The Ypres Salient

The plan was to visit Flanders Fields and then continue to the Dranouter FolkFestival. But we underestimated a bit the amount of sites that are to visit in and around Ypres witnesses from the Ypres Salient. They've really well developed the "peace and war" tourism there. How sickening is that in a way? But it's so important!

Since we've never visited the museum "In Flanders Fields" in the Cloth Hall, we started there. It tells the story of WW I in and around Ypres from the standpoint of people who experienced the war themselves, the victims. The museum is especially based on interactive audiovisual evocations about the life at the front, the battles, trenches, no-man's land, weapons, medical care, fatigue, rest and entertainment behind the front.
We could also visit the special exposition on the multicultural aspects of the first wold war and showed the impact of the more than 50 cultures present at the front and how they experienced the war they were dragged into from far away (and vice-versa). Quite interesting.

For the rest of the day we walked on the city's ramparts, we visited "renovated" trenches; the Menin gate memorial which contains the names of 54,896 Commonwealth soldiers who died without graves; the bunker at the site where John Mc Crae has written his poem "In Flanders Fields" ; many monuments and too many cimetaries. The absurdness of a war.................So pointless.

We didn't make it to Dranouter anymore, but I found it a very interesting day. Solemn and grey but good.