Saturday, April 29, 2017

Y - Ypres, Belgium

I have already mentioned the Yser River and so did not want to repeat it.  Instead I am making a brief mention of Ypres, which I did not visit.

Ypres is the French name for Ieper, a town in the Belgian province of West Flanders. It's surrounded by the Ypres Salient battlefields, where many cemeteries, memorials and war museums honor the battles that unfolded in this area during World War I. After being destroyed in the war, many important buildings were carefully reconstructed, including Gothic-style St. Martin's Cathedral and its soaring spire.


Most people know of this area because of World War I, so here is a link to more information. Here is also a link to a blogger I follow in Australia.  She posted this entry about Ypres just this past week.

I have read many books about the two world wars.  There is one book dealing with the First World War that I found particularly interesting.  It is Adam Hochschild's "To End All Wars", which is told from the British point of view.  I reviewed this book in 2013 and that post can be found here.

We have one letter left to go.  Have you survived the challenge?

Bonus:  Yarrow

15 comments:

  1. There are a number of young men from Canada who died at Ypres. Hard to believe that was over 100 years ago. Find me here.LINK

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    1. I am watching 'Canada: The Story of Us' and Sunday night's episode is about Canadian soldiers in WWI.

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  2. I'm finding your posts SO enticing! Can't wait to share them with his lordship when you're all done. :D

    Calen~
    Impromptu Promptlings
    A to Z Challenge Letter Y

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    1. I have another stop coming on Monday. I am going to start blogging about all the places I have not mentioned in A to Z over the last several years. Check out my travelog page for what I have already blogged about.

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  3. I visited Ypres for the first time last year. It was a sobering experience indeed.

    Another day in Amble Bay!

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  4. I would lie to visit Ypres one day because of the historical significance regarding the First World War. Canadians really showed their metal and truly established us as a great country.

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    1. Are you watching the CBC Story of Us? Tomorrow night it is about WWI.

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    2. I missed it! I meant to watch it and flew out of my head

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  5. Dunno if you knew Denise, but the British soldiers called it Wypers. Never been linguists.

    Never made it to Ypres either.

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    1. I can see lots of folks saying that. You should hear how people around mangle French street names.

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  6. I'm more familiar with WWII than I am with WWI... That book (To End All Wars) sounds interesting, and the local library has a copy so I will check it out.

    The photo of cheery yellow flowers lifted my spirits at the end of your post.

    Trudy @ Reel Focus
    Food in Film: Yolk

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  7. I've just realised the number of war memorials you've visited on this tour. Quite a few.

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    1. Yes, and there were others that I did not mention because I had posted about them for Memorial and Veterans Day.

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