this was an amazing experience and one worth revisiting in the future.

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