Today we left Butterworth Farm and headed north. We stopped at Arras where we visited the caves that had been tunneled out by the New Zealandersf from the limestone quarries that had been under the city for years.
Amy and I with our hard hats ready for the tour!
One of the tunnels built by the New Zealanders
One of the exits that the soliders used to go out and attack the Germans
From there we headed to Ypres, where we went for a wander and checked out this lovely city before checking into our Bed and Breakfast. After some dinner we headed down to the Last Post Ceremony at Menin Gate. We got there at 7pm for an 8pm start so we had a good spot right at the front and could see the Buglers who were right in front of us. They had a Maori contingent there, they sang a hymn in Maori and did the haka at the end. It was very moving.
The guy standing next to Amy has been one of the buglers for 37 years!
Replicas of the original lions that were donated to the Australian Government and are at the Australian War Memorial. For a while the originals where brought back to Belgium. They have recently made these copies here in Belgium by Belgian stonemasons using the same stone as the originals.
Menin Gate
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