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 Last night we were present for the Menin Gate Ceremony, today we will visit the Essex Cemetery where 1200 of the Commonwealth soldiers are buried.  The cemetery was established next to a dressing station near the front lines.  As the soldiers were wounded in battle this was their first stop.  If the soldiers did not survive their wounds, they were interred at this location.  It was initially an unnamed  farmer's field, and it was named after the Essex Regiment when one of their soldiers was buried early in the conflict. As time passed, 28 members of the Essex Regiment were buried there in 1916.  The first aid station remained in service from early 1915 to 1918.  Of note in this cemetery there are 8 tombstones bearing the names of eight men from the same unit who were killed on the same day. Another grave holds the body of Valentine Joseph Strudwick.  Joseph was one of the youngest British soldiers killed in WWI.  He was 15 years old....

 We left Brugge and drove to Ypres.  This is an ancient town and has been the center of conflict almost since its inception.  It is known to have been raided by the Romans in the first century BC.  It was first mentioned by name in 1066.  In 1200 AD the population was 40,000.  It was a prosperous city and the primary source of their wealth was the linen trade.  It was mentioned in the Canterbury Tales about their trade with England.  Textiles from here could be found in Novogorod, Russia in the early 12th century.  The Cloth Hall was constructed in the 13th century.  It was the largest commercial building erected in the Middle Ages.  During this time, cats, a symbol of the devil and witchcraft were thrown from the Cloth Hall roof top.  This was in an effort to get rid of evil demons.  Cats are no longer thrown from the roof, but there is a Cat Parade every year to commerate this act. As mentioned, wars and strife have been...

 Today our adventure took us to Gent, another historic city that traces its history to the Middle Ages.  Many of the medieval structures from the 15th century are still there.  History comes alive when you see it first hand. This was a 15,000 step day.  Amanda stayed back today, so it was Linda, Harry, and me.  Amanda said she would read the blog and enjoy Gent vicariously. It took us about 45 minutes to get to the central station in Gent, and we took the bus to the Old Town.  It was a short ride to the historic center.  It would have been a short ride had we gotten on the correct bus.  We saw a lot of Gent on this trip.  Our bus was taking us further away from the Old Town.  We went through many neighborhoods and ended up in the industrial area of Gent.  When the bus driver stopped, he told us it was the end of the line.  I showed him my telephone and pointed to where we wanted to go.  He was very nice and told us to stay...

 When we were making our plans for this trip, we decided to base in Brugge for the second week.  Among those plans we would train out from to Brugge to other villages in the area.  Our first train excursion was to Oostende.  We wanted to visit a quaint village on the North Sea.  Oostende was anything, but that. It was located on the North Sea, but it was not a cute village.  It is a large seaport town.  It has a population of 73,000.  It is a thriving community and has shown a population increase for the last 5 years.  It has a large beach on the North Sea shore.  Not to be confused with our beaches in Alabama, but well attended by beach goers.  Trains pass through Brugge every 15 minutes on the way to Oostende, and it is standing room only for the passengers.  When the passengers disembark they head straight for the beach.   There is a lot of modern and contemporary structures in Oostende. It was bombed heavily by th...

 We have stayed busy exploring Brugge.  We took a two hour walking tour, visited the Lace Museum, and visited two churches.  We visited both, The  Basilica of the Holy Blood and Church of Our Lady. The Basilica of the Holy Blood is a Roman Catholic Basilica, built between 1134 and 1157, as the chapel of Count of Flanders.  The church houses a relic of the Holy Blood collected by Joseph of Arimathea (a Biblical figure who assumed responsibility for the burial of Jesus after his crucifixion.) The blood was brought from the Holy Land by Thierry of Alcace, Count of Flanders, after the 2nd Crusade in the 12th century.  The relic of the Holy Blood was given to Thierry by Baldwin III of Jerusalem for his great service. The Basilica is best known as the repository of a venerated vial said to contain a cloth with the blood of Jesus Christ.  Ever since, the vial has played a big part in the religious life of the city. Brugge has an annual Procession of the Holy ...

 The weather is gorgeous, and the temperature is 75.  You could not ask for a nicer day.  If you travel to Europe, it does not take long to realize every city or village is very old.  Most of them trace their heritage bad to the pre-historic era.  Others see their first recorded history starting about the year 1000.  Brugge was a dominent economic force in the Middle Ages.  It was located at the crossing point for European trade and the Mediterranean trades.  This was considered the "Golden Age" for Brugge. Brugge was a port city and in the 15th century, the pathway to the ocean started to silt up, and Brugge went into economic decline.  In the 1600's Brugge faded in importance and for almost 300 years Brugge went into hibernation.  This city started a reawakening in the early 1900's.  This Midevial city seem to have been a time warp.  Tourism increased and today the city is overrun by tourists.  It is a beautiful city and...