Ghent p1

Ghent, Belgium

Day Four of Belgium Tour

This was a town in Belgium that the Germans got out quick and left almost alone.

Just as well, it is a WOW town.

A few to many churches.

But most of them closed.

The canals looked dirty. And it was cold.

 

some had very tall towers.

 

The Hotels were built in the early 1800's

But the Saint Bavo's Catheral was the target

This is the famous church made famous due to e painting

Simply put, it is the "Ghent Alter Piece"

The movie the "Monument Men" was filmed here.

One of the orginal men lost his life here defending the Alter Piece.

SO the church of Course has an exhibition.

We were able to take pictures of the Alter Piece.

It was very nice cathedral

down stiars was an exhibition of the 

Different clergy robes and some of the restored walls 

It shows that at one point the church was very colourfull place.

Dunkirk

Dunkirk, we found at last, the Parking was Nightmare.

The canal was there

The monument was there

The Beach was there

But it's now a beach resort, very disappointing.

Iepers, Belgium

The town Hall at Iepers, Ypres

This was the Center the Flanders Fields

So many lost there lives year on both sides.

today is is museum, so we parked the car in the market square and went in.

the museum was a very interactive one.

but it held nothing back, this place was the centre of hell

I paid to go up the tower, looking toward the Menen Gate

the opposite direction shows the town was rebuilt in the same as before.

But the Gate was rebuilt and made into a monument

 

 walking up a down the staircases was an experience.

from there we went to the Gate, to find the names.

 

George Surridge

John Monument

But it was just the sheer number of Names of those that weren't found.

If you didn't know the panel, you would be there all day.

 

They would go from the top to the bottom

 

Inside the gate, 54000 names in Total

And Outside.

I was lucky I found all 8 I was looking for.

Back in the town we decide to stop for lunch.

Lunch in a french bistro. 

Great meal.

After that we went to the cathedral that the Catholic church rebuilt.

beautiful windows

and architecture

the Alter piece was from Rome

the ceiling Gothic

 

the statues looked like they had been for long time. but they were all post WW1

This was Total flat at the end of the war.

We left for Dunkirk but it was moving place.

Frank Albert Still - Essex Farm Cemetery - Iepers, Belgium

After finding the first one. It was off back into Belgium

this time to find Frank.

Essex Farm Cemetery is in Iepers

And again it only tooks minutes to find his grave

This was a bigger grave they the first one. and was just WW1 soldiers

This is the grave for those the died at the First aid Station.

It is still there

May there rest in Peace and not be forgotten.

Frank William Paterson - Valkenswaard, Noord-Brabant, Netherlands

Sunday came and we were on the road again.

 The time to be a quiet day looking at Ancestors graves around 

WW2 and WW1

First up was  Frank William Paterson

He was a Uncle that was killed in WW2, the only one in the Netherlands

he was killed in the battle on Arnhem

it took us only 2 minutes to find the grave

this is a tidy cemetery, and very peaceful.