Happy 18th birthday to Mia, our Weyburn friend from WCS, who came with us on tour!

Today was filled with bus travel, cemeteries and showing respect.

• Welcome to Belgium. This little country is famous for inventing the saxophone, birth control, Smurf’s, tin-tin, mannequin piss statue,

• Best Belgium food: truffles

Started touring Canadian graveyards in Belgium.

Passendale (That’s how it was spelled on the sign in Belgium but we usually spell it Paschendale.). We stopped at the Canada Gate which is a memorial for Canadians lost.

• Next stop was Tyne Cot Cemetery. A commonwealth cemetery housing thousands of soldiers from across the commonwealth. We met up with a man who has done research on fallen soldiers. A Yellow Grass resident had studied her uncle’s journey and shared her info with this man. With her material, he was able to identify two more soldiers who previously were unidentified. He came and had his picture taken with us.

• St Julian Passendaele Memorial. The memorial about giving respect to soldiers who suffered from deadly gas. Heads bowed and eyes downcast were the sign of respect. We were there at the memorial on 104th anniversary of the gas being used for the first time in WW1.

• Essex Farm Cemetery at Flanders Fields. This is where John McCrea wrote the poem “In Flander’s Field” when he was working as a field doctor. He wondered at the senseless of it all. The cemetery crosses are scattered. Maybe a sign of the senselessness of war. The students were told by our tour director to reflect on what they had observed during the day. Taylor came back to the bus and shared a poem she had written while reflecting. It brought tears and applause when she read it to the bus on the microphone.
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• Ypres (sounds like eeper). We entered the city that saw a lot of fighting and also the rise of the Canadian spirit. We visited the In Flanders Field Museum which is very detailed about war experiences.
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• We went for a delicious lasagna supper at “The Trumpet”. I think it is the best meal I have had on an EF tour.
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• We were in attendance at the Last Post Ceremony at Menin Gate at 8pm which occurs EVERY night as the Ypres community shows their respect for what soldiers did many many years ago. They will not be forgotten.
• We jumped back on the bus and headed to Vimy, France for our only night there. Belgium was a whirlwind. We had just enough spare time to buy a few chocolates, waffles and truffles. Delicious!
• This may have been the best day so far, but maybe I’m biased as I’ve said this everyday!
• We have had our share of laughs on the trip. The wooden clogs may have caused one of our girls to take up dancing!
• short walking day of only 9 km.
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