Day 6 – Ypres (Ieper)

Sincere apologies for the tardy blog posts. The internet connection at the Lille hotel was ineffective. Hopefully, it will be better from now on.
We started this morning early, which was unfortunate, given the lengthy “discussion” from the night before. The pace of the tour is cracking, and today would prove to be a drain on physical resources.
We headed for the town of Ypres (also spelt Ieper, and pronounced Eeper), across the border in Belgium. Ypres is a beautiful, almost medieval town with a population of around 24000. I say almost medieval because during WW1, the 700 year-old town was nearly destroyed by shelling, and most of the buildings now date from the 1920s, as the town was rebuilt. The centrepiece, as in many towns in the region, is the cathedral. Having taken 200 years to build between 1250 and 1450, it was destroyed in a couple of months of WW1, and took many more years of reconstruction post-war. The other major building which suffered colossal damage, is the Cloth Hall, also dating from medieval times. Ypres used to be an important centre of textile production and international trade, and the Cloth Hall was the home to all this activity. Nowadays, the Hall is used as an exhibition centre. While we were there we visited the “In Flanders Fields” exhibition, a WW1 display, which was hugely emotive. If you care to, have a read of the poem by that name. It will send chills down your spine.
The city is encircled by rampart walls, which were built so well, they survived the war. We went on a couple of walks during the day, partly along the top of the wall. There are still old pillboxes dotted along the way. And there are little reminders of the war scattered around the town. A cemetery where 2600 are laid to rest, sits behind the prison, simply because the prison was used as an aid post during the war, and they buried the dead “out the back”. It’s all beautifully kept now, though.
The historians on the tour are constantly relating stories about the various battlefields and individual soldiers, some hilarious, some inspiring, others tragic. The emotions run deep amongst the whole tour. We stayed in Ypres all day, waiting for a performance of the Last Post by the Ypres Fire Brigade at 8:00pm. Apparently, it has been performed every day since the 1920s (apart from WWII interruption). We arrived at Menin Gate, a WW1 memorial, and waited. As the time neared, and I watched the crowd assemble, it occurred to me how much of a circus it had become. I’m sure the Fire Brigade still has the same dedication, but the crowds of sight-seers generally do not. People (with little children and babies in prams) stand in the middle of the road, forcing cars to weave through the throngs. The nearby bar has a Menin Gate Happy Hour to attract customers. People jostle for a vantage point. After watching the debacle for 20 minutes, I left, not wishing to participate in something which seemed to devalue its very purpose. Maybe I over-reacted, maybe I was just tired. We got back to the hotel at 10:00pm (still daylight) after a 16-hour day. I couldn’t sleep.