Our last three days

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Saturday, Sunday, and Monday: Wow ... The days go so fast! Saturday we were in Ieper for a tour of the medieval town, and Sunday was the Tour of Flanders. The visit to Ieper or Ypres - same town different name -was really good. We already knew that Ypres had been completely destroyed in WWI and then rebuilt, but our guide explained how that actually happened. The town leadership prior to WWI had hired a city architect to renovate and refurbish the aging town structures. So this person had all of the town plans. He evacuated Ypres in 1914 or 1915 with the plans. So when the decision to rebuild Ypres as it had been was made, all of the plans were available. Some interesting facts we learned

1-certain modifications were made during the rebuilding. For example, the Catholic Church spier is higher now the the town hall spier; different than prior to WWI. Some of the buildings were "fixed" during the rebuilding - whether it was a structural or aesthetic fix.

2-the only pre WWI structures that remain are the medieval ramparts, and the ruins of the monastery ... Which were left in order the increase the church spier.

3-Ypres used to be an almost sea port city; it had a small river than connected it to the sea coast. The river is still there, but it has been covered by roads and city.

4-It was rebuilt, down to the narrow alleys in the town center.

5-They have a regular - now every 3 years - tradition of a cat festival. Don't get excited Connie ... The cats were paraded to the town hall belfry and then thrown off. Our guide, and Wikipedia, say that there are various legends about how the throwing of cats originated. One possibility is that cats were connected to witchcraft, and the throwing of the cats symbolised the killing of evil spirits. The last recorded event of this kind was in 1817. Another story suggests that the cats were brought into the Cloth Hallto control vermin. Before modern heating and storage methods, when it got cold the wool was stored in the upper floors of the Cloth Hall. At the start of the spring warm-up, after the wool had been sold, the cats were tossed out of the bell tower. The modern version of the cat festival uses a stuffed toy cat. This year's event is the second Sunday in May.

At the end of our tour we were just in time to watch the ceremony Minen gate. The buglers sound Last Post. We were fortunate as the ceremony inluded bagpipers, troops of cadets and a band. Flowers are laid at both ends of the arch to honor the 54,000+ soldiers who were lost in the quagmire of WWI. The ceremony was very moving with about a thousand people viewing.

Sunday was race day! The 102d Tour of Flanders started out in the morning in Antwerp, ran some 180 KMs, and ended up in Oudenaarde. It was cool and off and on rainy - which ended up impacting the race. There were several crashes, lots of flat tires, and eventually The Netherlands won both the men's and women's races. We started out in the row square in Antwerp ... Cold and wet. After a Starbucks, we were ready to drive to the finishing town or Oudenaarde. Along the way, we kept track of the race via the race ticker feed, and saw where the home town Belgium favorites were or were not doing well. The race route went through 2 of the racers hometowns. Anna van der Bruggen won the women's race .. And Nikki Tersptra won the men's race - both on solo breakaways over the final few climbs. We enjoyed watching both from the finish line.

We were planning on cycling today but the weather forecast was for rain - so we spent the day checking out Ghent. We couldn't visit Ghent and not go see the Ghent Altarpiece in St Bavo's Cathedral. What a complicated history it has dating back to the 1400s. We did not go in to see the actual altarpiece, but viewed the replica as part of the church tour ... No better at art than Dave and I are, we figured we wouldn't know the difference. But it was fun following all of the times it had been almost destroyed, damaged, seized, and returned. And we got to see a very impressive Cathedral as well. After that bit of high culture, we set off to find the an authentic Belgian Wafle shop, Max's for our afternoon coffee and snack. Dave got an enormous waffle and ice cream, I got the apple fritters, and we had a great time watching all of the people who came into the pretty fancy cafe. We also located the bike rental shop for tomorrow (hopefully) and have a plan to explore part of the national cycle route system tomorrow. If it rains though, we plan to go to the Museum of the Great War in France.



We are averaging 6-8 miles of walking a day most of it planned, however we have taken a few wrong turns and ended up in some interesting places. Rule #1 still applies based on our last trip to Belgium we both must agree on the road ahead so as to not end up in a farmers field road.

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Photos

Cloth Hall - Ieper
Right on the main market square. This now houses the tourist information center and the Flanders Field Museum.

Monestary Ruins
The part of the cathedral that was not rebuilt to fund the larger church spire.

This one is for Andy
a McClaren stroller ... we thought you would get a chuckle out of this. Dad tried to get a better picture, But it was soooo fast.

I look Flemish too
Part of a lengthy conversation about something. I just kept nodding, and he kept talking and pointing.

The Menin Gate
At the end of the Last Post Ceremony

Normal people riding the Tour of Flanders route
This is the turn about 2 KMs before one of the big hills

The Paterburg (one of the big hills)
With grades ranging between 6 and 20 some percent, some walking is to be expected.

Celebrating the climb
this group of friends stopped at the top for a rest, a drink, a photo, and huge congratulations

Dave enjoyed watching the climb
we watched for nearly an hour. Dave wanted to go and get a bike to ride it too.

Start of the Tour of Flanders
Huge crowds in Antwerp! So much fun

Finsh Line
Watching the race on the big screen, having some refreshments. It was a little cool and rainy.