Sultan Hotel Ypres

... doorway was only about 5ft tall and we were warned to duck so as not to ‘damage the building’.

The end of the tour was obviously the part we were all looking forward to the most, where we got to sample a beer! She told us that we never should complain about the amount of head on a beer in Belgium (and from what I have seen this applies to most of Europe!) as it is there so that you cannot drink your beer straight away and you therefore have time to ‘build ...

... and I see some people crowded around a corner and there it is. All 18" of it. Is that it? And somebody dressed him up in a little costume….snap. What now? I decided to locate Central Station first because I was leaving for Bruges from there, then walked to the "Upper Town” where the museums and palace is. One thing I can say for Brussels, and Belgium in general so far, is that they’ve got art placed everywhere in ...

... had a sketching guest teacher for the weekend who was an amazing sketcher/artist/architect. The first place we went was an old fortified palace up on a hilltop. It was mostly remains, but very beautiful in its own way. The next place we went was the village of Laon, a little bit more hoppin' then the last because there ere more than 2000 citizens. There was a very elaborate Notre Dame Cathedral here which we toured and sketched.
After we visited these two places ...

... cobbled streets, red shingled roofs, canals, and historic buildings.

We first walked to Bruge's cathedral, which was still great to see despite all the cathedrals that I’ve been to already. We then headed toward the main plaza along with the bunches of other tourists flocking around Bruges. On the way, we had our first truly Belgian experience: waffles. Needless to say, I was ridiculously excited, and my waffle-chocolate sauce ...

... beers on tap and then went yet again, to more chocolate shops. It seemed that there was one about every twenty feet or so and after not long I had had enough. So then we went to the Havle Mann Brewery and had a few of the famous Belgian beers. All in all, it was a great day and we had seen so much, and ate so much chocolate, but only seen a small portion of the city. We are determined to go back again and continue exploring.


Brugge, West Flanders, Belgium christineandal

... the Visitors Centre (conducted by Canadian students on Work Visas) was very informative, taking us through the reinforced Canadian and German trenches, as well as through the subway tunnel systems below the surface. As we walked back to the car, we came across a single poppy growing on the boulevard. It was touching.

With little time to spare, we rushed back to Ypres for the nightly laying of wreaths and ...

... at the main square and Cloth Hall, you wouldn’t think that this place was literally a pile of rubble and the place where over 100,000 soldiers met their fate during World War One. But that was my purpose-to step into the past, and reinforce a present and future appreciation for our men and women in uniform.


After my breakfast of a chocolate-twist pastry and Belgian chocolate, followed by a two-hour ...

... Aussies as we could - but we were here to see two in particular. SGT McKee VC and CAPT Jeffries VC. There are several German Blockhouses in this cemetery - aptly because this was part of the once held German Front Trenchline. On one of the Blockhouses is the foundation for the Cross of Sacrifice. The other is in front of the Capt Jeffries - he rushed forward under fire - took over the Blockhouse by killing several ...

... lady saying we were not meant to come from that way and the gate was just in front of us. Oops. The camp site is quite nice - free electricity, and showers which are clean. It is also only a 5 minute walk to the Menin gate, which is one of the reasons we came here. If you don't know Ypres was involved heavily during WW1, being smack bang on the western front. The battles that raged along here killed ...

... we approached and joined the hundreds of other people already there. As it happened, the night we arrived was the day before the 90th anniversary of the morning offensive of 12 October, 1917 that was the single bloodiest day in New Zealand military history, and busloads of fellow Kiwis had turned out to pay their respects. The ceremony at the arch included a group of Kiwi soliders led by Willie Apiata, New Zealand's newest Victoria Cross recipient. Among the other dignitaries were ...