Day 39 - In Bruges

Brussels

With Laurence driving we had an early start to our expected hour's drive to the pretty town of Bruges, but with appalling traffic it turned into a two and a half hour drive. Bruges is known for being beautiful and incredibly clean, and on a lovely spring day it lived up to its reputation. We took a lovely boat ride through the canals, and enjoyed Belgian waffles and chocolate (of course).

That's a low bridge, don't forget to duck

We left Bruges and headed to the war cemeteries of Flanders. We visited a number of cemeteries and interesting memorials, including a huge, memorable Canadian memorial of a soldier with his head bowed, and noted with interest the many Australians with graves in the cemeteries. 

We arrived in Ypres in time to see the nightly 8pm memorial service held at the Menin gate. Every night of the year the road is closed to traffic, and a service is held where the Last Post is played by a number of buglers to honour the 55,000 Commonwealth soldiers who died in the area in World War 1 but whose bodies haven't been identified or found. The soldiers' names are engraved on the walls of the gate and removed when their remains are identified. Extraordinary to think that this ceremony occurs every night of every year and has only ever been stopped during the German occupation in 1940-1944.

Lest We Forget

We took the long drive back to Brussels and enjoyed a final drink with L&A at a bar near where we were staying. K&A then decided to stay up all night to continue their catch up - it seemed like a good night idea at the time!