At Flanders fields the poppies grow
Between the crosses, row by row
That mark our place; and in the sky
The larks, still bravely singing, fly
Scarce heard amid the guns below
We visited Ypres, Belgium, which sits among the fields of Flanders where horrible trench warfare took place in the Ypres Salient. A salient is a bulge in the front line of battle and it's dangerous because of the probability of becoming surrounded by the enemy. Ypres has a wonderful museum that explains it all. The area remembers these times with memorials and cemeteries all around the area. First stop was Tyne Cot Cemetery:
Then on to the Menin Gate memorial:
And finally, Essex Farm. See how the graves face different directions, and are not in orderly rows. This is a battlefield cemetery and those who are buried here died either on the front line about a mile away or at the dressing station that immediately adjoins the cemetery.
This soldier was 15 years old.
Our next stop was Nantes, France, where we took a walking tour around the heart of town to see the castle:
And Saint Pierre Cathedral.
The good news was that we had about thirty minutes of free time and found a Monoprix store nearby. Duck mousse, Duck terrine, and paprika peanuts were added to the goody stash that was growing in our suite. By now, goodies were stashed in just about every available cubby hole.
