3rd June - WW1 The Northern Front towards the Flanders Fields

We woke up this morning to pouring raina nd a temperature drop of over 15 degrees from Paris. Luckily we packed Winter clothes as well. We drove from Lille towards Fromelles in what you would call a misty rain that shrouded the landscape, quite eeire as the white mist was forever in the distance around us, 
Fromelles is the most recent Australian Ware Graves found in France. They were unearthed in 2008 and DNA tested and reburied in Fromelles next to the field from where the Autralian Soldiers were found. This lies nearby to the beautiful church in town. We arrived in Fromelles around 11.50 and went straight to the Commonwealth War Grave site, We walked around the enclosed area and noticed that there are still many soliders unknown to what Country they were from as the headstones are blank with no insignia at all. Whilst we were standing the church bells rang at intervals for 15 minutes. The ringing of the bells certaintly put perspective into the lives of the fallen and of how this town would of been during this war period. We then drove to the commonwealth memorial just out of the town . This is the statue of the Solider carrying a wounded solider over his back. There are remains of a German Bunker there as well. From Fromelles we headed to Auber which was another town on the Battlefield of Fromelles
Onwards towards Belgium we head and our GPS is set to the No tollway mode. We wind our way through many towns and note the many war graves from France , Australia , Canada, Germany. We are south of the Belgium Border. The misty rain is with us the whole way. Kieran and Tristan have jackets on in the car and have their towels over them too.
Before we know it we have crossed a river and there is the Begium sign. No stopping here, no border control, just straight into another country. In the distance Grahame and I both said -" Check that out - its looks like a ski ramp"..... and believe it or not , later at our accommodation our hosts tell us its an indoor ski centre( just like in Dubai).
We arrived at Ieper(Ypres) . There is a small moat and walls protecting this town. We come in via the small gate called the RUSELPOORT and drove throught the streets and found the MENIN Gate or MENENPOORT. The town was rubbled in WW1 as there was 3 Battles of Ypres . It was rebuilt and during WW2 the town surrendered to the Germans to keep the town intact. This was occupied for 6 days.   The square of the town is amazing. The buildings surround the Square and the church is huge in the background and the hall with a tower. The roads are stones in various colours which blend in with the buildings, There are Belgium chocolate shops and all the windows have summer clothes mannequins in it and it is cold , drizzling with rain and umbrellas up with people walking everywhere. We found accommodation just outside Ieper at at Bed and Breakfast.

We headed back to the Menin Gate for the renowned 8pm Last Post Ceremony. We had dinner in a small cafe and walked the streets with the may others and stood under the Menin Gate.

To fill you in, the Menin Gate is a memorial to the many soliders (40, 000)lost in the "flanders Fields: of World War 1. There are names all over the Gate which is a tall arched building over the road next to the moat. There are two entrances upwards to look over the moat. On one side is Canadian and English names everywhere, on the Other side is English and Australian as well as a few other Countries. These are people MISSING- Not Found.