25 July - Ypres (Ieper)

Goodbye Paris. Farewell to the Swans after brekky. They caught a plane to Naples then onto Positano to meet the family. We caught the train to Lille (1.5hr), picked up hire car & headed for Ypres (Ieper) in Belgium! Well.......Left hand drive, no nat sav! & the wrong side of the road caused a few expletives between us. I drove, Michael is the navigor. We did see the funny side of it most of the time!

Ypres is a beautiful town with a huge square surrounded by a city wall. Inside are many cobble stone streets, huge tourist trade attending "Menin Gate" daily for the playing of the last post at 2000. Last week it was the celebration of the 30,000th time of the last post being played. 

This town was completely reduced to rubble in the 1st WW. 

After booking into our hotel right near the square we drove to our 1st place in the Western Front.

Tyne Cot Cemetery 

This is the largest Commonwealth Cemetry in the world and also the most important reminder of the Battle of Passchendaele from 1917. This battle is known as one of the most horrible battles of WW1 - more than half a million casualties fell for the gain of only 8 Km of ground!

Tyne Cot Cemetery.

Rows and rows of names on these walls.

Went onto the Passchendaele Museum (Zonnebeke) to find it closing! Lake outside the museum.

Back to Ypres to settle in for the night -drinks, watching the last post followed by dinner. 

Ypres is surrounded by a wall with entrance through the Menin Gate. 

The square of Ypres and behind is Cloth Hall and Flanders Field Museum.

Menin Gate -the assembling of people.

Hundreds of people during the tourist season wander up this cobbled street to hear the last post.