Ypres

Ever since our visit to the western front for the last ANZAC Day dawn service at Villers Bretonneux, I have felt a need to visit the grave of my grandmother’s favourite brother, after whom my father is named. Thomas Hodge is buried in the Brandhoek New Military Cemetery between Ypres and Poperinge in the Western Flanders part of Belgium. Crouching beside his neatly tended grave, one was reminded of the cruelty and absurdity of the First World War, but the overwhelming emotion was that of sadness. Moreover, this was no longer history, it was personal.

The medieval Cloth Hall sits imposingly on the Ypres market square. It is almost impossible to imagine that, as with the rest of the town, it was reduced to rubble by enemy bombardment during WWI.

In all, 300,000 allied soldiers died in the Ypres ‘Salient”, the front line around the town. Inscribed on the walls of the Menin Gate are the names of 55,000 Commonwealth war dead who have no official graves.

On a lighter note, we had a brilliant fish and chip lunch at a cafe on the market square, where Ingrid amazed the locals with the volume of vinegar poured over her chips. We then took a very pleasant walk around the Vaubanesque ramparts and moat which still surround a significant part of the town.

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Bruges



In describing Bruges, Lonely Planet says … “Picturesque cobbled lanes and dreamy canals link exceptionally photogenic market squares lined with soaring towers, historic churches and old whitewashed almshouses…. That means that there is an almost constant crush of tourists.” We found this to be perfectly true, especially the last bit. It is certainly a place we would like to revisit, but in the off season.

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Luxembourg

On our way to visit Craig, Sophie and Elliot in Belgium, we stayed overnight in Luxembourg. We then spent a morning wandering around the old town. We both agreed that it would perhaps be a pleasant place to live, quite unaware of how prophetic this was to be.

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Ansbach

For another blue dot on our Castles of Bavaria poster we drove to Ansbach, west of Nuremburg. We did a guided tour of the Margrave Palace also known as the Ansbach Residenz together with Kelly, a work colleague of Ingrid's. Unfortunately, no photography was allowed inside but the 27 rooms were all decorated in the usual obscenely splendid rococo fashion.

Attached to the Residenz is the magnificent Hofgarten with the 100 m long Orangerie, modelled on the Grand Trianon at Versailles. We pretended to not understand whilst the guide described the damage incurred during the WWII bombing raids.

In an impressive show of civic pride, the old town is dotted with street sculptures, statues and monuments. A number of these refer to the mysterious Kaspar Hauser, who may or may not have been the Prince of Baden, rightful heir to the throne at the time.

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Paris

We had planned for quite some time to meet up with Craig and Sue in Paris. Unfortunately, they were unable to make the trip, so having already booked our tickets, our consolation prize was to spend some time with Deb, who has settled in nicely to her new life in France. She lives in the delightful suburb of Garches, an almost village-like enclave in the west of Paris.            

The city turned on some perfect autumn weather for the three of us to wander almost aimlessly around the Left Bank area and over the Seine to the Luxembourg Gardens via the Parthenon.

Ingrid and Deb seemed to have plenty to talk about, so I just wandered and took photos. One of my relatively innocuous fetishes is cast iron and glass structures. The 2^nd and 10^th arrondisements of Paris offer a treasure trove of these, from the magnificent Gare du l’Est to the delightful passages and galleries hidden away between the major thoroughfares.

For something completely different, we also visited Les Halles and the Pompidou Centre. Now that is quite a steel and glass structure! Not quite the same fascination as the Belle Epoque marvels that surround it, but impressive just the same.

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