Ypres

[cunning fergus]

Not a cathedral, it's the Lakenhalle, a former cloth trading hall (originally medieval, but it had to be rebuilt from rubble after WW1). Significantly, however, today it houses the very poignant and excellent In Flanders Fields Museum, which is worth half a day of your time if you do visit.

On a more general point, and at the risk of introducing pedantry to a very sombre occasion, I've always wondered why we British insist on using the French name for the town. It's in Dutch-speaking Belgium and it's called Ieper. Surely calling it by the correct local name would be far more respectful to the people who live there and whose relatives lived and died there in the carnage. And Ieper is a bloody sight easier to pronounce than Ypres...

You are right on the pronunciation point, however the Tommies got round it anyway and referred to Ypres as Wipers. Where there's a will.....

 

[Notters]

It was under W.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episodes/b0906hpg?suggid=b0906hpg

Hmmm. Not on the sky version for some reason.

 

[Thunder Bolt]

Hmmm. Not on the sky version for some reason.

Ah, I got the link via my pc.

 

[atfc village]

Visited the Ypres and the Somme area twice . Like many people have relatives names on the Menin Gate and Thievpal which i'm lucky to have seen . Would recommend the last post at Menin it's incredibly moving . One day i would like to visit the Norfolk Cemetery at Becondel Becourt where my Grans uncle lays having died aged just 17 . His Brother died 6 months later on The Somme aged 36.

 

[Weststander]

Two of my great great uncles, brothers, died together at Ypres.

I would like to spend some tIme in the Western Front area, not just Ypres, to have an extended look around and show my respects. Must get round to that.