Flanders Fields Belgium, Dunkerque France & Brugge Belgium

July 9 - 10, 2005

Flanders Fields, Belgium
This is the town of Ypres (English) or Ieper (Dutch), Belgium. The town was completely destroyed during WWI but was rebuilt to look exactly as it had before the war. In medieval times, Ypres was a textile center. This is the Cloth Hall
which was also rebuilt after WWI. It now houses the In Flanders Field
Museum which documents the war.
Menin Gate
Opened July 24, 1927
It's a memorial to the British soldiers who died
defending Flanders Fields and have no known grave.		 There are 54,896 names.
Since November 18, 1918, every night at 8pm, Belgian buglers from the local fire brigade play Last Post in memorium of the British soldiers. This stopped only during the occupation of Ypres by the Germans during WWII. The ceremony resumed on the same evening that Polish forces liberated the town.
There are 150 of these cemeteries in Flanders. Some of the deadliest fighting in the war took place in this region. The Germans used chlorine gas against the allies here. This area inspired the famous poem "In Flanders Fields" by John McCrae. Poppies grow in upturned soil and so grew heavily in areas where the dead were buried. It is now a symbol of rememberence.



Dunkerque (Dunkirk), France
This is the sight of Operation Dynamo from WWII. Between May 27 and June 4, 1940, 338,226 French and British soldiers were evacuated from the beaches of Dunkerque. The evacuation was conducted using boats from the merchant marines and civilian fishing and pleasure boats.



Brugge (Bruges), Belgium
This is our B&B, t'Pakhuis (The Wharehouse) built in 1854. It served as a tannery and a drying-place for hides. The hides were brought by boat along the canal and were unloaded using the enormous hoisting wheel, which is still in the house. This is the wheel which was right outside our bedroom window.
Pops had a view of the Church of Our Lady tower from his window. This is the garden patio of the B&B.
View of the canal from our other bedroom window The canal boat tours went right by our B&B.
We climbed the bell tower again!
Mel in the basement of the Crowne Plaza Hotel... The hotel is built above the ruins of a viking fort built in 900. Down here in the basement are the old stone walls and objects found in the ruins. This is a 14th century sarcophagi that was found in the ruins.
In 950, the viking fort was converted into St. Donatian's church. This is a picture of what the church looked like until it was destroyed by Napoleon in the 1800's. This amazing piece of history is now used as a hotel conference room!
We took a canal boat tour... Andy and Mel had dinner with the Theisen's at this restaurant back in May.
That is the patio of our B&B.
This is the rooftop of the Straffe Hendrik Brewery and De Halve Maan restaurant. When we were here in May we stood up by the chimney (center of the pic) to take pictures of Brugge.

Home