We got into Ypres in the late afternoon of 1/2. Toli was quite confused about the city name because not only is Belgium bilingual (Flemish and French), but due to the city's pivotal role in World War I, it's also known by its English and German names. What made matters even more confusing is font mixup, i.e. the fact that uppercase I and lowercase l look almost the same. So the Flemish name of Ieper looked like leper, which made no sense to Toli. Thankfully, Christine was navigating again, so we made it to Ypres, where we found a room at Pension Zonneweelde (which consists of a couple of rooms in an old lady's home, hence we dubbed it "Grandma's house"). The same evening we went to the Menin gate for the Last Post, a ceremony commemorating those who died in World War I. We spent the morning of 1/3 in the In Flanders Fields Museum, and after a short stop in the afternoon at a war cemetery, we were off to a very late start for Strasbourg, France. (Flanders is the general area where Ypres is located; it is unrelated to Ned Flanders from The Simpsons.)

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Town center
The Belgian War Memorial. It is one of the many World War I memorials in Ypres, all decorated with poppies. The fields of Flanders are famous for their poppies; it is ironic that they are so red.

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Town center
The Belgian War Memorial.

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Town center
The Belgian War Memorial.

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Town center
One of the towers of St. Martin's cathedral, which was rebuilt after World War I.

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Town center
The bell tower of St. Martin's cathedral, which was rebuilt after World War I.

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Town center
A store sign, naturally pairing cat and crown.

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Town center
Cat and crown.

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Poppy Restaurant, town center
Is that a baby's bottle or a phallic object? We enjoyed a nice meal at this place (another grill platter), esp. since we were the first guests to arrive and thus had a smoke-free environment. And, surprisingly, all guests after us didn't smoke either. Until this group of three women came in, with their babies... and of all people, they were the ones to light up.

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Menin Gate Memorial to the Missing
A streetlight illuminates some of the names inscribed on this World War I memorial. This is a small section of a plaque on the second level, with just 50 names in the light. The full plaque runs from floor to ceiling, which is as tall as four people stacked on top of each other. It is only one of ten or so plaques on this wall. There are eight exterior walls in total (4 sides, 2 levels). That wasn't enough space, so the stairways have more plaques. The walls under the archway have even more. And only missing soldiers are listed (those whose bodies were not recovered for burial). And only British and Commonwealth soldiers are included (excluding New Zealand and Newfoundland). It is truly overwhelming. (For the nitpickers: the names are grouped by regiment, and alphabetically arranged within each; hence you can't extrapolate from the 50 names covering White to Zimmer to figure out the total count. The total count is in fact 54,896, and still a drop in the bucket considering the total losses during that war).

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Pension Zonneweelde
Our room in "Grandma's house" (panorama).

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Pension Zonneweelde
Our room (panorama).

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Pension Zonneweelde
Our room (panorama).

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Pension Zonneweelde
Our room (panorama).

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Pension Zonneweelde
Our room (panorama).

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Pension Zonneweelde
The view from our window.

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Cloth hall courtyard
Christine in the courtyard of the cloth hall, now the In Flanders Fields museum. This museum is an eerie account of the war, whose displays are not just passive exhibits of artifacts, but instead are truly engaging and go beyond World War I and into the insanity of present wars. Most unsettling was the (simulated) sound of an aircraft raid, which ended with a loud explosion that would startle any visitor. The cloth hall was rebuilt after World War I.

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Cloth hall courtyard
Christine.

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Cloth hall courtyard
The courtyard (panorama).

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Cloth hall courtyard
The belfry, also rebuilt after World War I (panorama).

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Cloth hall courtyard
It was so cold that icicles formed on Toli's eyelashes.

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Cloth hall
The town jester and Christine. The town jester is responsible for throwing stuffed cats from the belfry during the Cat Festival which takes place every three years. This is in fact an extension of the medieval tradition of throwing live cats, which were thought to symbolize evil spirits. Unfortunately, we missed the festival in the spring of 2003!

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Town center
One last parting shot of Toli in the town square, with the belfry, cloth hall, town hall, and St. Martin's in the background. All these buildings were rebuilt after World War I.