Oh the Ypres/Ieper thing - Ypres = Walloon (French), Ieper = Flemish. It's in the Flemish half of Belgium.
It was a fantastic tour - the guide, Tanya, a British lady, knew her stuff. Took us to a couple of cemeteries and to the site known as Hill 60, where the 1st Australian Tunnelling Company were total heroes and showed those poms how to dig some tunnels beneath the ground! Of the mines that they planted there is still one yet to explode!!! Saw some fabulous craters - sooo big! Then went and hung out in trenches, shafts and bunkers that the Germans had built and have been preserved and skilfully reconstructed post war - it had airconditioning and electricity in it through the war... Totally unreal!!! It was only a series of support trenches, but they were real trenches! Of course I had to do the All Quiet thing and have mum take a photo of my hand reaching out the side! It was a very sobering tour though - it was not raining but it was muddy, and to see where these guys fought and won VC'S, it made it real. Then to see the cemeteries and all those grave markers, and all the unknowns, that was something I couldn't take a photo of. No matter what the side, all are people.
After the tour, we wandered through town and bought some food to cook dinner. Then we had a drink at a bar/restaurant while waiting for 8pm. I drank beer... Yicky! Had rasberry flavoured but it still tasted like beer. It really is just something I can't ever do.
At about half past seven we could hear bagpipes, which we thought was odd, because 8pm was Menin Gate time. We looked out and there was a small parade marching up the street, with people adding on as it went. Raced up the street to the gate, police were already diverting traffic for the parade to pass, so we realised this was something bigger than I'd read about. As we reached the gate we were totally blown away by the amount of people there. Totally unbelievable. There was more people than in Pinjarra on Anzac Day. We found a spot and stood there! At 8pm the service started, words were said, The Last Post played, a few people laid down a wreath. The Menin Gate is inscribed with just under 55,000 names - of British allied soldiers that are missing. It was just so incredibly emotional.
After the service, we stopped off at a chocolate shop for our dose of Belgian chocolate. Then back to our b&b to cook dinner - we had chicken and veggies, and were so looking forward to it. Our b&b was a big, old house that we had to ourselves, with a caterer delivering breakfast in the morning. The owners weren't there. So we turned the oven and stove on - but they wouldn't work. So we rang the owners. They just said they didn't know and sorry. That was it. The heater wouldn't work either, and it was BLOODY freezing. So out for dinner we went. Good thing there is daylight saving so we could go out at 9 and find something open!! After yet another horrible dinner (but yummy dessert!) back we went to b&b to go to bed. Well, quickly realised that the window coverings were inadequate throughout and we would require our eye masks. Then mum went for her shower, up the steep stairs while I found some english speaking tv - bbc news re the cars packed with explosives in London! After a few minutes I started to get a bit spooked out from the shadows jumping through the windows, so I went to get my phone to find a new hotel - we hadn't paid yet, and they didn't have my credit card details... As I was walking towards my bag mum came bounding down the steps with a look I know too well - "we can't stay here" she said. There was no hot water!!!! Rang this other hotel, they said we could get a room if there in 15 minutes. Down the street we went! As we walked up the street, we could see where we were going, but could also see the Novotel. 11pm it was. In we went, no rooms available. But the guy told us not to go where we were headed - by this point mum just wanted new and nice. He rang some other places, and we ended up getting bundled into this taxi, and shunted out of town to the Best Western. It was a bargain, included breakfast, and was pleasant. They had hot water, and it wasn't spooky! Each of us had a good sleep!!!!!
The next morning we made our way to the train station via taxi as the hotel was out of town. There is only 2 taxis or something in Ieper, so we were taken in the bosses landrover as the taxis were far away and the nearest was in Dunkirk!
Did enjoy Ieper until night time! But would definitely return - just would book in at the Novotel!!!!!!!!!
