Flanders Fields

Yesterday we went on a day tour to the WW1 battlefields and memorials of the Ypres Salient. A very memorable day in many ways. Not only did we see Polygon Wood, the battlefield of Hill 60, Tyne Cot cemetary, monuments to the British, Canadian, New Zealand and Australian Forces but also visited the imposing Menin Gate at Ypres. Here, Rob left a poppy beside the name of his Uncle who was killed somewhere in this area and buried in an unmarked grave. A very symbolic gesture for the family.                                              

                              

The brooding soldier at Vancouver Corner, the memorial to 2000 Canadian soldiers who lost their lives during the first gas attacks in 1915. 

                                                  

                                               

The war graves at Tyne Cot cemetary, the largest of the Commonwealth cemetaries, 12,000 soldiers are buried here and another 35,000 are listed on the memorial wall, soldiers with no known grave.

                              

The Australian 5th Division memorial at Polygon Wood.

                              

  

Menin Gate, the memorial to about 55,000 men who died during the Great War in unmarked graves.

Every evening at 8pm they have the Last Post Ceremony and we were grateful to be able to attend this very moving ceremony.

                               

The poem In Flanders Fields was written here by Lieutenant Colonel John McCrae, Brigade Surgeon, 1st Canadian Field Artillery.

                                

                                

     

   

Brugge Belgium

Yesterday morning, we boarded a Eurostar train at the wonderful London St Pancras station and in only 2 hours we arrived at Brussels. A change of trains and an hour later we arrived in Brugge. Train travel in Europe is so easy and I love being able to watch the countryside glide past. 

After we arrived, we spent a few hours walking around looking at all the beautiful buildings and then found a little bar where we decided to have a cold Belgian beer (or possibly two) and watch all the beautiful people walking past. As you may have heard, it's quite warm in Europe at the moment, although not as bad as Brisbane in the summer! Last night, we found a nice little restaurant and had some Belgian Mussels. Yum!

Today, we did what we love best and spent about 5 hours walking around discovering historic buildings and little squares. And after trying the beer and mussels yesterday, today we HAD to try the Belgian chocolate. There seems to be a chocolate or beer shop on every corner! 

There is so much history here and at every corner there seems to be a photo opportunity.

                         

                                          

                         

                         

                         

                         

                                          

                                            

                          

Tomorrow we visit Flanders Fields and the site of the WW1 Battlefields.

London

This trip we only have a short stay in London as we have been here several times before. So this visit we decided to do a free London Greet and today we had the privilege of being shown around the Camden area by London Greeter Ranee. As Greeters ourselves, it was a different experience being on the 'other side' of a greet and it was wonderful. Ranee was very passionate about her area and took us up old laneways and down streets that we would never have found ourselves. We saw the place where George Orwell wrote 1984 and strolled around the gardens of John Keats house. We walked alongside the narrowboats in Regents Canal and went up Primrose Hill where sheep used to graze. It was a wonderful 4 hours spent walking around that part of London and learning the history of the area. We presented her with a few Brisbane Greeters mementos as a thank you!

                               

It was a very warm day in London today and everybody seemed to be out and about enjoying the sunshine, especially in Regents Park. Here are some photos from our day.

                               

                               

                               

                               

Tomorrow morning we say goodbye to London and head off on the Eurostar train to Belgium where we have a 4 day stay.

Dubai

The first stop on our trip was Dubai in the UAE and as we had never been before we were looking forward to the experience. We arrived during the month of Ramadan which means Muslims fast between sunrise and sunset, not even drinking water, which is hard to imagine in such a hot climate. We caught a taxi from the airport to our hotel and our driver (a woman) told us that even though she is a Christian, she has been reported to the police for eating in her taxi during Ramadan, as she wears the local dress. Most restaurants are closed during the day but the ones that are open have curtains that hide the people inside eating. You can't buy alcohol in restaurants until 8pm, so it was hard going without a cold beer on such a hot day but you can of course, eat and drink alcohol as much as you like in private! It only lasts a month, so by the time we return there on our way home, it will all be over and we can buy a cold beer at lunchtime and thank goodness, at 42C, Dubai can make you thirsty.

Our first day we visited Dubai Mall, the biggest shopping mall on the world. As I am not into shopping, it looked like any other shopping mall in the world. We weren't really functioning that well the first day (after a 14 hour overnight flight) so had an early night. But the next day we were fine and took ourselves on one of those hop on hop off Big Bus tours and ended up spending 9 hours travelling around, including getting off at various stops and walking around exploring different areas. There are three different routes included on the bus and we did them all, the red, green and blue.

The building that is going on in Dubai is amazing, cranes on the skyline everywhere. The famous buildings that people know include the tallest building in the world, the Burj Khalifa.

                                                   

The amazing hotel, the Burj Al Arab, at around $15,000 per night and unless I win lotto, I'll never stay there!

                                        

But there were the quirky buildings that were interesting, like the Infinity Tower with a twist of 90 degrees.

                                        

The modern city is amazing but the part I liked the best was the old part, where the locals live and work, including the spice markets and the local ferries that take them across the river.

                                       

                         

                         

                         

I found Dubai interesting but certainly a city of contrasts. 

   

Countdown to Europe

After much researching, planning and lots of bookings, we only finalised our European trip this week. We leave on Tuesday and I am excited! 

I packed my backpack yesterday and it weighed in at 10.2kg. Thankfully, I have my packing down to a fine art these days, if we are going on a winter trip it's around 12kg and in summer, around 10kg. The decision to take my backpack over a wheeled suitcase was quite simple, we are travelling on a lot of trains and I find a backpack is better for getting on and off trains and up all those stairs at the European train stations.

                                           

All up, we will be away for 9 weeks, starting with a 14 hour flight to Dubai and because we haven't been to Dubai before, we have opted to stay 2 nights there. Then another flight to London, about 8 hours. Two nights in London and then we take the Eurostar train to Belgium. Then Germany, France, Spain, Portugal and Morocco.

We have booked walks with Greeters in London, Paris, Madrid and Bilbao and have already been contacted by Paul (London) and Bernard (Paris) who will show us around their city.

So stay tuned for the latest adventures!

    

Canberra Again

Here we are in Canberra again visiting our two grandchildren, we haven't seen them in person for 4 months (thank goodness for Skype) and they have grown so much in that time! So far we've been lucky with nice sunny days but it has been quite cool outside, this morning we woke up to a chilly -2C. This morning we took them to visit Cockington Green Gardens, a short drive away. 

Amongst the gardens is a miniature village, the original section from Great Britain and the second section is the International and Australian display. They also have a miniature train ride and this seemed to be the favourite for all the children.

Love spending time with them! So precious.