Belgium
Q: Who is too old to be sleeping on the streets and hitchhiking?
A: Me
When I left Greenland for Iceland my flight was delayed so I did not get into Rehkajavik until late and the hostel did not hold my room so I had to find another. After a few tries the only thing that was available was 398 Euros a night and I was only going to be there for 5 hours so I stayed in the pub until 2 and then found a dry alley way until the wee hours of the morning. It was not too bad. I have really warm sleeping bag.
I was thinking to myself in Inuit that I am too old to sleep on the street but the same thing happened in Belgium the next night. More delays with flights and I could not find the hostel (it was a converted barge with no real street address) so once again no place to sleep. I dropped my pack off and headed for the nearest pub. After some Trappist Beer and being dead tired from the previous night I had no problem sleeping.
I really enjoy Ghent. I think this was my third time here. Only 250,000 people and a great downtown and an old world feel to it. When I tell people that Belgium is my favorite country in Europe they look at me kind of strange. Ironically my old B2B and current B2B family come from Belgium. Before them I didnt know any Canadians with Belgium roots. The Flemish are also very friendly and great to deal with.
Also, in Ghent as with anywhere in Belgium you are close to anything else that you want to and I was going back to Leper (Ypres) and was going to Passendale.
The In Flanders Fields Museum is one of my favorites and they play the Last Post at the Menin Gate to honor the war dead. The Last Post is still a very poinant moment after all these years. A very interactive museum. You get a name of a soldier during The Great War and throughout the course of your time in the museum you get an update as to what happed to him and he died.
They have periodic readings of In Flanders Fields by Colonel John McCrae as well as poems by Wilfred Owen and other War Poets.
I also visited the Tyne Cot Cemetery which is the largest in the Commonwealth and perhaps the world to honor the war dead. A lot of the graves just say A Soldier of the Great War. Known only to God.
Leper and Passendale were some of the bloodiest battles of WW1. Leper was a pile of rubble and Passendale was a sloppy, hellish killing field.
Battle Dates:
July 31 - mid-November, 1917. The Canadian Corps began their attack on October 26, 1917.
Location of Battle:
Village of Passchendaele, Belgium, near Ypres.
Canadian Troops at Battle of Passchendaele:
20,000 members of the Canadian Corps
Canadian Casualties at the Battle of Passchendaele:
Over 15,000 Canadians dead and wounded
Canadian Honours at the Battle of Passchendaele:
Nine Canadian soldiers received the Victoria Cross in recognition of their efforts at Passchendaele:
Colin Fraser Barron
Thomas William Holmes
Cecil John Kinross
Hugh McKenzie
George Harry Mullin
Christopher Patrick John O'Kelly
George Randolph Pearkes
James Peter Robertson
Robert Shankland
Battle of Passchendaele Summary:
This offensive in Flanders was launched by British commander Sir Douglas Haig to break through the front and destroy the German submarine bases on the coast of Belgium.
The initial barrage of Allied artillery warned the Germans and created a mass of craters, potholes and dust in the battlefield. Heavy rains turned the field into a bog of thick mud that severely limited mobility.
British, Australian and New Zealand forces fought for months with few advances and 100,000 casualties.
When the Canadian Corps was ordered to relieve the Anzac forces in October, Canadian Lieutenant-General Arthur Currie objected but was overruled.
The Canadians began a series of attacks on October 26.
On October 30, with two British divisions, the Canadians began the attack on Passchendaele itself. By November 6 when reinforcements arrived, the village of Passchendaele was taken.
I was there on a Sunday and there were no buses running so I ended up hitch hiking. When the person who picked me up found out that I was Canadian he drove me around to the cemeteries, and the town of Passendale and the back to Leper. He was a bit insulted when I offered him money.
There is still a Canadian presence in Flanders with lots of Canadian flags, places named of Canadian and there is even a pub called Club Canada. Any the Flemish still have a lot of respect for the Canadians that dies there. Hopefully future generations will as well but I am guessing it will taper off.
I am sure I will get back there again someday.
I overnighted in Frankfurt on the way back to Yemen. I have been there countless times before but it is still nice to take a walk along the Rhine and go to the old town.
|
