We woke to
another beautiful and chilly morning in Brugge. Back on the train and through
Kortrijk to Ieper/Ypres was today’s plan.
In Kortrijk
we used our half hour or so waiting time to escape the platform and see their
belfry, statue of Jan Palfyn, curvy metal statue, big church and main street
Christmas lights.
Then train
ride through the sunshine to Ieper where we successfully caught a bus to Tyne
Cot cemetery. The information centre had a well designed and informative
exhibit about what happened in Flander’s Fields, the individuals involved,
impact on the landscape/people and even specifics about Australia & New
Zealand’s involvement.
The cemetery
itself is a shocking reminder of the sheer number of men who died in WWI, their
youth is also something that hit us as we walked around and read some of the
headstones. The futility of war in full bloom.
After paying
our respects we headed back into Ieper by bus after this to begin our
self-guided walking tour. Took in the Menin Gate Memorial and hundreds of
cardboard poppies surrounding it covered in messages for the fallen, part of
the 11-11-11 Remembrance Day commemorations.
Then we walked
some of the old city walls, visited the belfry and immense cloth hall, and went
into the Cathedral. Here we appreciated the paintings, sculptures, windows,
architecture and gothic remains of the 12th century St Martin’s
deanery before moving on to the municipal theatre and past St Nicholas church.
Past a shop
selling buckets of tobacco we happened upon an exhibition about the
Snoezepoezen. This dance troupe have represented Ypres all over the world and
are definitely unique (they dress as cats...). All the info was in Dutch so we
had to wait until we got home that night to find out what all they were
actually about!
Back on the
train and through a pretty sunset to Brugge. Bus back to the campsite then time
to organise dinner, pack our bags for tomorrow and use the net in the common
area before retiring to our tent to watch a movie on the laptop and keep warm.
