From James in Ypres

War cemetery in Belgium

Our visit to Belgium comprised mostly of rather morbid visits to various cemetaries. It was staggering the number of crosses in some of them; thousands per, with many simply labelled as unknown soldiers.

One of many WW2 monuments visited

The town of Ypres - very interesting architecture!

A monument to Allied troops MIA

One of the dozens of panels covered in names of missing soldiers

Flanders Field poppy

Flanders Field poppies

Remnants of trenches 

Many of the fields in Europe are still mined

One of several NZ cemeteries throughout the country

Original resting place of our Unknown Warrior

We visited a few museums around the place - there's a few images below of a very small one in the Belgian countryside containing a variety of artifacts from either world war

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Projectiles of various calibre

Some of the various headwear in the world wars

We also visited some of the old tunnels from World War 1 - these are near the town of Arras in France,

A bit of dry Kiwi wit - this cave was nicknamed "Waitomo"

View of a tunnel

Inside the tunnels

A missing soldier whose name hits a bit close to home

Wreath laid by Wellington College in Arras

Another more organised museum showing some munitions 

German graveyard in France - still to this day paid for and owned by Germany

We also visited the town of Le Quesnoy, where NZ famously helped liberate the town in WW1 which the locals are thankful for to this day.

Several of the streets in Le Quesnoy are named for NZ

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I cannot get my phone to work regardless of what I try. I am thinking perhaps there is something wrong with the battery. Anyway, I am in Ypres in Belgium, having visited Paris and Arras. Arras seemed a stark contrast to Paris; despite the beautiful buildings the locals seemed rather unfriendly. Visited a lot of graveyards and war memorials, and found a few McClintocks (even a J McClintock). Am wondering if they are related. Anyway After today we are going to London and then we'lll be going home, so I guess I'll see you soon.