The Ypres Salient, including Paschendaele and Langemark

So, it's been a while. I've been busy lately, and now I've got an afternoon/evening free, I've decided to update you with what I've been up to. On Tuesday I woke up in Brussels, I hired a bike (low countries my foot), and I went to the Military museum at the Cinquantenaire Palace. The palace was built to celebrate the 75th anniversary of Belgium's independence. The museum was really interesting, although they closed up for 75 minutes for lunch, which was a bit inconvenient, especially as I had no cash, and the cafeteria didn't except card, so I just read my EBooks on my iPad until it reopened. I then proceeded to the gar-midi, and caught the train to Ypres.

My first full day in Ypres I rode around. I went to the Hooge Crater cemetery and the Crater itself (now a lake in the grounds of a hotel). I proceeded to the Sanctuary Wood cemetery, then Hill 62 and the "Museum" there. €10 will get you entrance to some preserved trenches, and a converted house with a conglomeration of artefacts of the war. From there I rode into Ypres proper, through the Menin Gate, and then I rode around the Ramparts as far as they went, via the Lille Gate Cemetery. Then I had lunch near the cloth hall. I rode around a bit more, and then went home via the Menin Road South Cemetery, and the Birr Cross Roads Cemetery, just seeing the amount of graves in each cemetery really drives home how many people died in the war.

My second full day in Ypres, I paid for a full day (2 half days in fact) Tour of the Ypres Salient. It covered Hill 62/Sanctuary wood again, Polygon wood and Black Watch Corner, Tyne Cot cemetery (the largest commonwealth war cemetery in the world), then, via Vancouver Corner, to Langemark German Cemetery. Now please allow me to get on my high horse for a moment. The commonwealth war graves are looked after by an official, government funded body, the commonwealth war graves commission. That is the norm for the whole of the Western Front. The German Cemeteries, on the other hand, are only funded by voluntary donations. The German government pays nothing to the upkeep of the cemeteries, as a result, they are not very well maintained. As my (English) tour guide, a very good and informative guide btw, says, it's a national disgrace. Mrs A. Merkel is going to be getting a rather rude shock in the near future, as I am going to send a strongly worded email in her general direction, with a letter in the snail mail, as I believe that, as they are German citizens, the German Government should give them the cemetery they deserve. Now off my high horse. After Langemark cemetery, we went back to Ypres for Lunch. From Ypres we went to the German Trenches at Bayernwald, from there to Ploegstreet, Hyde Park corner, Spanbroekmolen, and we finished up at Hill 60. Today I didn't do much, although I did buy a couple of German medals as souvenirs.

I've got a word limit on the blog app for my iPad, so that's the reason behind the short(ish) blog, I intend to update when I return to the Uk (and my Pc)

This picture is from the AIF memorial at Polygon Wood cemetery, it's been a harrowing few days.



- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad

Location:Ypres, Paschendaele, Langemark, the Ypres Salient, and more