In the morning, I went to do a bit of shopping. The tap water here is fine to drink but it tastes quite a bit different than ours and the kids don't like it. And yesterday was so hot we went through all our bottled, so I went to restock. Of course, not knowing Dutch, I ended up with 12 big 1.5-litre bottles of fizzy mineral water, not flat. Which we are now leaving for our exchange family as I can't imagine trying to do a return with the language difference.
We set out early afternoon, stopping first in Diksmuide to see the Dodengang, or 'trench of death,' the only preserved section of First World War Belgian trenches.
Then, we hit the road again. We remembered seeing a pub/restaurant with a playground on our last trip on this road, so we decided to stop for frites, a waffle and a beer.
We reached Eiper (Ypres) around 4. We walked about for a bit until a restaurant opened so we could treat the boys to a pizza dinner before the ceremony at Menin Gate. The ceremony is at 8 every night. Traffic through the gate is stopped as crowds gather to pay respects to those soldiers who fought and died on the Ypres Salient and who have no known grave.
The list of Canadians is staggering. I got my spot at the gate at 7 while the boys and Moira played in the shade at the park. Between then and 8, so many people filled the gate that they couldn't join me in the front for the ceremony.
Short service but very moving and worth the wait. Stood next to people from Vancouver and Sussex as we paid our respects to the 54,000+ Commonwealth lads who, through the circumstances of war, weren't afforded the honour of a proper burial.
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