Day 35 – Bruges
Kylie slept quite well considering the circumstances, I think I’d gotten a few hours sleep whilst making sure she was alright throughout the night. I woke feeling a bit dodgy but put it down to a lack of sleep. We both wanted to see the area around Ypres, also known as Flanders Fields, so we hopped into the car and made our way there.
In Flanders fields the poppies blow
Between the crosses, row on row,
That mark our place; and in the sky
The larks, still bravely singing, fly
Scarce heard amid the guns below.
We are the Dead. Short days ago
We lived, felt dawn, saw sunset glow,
Loved, and were loved, and now we lie
In Flanders fields.
Take up our quarrel with the foe:
To you from failing hands we throw
The torch; be yours to hold it high.
If ye break faith with us who die
We shall not sleep, though poppies grow
In Flanders fields.
- Lt.-Col. John McCrae (1872 – 1918)
This poem, In Flanders Fields was definitely on my mind as we made our way to Ypres. I’ve been lucky to have a life very different from that experienced by many men a century ago, and still some men today.
The Menin Gate was our first stop and it’s a mind-boggling experience. The gate is massive and is inscribed with the names of almost 35,000 soldiers who fought in the Ypres region and whose bodies were never found.
That’s a staggering number, and it only includes most of the soldiers whose bodies weren’t found. The battles around Ypres during World War 1 resulted in over half a million dead. Truly unthinkable.
After some time at the Menin Gate we drove to the Essex Farm Cemetery to see the memorial to the “In Flanders Fields” poem and the preserved bunkers.
We had hoped to continue touring areas around Ypres but by this point I was feeling decidedly unwell. I’m guessing the mussels I’d consumed the day before were slowly doing their job on me. We made our way back to the house and we watched In Bruges. A funny enough movie and it was fun to be able to point and say “been there”, “seen that”.
For more pictures of our time in Bruges, click here.
