Day 5: WWI Lesson

  Today was a big World War I history lesson.  We stopped at three different military cemeteries and several battlefields.  We stood in spots where President Obama and Adolph Hitler both stood.  There was a lot of information to take in, but it was really interesting.  I won't even try to recap it... but here's the 30 second version:

  The first place we stopped was Flanders Field American Cemetery.  It's the only American World War I cemetery in Belgium, and was the site of fierce fighting.    

  At Essex Farm, we entered original bunkers that are still standing:

  For lunch, we stopped at an old farm house that's now a bed and breakfast.  This is the setup they had waiting for us:

  They served us sandwiches made with freshly made bread, meats, and local cheese.  Here's our group:

    Afterwards, the farm owner took us out to a barn where he had a HUGE collection of WWI artillery and other items that he's found in his fields.  There were hundreds of artifacts.

  We learned that because there were so many bombs dropped in this area, a large number of them are still in the ground.  It's actually common for farmers and residents to find all sorts of dangerous items.  Just a few months ago, a farmer plowing his field accidentally broke open some canisters of mustard gas and he was very seriously injured.

  Fidning ammo is so commonplace that if residents find anything, they're instructed to leave it on the side of the road (in things that look like telephone poles with holes in them) and a special collection unit comes around once a week, just like a garbage truck, to get rid of them.  20 TONS A  YEAR are still being collected from this small area, about an hour outside of Bruges.

  A few more cemetery shots, this time from Tyne Cot Cemetery.  Almost 12,000 are buried here:

  We found Private Ryan:

   The last stop was the Hooge Crater Museum, which had this warning:

  We were able to walk through the actual trenches.  Chilling.

  OK, lots of heavy stuff on this day, so here's a picure of food to end on.  Our group had a feast of mussels (this is one of the best places to get them.)  I opted for the alternative (pasta), but here's a shot of Nat's serving: