So I did something special for Remembrance day. Something I will never forget and hope to do again. Another Canadian and I went to Ypres, to explore the cemetery's and see the official ceremony.
We started off with the In Flanders Fields museum. Belgians definitely have a talent for museums, and this one was no exception. It was the perfect thing to do to get yourself in the appropriate mood for a Remembrance day visit.
We then rented two bikes from a local hotel to go see the cemeteries. I think it's the best way to do it. Though it is a fair distance and we did run out of time in the end, you just wouldn't get the same feel speeding by in a car. We visited several cemeteries, in a coincidentally ascending order in the size's of the cemeteries. Seeing all those numbers, all those statistics my whole life about all those who died, after seeing all those photos every year, one would think that there aren't many more surprises. But nothing really sums up the devastation of those wars, like seeing the rows upon rows of tombstones. So many you can't even fit them all into a single camera shot. And as you walk between them knowing that you are walking over all these men, and then looking and seeing just how many have no name, how many will never have a family visit them, how many will just fade and conform into the background. Over eleven thousand were buried in the last cemetery we visited. How many will continue to have poppies laid upon them? How many will only feel the rain?
No comments:
Post a Comment