July 18, 2017

July 18, 2017

Yesterday at Amiens Cathedral, I saw some strange booths in front mentioning some laser show. When I googled it I learned that researchers have discovered remnants of dye on the exterior. They believe all the statues were originally painted. To recreate this view, every night a light show is projected onto the church. So once again, I am staying up late, burning the candle on both ends. These long summer days in the north are killing me.

At 10:30 pm I leave Aimee in bed and make the short walk. The town looks like it is rolling up for the night. I am shocked when I reach the cathedral to find a huge crowd sitting in anticipation of a show. I join the thousand sitting on the plaza steps. Fifteen minutes later, a laser light show starts projected on the church’s facade. It is entertaining and imaginative, but not what I came for. It ends leaving me disappointed…. but not for long. Within a few minutes the lights slowly brighten illuminating the entryways. I am stunned! The statues appear brightly colored. It is beautiful! What a cool effect!

This morning we are on the move. Our time in France is at an end. We take the train to Lille on the border and then transfer to a set of Belgian trains that takes us to Ypres. We have to be careful making our connections as Belgium is bilingual and most cities have two names, one French and one Flemish. Ypres also goes by Ieper.

In Ypres, we check into our B&B and quickly make a beeline to Grote Markt or the Main Market Square.Ypres looks like a beautiful Medieval town. Sadly it is a re-creation. Ypres was leveled completely during WWI. We came to Ypres to help mark the 100th anniversary of the 1917 Battle here. Ypres was an area of stalemate for almost the entire war. It is mostly unknown to Americans so we enlisted the help of a local guide with Flanders Field Battlefield Tours.

After a quick lunch, she takes us to several symbolically important battle sites around Ypres, each representing a phase of the four-year conflict. A first aid station where the poem In Flanders Field was penned, the site of the first poison gas attack, Langemark German cemetery, Tyne Cot, and Passchendaele. Each of these sites have a memorial on them. They also have cemeteries. Around every corner is another cemetery. Along the road our guide points out an unexploded shell awaiting pickup by the Belgian army. Farmers to this day continue turning them up, along with the occasional body. Our final stop is Hill 62 Sanctuary Wood where a set of trenches have been preserved.

Leaving our tour, we walk to nearby Menin Gate. The entire town of Ypres was going to be preserved as a memorial for the missing, but residents objected. They wanted their town back. Instead a huge memorial archway was built with the names of the missing. It is a little shocking as there are thousands of names engraved on every surface. A million soldiers were lost by the British Empire. Incredibly, most bodies were never found or identified.

With our whirlwind tour complete, we drank a beer to cool down and then had dinner. At 8 pm we returned to Menin Gate and a sea of several thousand people. We are here to watch a ceremony to the fallen, a daily event since 1928. Wreaths of poppies are laid and a couple of Belgian buglers sound the tune 'Last Post'.