Acaciahotel Ypres

Hello all,
sorry it has been such a long time, but the pace has really picked up around here. This trip was from a long time ago, about two weeks now. I will briefly cover it because it was such a great experience.

Our school takes us on one field trip each semester. This first field trip we went on went to Couzy, Laon, Lille, and Amiens. All are in Northern France. All 41 students went along with three of our professors, history, design and structures. We ...

... still yet to fully explore! And we spent the rest of the day back in Ikea and exploring our new surroundings.
That evening we explored a little bit of Lille's nightlife and enjoyed a few cocktails just me and Erin and had a night-time walk through Vieux Lille (which was fun until it started raining)!
We spent our first Sunday on a culture trip in the "Muséé des Beaux Arts" which is free on the first Sunday of every month and was a fantastic experience, after which we got a crepe ...

... it's very quiet and people from Lille call it a very sad town: it was quite sad when we saw a man pooing in a field!
My school is huge: there are two halves to the school, a vocational part and a general part, and I will be working with teachers from both sides of the school. When we arrived there this morning we couldn't for the life of us work out which building we were supposed to be in!
Some of the building look fairly modern from the outside but from the ...

Before heading back to Ann's house, we decided to make a pit-stop in Ieper (Ypres) on our way back to Herentals. We were told there was a famous museum called "In Flanders Field Museum".

The museum was not big at all, but it was interactive which made it interesting. They had the famous Canadian poem "In Flanders Fields" projecting on the wall. We think it was a copy of the original ...

... I don’t know what’s wrong with me at this point.

Once our sketch review finished, we were again free for the night and wandered back over to the square for dinner. The restaurant we went to ended up getting mixed reviews. For one thing, our waiter was crazy. When he realized we were American, he kept saying George Bush. Knowing that the French have a reputation for disliking him and loving Obama, I tried to bring that up, but this waiter seemed ...

Arrived off ferry that we almost missed b/c of accident on m20. also, jason forgot his sweatshirt at Abra's so had to go back there to get it. Then got to ferry where I got told, I think its P & O, but not really sure which ferry company I booked with......ok, this will be a new adventure. Got to Lille, had a great dinner, and now about to head to normandy.....

... if that were the case, we would linger afterwards and do our own private remembrance ceremony. You would think that something like this Menin Gate Ceremony would be planned well in advance and that things would be pretty much tied up, but no. At the last minute we were given the heads up and we were part of the official  ceremony. We were pretty "stoked". Only people dressed in Legion dress were allowed to participate so that meant that Jamie would not be ...

... cutest donkey. We then had lunch in the town of Ypres. A nice dirty burger!! Walked around Ypres and saw the Menin Gate - Great War Memorial. It signified where many soldiers left Ypres to travel down Menin road to the Western Front, many to never return. Also had to tuck into a Belgium Waffle *drool* with Ferrero Roche Ice Cream. Quick little visit to Leonidas - Yummy ...

... the only people staying here tonight and had the pick of all 3 rooms. It also meant that we had full use of the rest of the house including the kitchen and lounge rooms all to ourselves. What a treat after tiny hotel rooms for 3 weeks to have a whole house to relax in. We didn't stay long as we headed back out into the downpour to explore more of this incredible part of the world. We drove to the neighbouring town of Poperinghe and Langmarke, both of which ...

... from Hull/Grimsby in England and he held the 'standard' while the bugle was sounding. Harry was in the second World War and took a trawler across the English Channel for the Dunkirk invasion. He comes to Ypres every few years to honour his mates who all died. Wonderful shopping here with the main purchase Belgium chocolates and lace. Unfortunately the former wouldn't last a trip back to Auss so sorry folks you'll have to continue to buy snickers bars from the local supermarket ...