Amiens to Ieper (France to Belgium)

An early morning walk (in the rain!) to see if the Amiens Cathedral was open early enough for us to have a look inside.  Because it was raining, the gargoyles were working.  (Gargoyles are basically drainpipes.)

We had to wait for 15 minutes, but we did get a look around before we had to get back and pack.  Amiens Cathedral  is the largest church in France, both in terms of height and by interior volume.

A quick shot of our hotel from the outside.....

...before we went inside to wake Caelli and pack.  Off to the station for a three-legged journey to Ieper (train changes in Lille and Kortrijk).   On the train to Ieper we had a text message from our accommodation, saying the room would not be available until 6pm.    We thought that was a bit rude - about an hour's notice, even though I booked four months ago.  Once we arrived, we dragged our cases to the Tourist Information Centre in the middle of town and asked them about alternative accommodation.  Long story short - a B&B on the outskirts where Erik was prepared to drive us in and out of the town.  It was a lovely place, with two bedrooms (an English couple are in the second room), a communal bathroom (with a bath!), kitchenette, dining/lounge room, and a lovely terrace!

About an hour later, Erik drove us into the middle of Ieper.

We bought some Belgian chips to eat, some Belgian chocolates to eat later, and headed for the Menin Gate.

We found Absalom Peters, the Creswick digger, and then Phil found his relative, James Leslie Greenbank.  We left a poppy for him.

Then we went for a walk around the Ramparts, the old city walls and moat that are still intact around the southern part of Ieper.  (On the moat, I saw some Great Crested Grebe chicks riding on Mum's back, and then they went for a swim themselves.)

At the Lille Gate (the Rijselpoort), there is a small cemetery which we visited.  We saw a number of Maori graves, and a great variety of nationalities, much more so than in the predominantly Australian cemeteries we saw yesterday.

Back to town to wait for the Last Post ceremony.  Phil spoke to some Belgians and found himself the best spot to wait.  At my estimate there were around 1000 people there.  The ceremony itself was quite brief - less then 10 minutes.  Afterwards, we spoke to the buglers, one of whom Caelli recognised from the time she was here six years ago.  He didn't remember her, unfortunately, but was happy to talk to us anyway.  (In the first photo Phil is front and centre with Caelli sitting on the ground beside him.)