Best Western Flanders Lodge Ypres

... and an outdoor beer garden. We had nice huge meals that we struggled to finish and we enjoyed a good Aussie shiraz with it.

Day 2 – Wednesday 23rd September – We awoke to our alarms so that we would make the 8:30 breakfast, which was my only complaint about this place. The breakfast was great but the 8:30am set time was a bit annoying, but at least you were up early to start the day this way.

Our first stop was the tourist office, we had decided to ...

... with a million photos. But this town is just amazing. The bulk of the business of the town is tourism, but if you stay off the main street and square it’s not so bad. I went looking for the sights I saw in the movie “In Bruges”. Decided not to climb the big tower as they wanted to charge me 8 Euro to climb about 600 steps. Um….I don’t think so. Tomorrow I’ll go to the Church of Our Lady where a famous ...

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 ...

... ice cream combination was ridiculously delicious. After that, we continued to the main plaza (where the climax of In Bruges occurred, for those interested – it was crazy to be where it was filmed!). There, we walked around the bell tower, the Medieval Belfort, and admired all the fantastic architecture, including the beer wall that displayed every beer brewed in Belgium – a landmark in wall construction, I’m sure. We skipped lunch ...

... end they add up your dishes to total the bill. At first, we got a little grab happy and chose a few dishes that weren’t spectacular, but towards the end we were a little more selective and had some very good plates. The next day we got up a bit late and had a wonderful Belgian style breakfast of fruit, yogurt, meats and cheeses and lots of bread/pastries accompanied by an assortment of chocolate and fruit spreads. It is true; the ...

... these prices.

On our way back to Herentals, we realized that doing 140km/hr doens't seem to be fast enough for some people because we still had some drivers tailgating us regardless.

We're on the last stretch of our trip unfortunately. We leave tomorrow for Canada :(

We might head into Amsterdam for dinner later today, we're a bit exhausted from not sleeping well the ...

... the biggest rescue mission in military history. Described as a miracle that allowed 338,226 allied soldiers to escape the 'hell of Dunkirk' and return to Great Britain. The town was almost destroyed and was the last French town to be liberated in May of 1945.

We spot the Dunkirk Casino and go in and check it out. Yes, it works the same as the one in Dieppe, you know, takes your money, lets you play and then you leave.

We head out to find the ...

... complete with 'duckwalk' - planks of wood on the floor that cover a drain where the water could flow beneath. (the Allies had a similar system). We saw there two small concrete 'Block Houses' - these were 4ft high - had very small entrances - 'in' and 'out' entrances - they were only used for protection from artillery and shelling. The Germans would hurry into these Blockhouses to wait until the shelling was over ...

... respectfully taken off for the service. Despite the rain, Matt convinced me we should walk back and look for it even though 2 hours had passed when I realised. I couldn't believe it when we got there to see my hat sitting there under the names of the soldiers on a ledge under the gate. I felt so lucky and grateful that someone had left it there for me to come back and find. Nice to see there are good people left in the world. Tonight is our last in Belgium as ...

Quick showers and a little sleep for Joel set us up to head out again. The Menin Gate was worth the wait. It is very sobering to see the roads which so many Australian soldiers of the First World War marched out on and fewer returned. We arrived just in time and the parking Gods were kind to us with a park 150m from the entrance. The place was full as it was a special ceremony for the Ulster Regiments. The British ...