Ypres, Belgium is a living memorial to the victims of WWI. Everywhere you go in this tiny town, there is a memorial, monument, or a cemetery. Like I said earlier, Ypres was completely leveled by bombs in WWI. Everything that you see here in these pictures are buildings that were built post-WWI. While trying to recreate the medieval city, they added a few other elements, such as the Menin Gate memorial. Today, you can visit the old battle fields, trenches, cemeteries, and see hundreds of poppy wreathes placed throughout the town. On our first night in Ypres, we made it to the Menin Gate to watch the nightly Last Post ceremony. The next day, we took a tour to both the British and German cemeteries.
Judging by the large amount of people from around the world that visited Ypres on that miserably cold weekend in February, I know that this town has so much significance to them. During my stay in Ypres, I couldn't get over the fact about how many people had died just within that small town in Belgium. It is hard for me to even grasp the concept of death on such a massive scale without seeing all of the headstones in the countless cemeteries and the names written on the memorials.
^^The Menin Gate memorial stands where the main entrance was to the road leading outside of Ypres. This road was taken by all of the allied soldiers as they went off to battle.^^
^^British Cemetery^^
^^"Their Name Liveth For Evermore"^^
^^This trench was found during the construction of the modern day warehouses and industries that are located outside of the city limits. Today, the locals still find trenches, clothes, land mines, and even bodies in their yards and farmland. ^^
^^German cemetery^^
