Sunday  March 18, 2018 London-Calais-Leper

We were up early to have breakfast.  Have I mentioned that the buffet breakfast at this hotel is the reason we stayed here for Sue’s birthday?  It is VERY good.  Then we packed and walked to 10 minutes to St. Pancras station to catch the Eurostar to Calais.  The train left at 8:59 London time and the trip was to take about one hour to arrive in Calais at 10:58 local time.  The car leasing company arranged for a taxi to pick us up at the station, and the driver met us at the exit from the platform.  The ride to the car pick up point was at least 40 minutes.  It took about 20 minutes to pick up the car.  The agent explained the features of the car, particularly the GPS system.  Then we were off to our first WW I site the “Trench of Death” in Diksmuide, Belgium.  The web page I used to investigate the trench had it open on March 1^st.  Unfortunately the sign at the locked gate listed the opening date as April 1^st!  There were people walking around inside the area, but they were part of a private tour.  If you know anything about me, this isn’t the first time I’ve screwed up opening times, so we just went on to the next site.  We were able to see all the others on today’s list, so I’ll just list them here:

German War Cemetery of Langemark
Georges Guynemer Memorial
Poelcapelle British Cemetery
The Brooding Soldier Monument
St Juliaan German Bunker
The Schot (Scottish) Monument I apparently didn’t take any photo here
Essex Farm Cemetery "In Flanders Fields"
Cocoon B&B in Ypres (Iper)

Most of these stops just involved me getting out of the car to take a few photos.  It was still cold and windy in Belgium.  Our B&B is right in the heart of the old town of Ieper.  We’ve learned that it is pronounced Ēpers, with a hard e.  We are about a 10 minute walk to the Cloth Hall, and another 5 minutes to the Menin Gate.

We settled into our room and then went out to do a little exploring.  We of course ended up at a Belgian pub with about 20 different beers.  Let me tell you from experience, Belgians make the BEST beer.  We started talking with a local, his father was a WW II English soldier who stayed in Belgium and married a local girl.  His English was perfect, I don’t think his wife understood too much of our conversation.  All of this, was because he told us to get to the Menin Gate early for the Last Post Ceremony.  We had read about the ceremony, and we had planned to attend, but we didn’t think we needed to get there early.

Every day at 20:00 the town holds the Ceremony of the Last Post at the Menin Gate.  The first ceremony was in 1928.  It started as a way for the citizens of Leper to express the gratitude of the Belgian nation towards those who had died for its freedom and independence.  They have been doing it almost continuously since then.  You can read more at the link below.  We did get there early, but because the weather was so cold there were only about 250 people present, so we waited in the cold with everyone else.  The ceremony doesn’t last long, but it is a very solemn.  You can see from the photos that the gate is big, and it is lined with the names of the soldiers who died fighting in the Ypres (now Leper) Salient.  Looking at all those names, and remembering what I have read about the horrors of WW I, the ceremony does have an impact.  Particularly when you realize they have been doing it for 80 years.

http://www.greatwar.co.uk/events/menin-gate-last-post-ceremony.htm 

Then it was off to have dinner.  We picked a place just up the street from the B&B called de Fuyffelaer.  Guess what, the food was absolutely delicious, as was the beer.  It was a great way to end our first day on the continent.

https://photos.app.goo.gl/4KuH7rosxMNCsThf1