Tour of Belgium

No, the Tour of Belgium is not a bike race although it probably could be with all of the bicycles here. They are also cycling fans so there is a lot of talk about the Giro de Italia. We have spent the past 3 days seeing as much of Belgium as we could. Our primary goal was Flanders and the WWI sites in the area but we could not ignore the beautiful ancient towns in the area as well. The countries here are small in comparison to the US so although it sounds daunting, driving between them is really no big deal. On Monday we left The Netherlands and our wonderful experiences there behind and headed for our next B & B outside of Ghent, Belgium. It was a short drive so we detoured to Antwerp (Antwerpen to the locals) to check out the Market Square and some other sites in this important port city. We easily found parking, climbed the stairs, turned the corner and had a bit of an “Oh my goodness” moment. The main square of this town is not only beautiful it is Baroque. So much of what we have seen is Medieval or Gothic that the stark contrast was surprising. We walked around for a while enjoying the architecture and many very old buildings and enjoyed a beer while sitting outside in the square and people-watching. Our next stop was Ghent. We wanted to make sure that we allowed plenty of time to explore the WWI sites of Flanders on Tuesday so we thought that we would check out Ghent on the way to our lodging for the next 3 days. Well, it’s a good thing we did. The first issue was that we almost couldn’t get out of the parking structure. We had noticed that a lot of places don’t take Credit Cards in Belgium.

In talking to one of our hosts I guess that the government charges a really high rate and makes them purchase an expensive machine to process the charges so many just refuse. We had cash so we figured that it wouldn’t be much of an issue. The parking garage, on the other hand said that it was credit card only….great…less cash to spend…except it wouldn’t take out card!!! Most places who have taken our credit card are requiring a signature. We ran into the same problem at a gas station with no attendants. We can use the card inside the station with a signature but not at the pump.

The problem with the garage was that they wouldn’t take cash and only used the machine. The office couldn’t run our card. We told the guy we were going to sleep there and he finally took cash…probably pocketed it but let us out at least. At that point we were a bit frustrated. We easily made our way to Ghent which is another beautiful city. Larger and more spread out than the others that we have been to so far. The difficulty was trying to find a fairly central location so we could walk around. Once again there was a glitch. How do we pay for parking? This time we opted for the free 30 minutes, walked around a little bit and decided to find a Laundromat to do some washing to get us through the rest of the trip. There was free street parking in the residential part of town so laundry was not a problem. It was just hot and muggy…time to go relax.
We found our B & B with only one extra go around the block. It’s out in the country and is really beautiful. I think Google just wanted to do sightseeing. Our host invited us in and offered us a glass of wine. We sat and chatted for 30 minutes and he showed us to our room, recent addition to his home with 1 wall that is all glass overlooking the pasture with his sheep and donkey. The garden is in full bloom and the birds are too. We look forward to 3 nights in this beautiful spot.
Tuesday we headed off early for our much anticipated day in the Flanders area. We found the Flanders American Cemetery and were once again awestruck by the peaceful beauty of the resting place for so many American patriots. We immediately got what the locals call “kippen huid” in Dutch. The direct translation, Chicken Skin (goose bumps.) War is ugly but WWI was one of the ugliest. Bombings and chemical weapons took millions of military and civilian lives. The Flanders American Cemetery, as have all of the others that we have been to on this trip does little to make sense of the loss of so many young men.

What is worse is that in this area of Belgium there were horrific losses. As we drove away heading for Ypres there was literally a cemetery around every corner. Some had only 30 or 40 graves, others had thousands. Many were buried where they fell in battle. It was very sobering to walk among the graves knowing that you were walking ground where they bled and died. Ypres is home to the Flanders Field Museum. This time we found excellent parking with a machine that took cash. One hurdle out of the way. The museum itself is housed in the old “Cloth Hall” and also incorporates the town Belfry. The museum was really well done and helped to put some

clarity on the events during was seemed to us to be a very distant war. We also decided to take the extra time to climb the 251 steps of the narrow, winding stairway to see the 49 Carillion Bells and the view of the city from one of its highest structures at 150 meters. It was well worth the time and effort. Although it was a bit hazy you could still see for miles around. We have been fortunate with the weather. Although we have had rain predicted every day it had not come to fruition except for following the ceremony in Margarten on Sunday. After the museum we walked out to the edge of town to the Menin Gate.

This is a large structure somewhat reminiscent of the Arc de Triumphe but on a smaller scale. On it is inscribed the 54,896 names of the Missing! Astonishingly, almost 55,000 families never knew the fate of their love one. There are archaeological excavations that are going on in many places in the area that have found many remains. With modern technology and access to records from the war they have been able to start identifying a few, like an officer from New Zealand that they were able to identify in just the past few months.

The rest of the day was spent driving around looking for battle grounds, bomb craters, trenches and memorials that dot the landscape. Hill 60 was especially interesting because of the amount of remaining craters and the stories of a group of Australian Troupes that specialized in tunnels. They are credited for saving a lot of lives. Seeing markers that showed the actual battle lines only a few meters apart really made us realize how horrific this war was. The day was topped off with a few remaining poppies....those that have become a symbol of remembrance for the boys and men that made the ultimate sacrifice.

We stopped for dinner in a nearby town and met a very interesting Australian couple.
4 years ago they bought a boat and live aboard traveling the rivers and canals of Europe 6 months of the year. It was fun hearing some of the stories of their adventures.
Today we lightened things up a bit and headed out early for Bruges, Belgium. It is known as the Venice of Belgium because of its beauty and canals. We were back to the late Middle Ages but didn’t mind a bit. There was a lot of beautiful architecture. It was market day in the square so food vendors were everywhere. We had an ice cream in a Belgian waffle cone and strolled the streets.

One large spire was the Church of Our Lady. It was of particular interest because I had read that they have a Michelangelo Sculpture of The Madonna. We went in expecting a lot of Hoopla but if you didn’t know it was a Michelangelo you would have no idea of its importance. It was off to the side in a chapel but I recognized it immediately. It is the only Michelangelo sculpture to leave Italy in his lifetime. It was sculpted between 1501-1504. It has only left Bruges on 2 occasions. It was stolen during the French Revolutionary war but was returned after Napoleon lost at Waterloo. It was also stolen by the Germans in 1944. It was found in a salt mine in Germany 1 year later.
I’ll leave you with the Flanders Field Poem, written by Lt. Colonel John McCrae, a Canadian Physician following the death of a good friend. Little did he know he would succumb a few months later.