A Little Tourism

Thursday, May 25, 2006

Bedankt, mates!

After a rough, windy, cold, wet morning, the day started to look up once
arriving in the historic city of Brugge, Belgium.  The group had the
opportunity to enjoy the Belgium holiday celebrating the Ascension by
spending some free time in the city visiting the historic and beautiful
sites.  Many of the students took a boat tour of the city, much like
you can do in Venice, Italy.  The guided tour pointed out the historic
bridges, churches, bells, hotels, and many other notable sites of the
city.  The group also had the chance to brave the masses visiting the
city to do some shopping for the famous Belgium chocolates, lace, and
even some jewelry.  Some students even got a chance for their “daily”
workout and took all 366 stairs to the top of a bell tower for a
beautiful birds-eye view of Brugge. 

After leaving Brugge, the group traveled on the luxurious charter bus to
Ieper.  Ieper is known as the “historic walled city” and home to the
spectacular Flanders Field Museum.  Flanders Field was a famous trench
warfare battleground in World War I.  The team then went and witnessed
the discomfort and realities of an actual trench used in the war.  To
complete the experience, we all loaded the bus again and headed for the
Tyne Cot Cemetery.  The cemetery is the resting place to 12,000 fallen
soldiers, the largest Commonwealth cemetery of any war. The cemetery
also names 34,000 soldiers whose bodies were never identified on a
Memorial wall. Never before had many of the group experienced the
atrocities of the war in such a way.  It really gave light to the
magnitude of loss of World War I. 

In honor of the fallen soldiers the group then headed back into Ieper to
“The Last Post”.  “The Last Post” featured three harmonic buglers and
several high school students placing wreaths on the memorial similar to
the Changing of the Guard Ceremony performed at the Tomb of the Unknown
Soldier in Washington, DC.  

The team has now returned to hotel in Gent for more bonding and much needed
rest.  The group has made some really great lasting friendships and
gotten really good at cards, particularly Euchre.  Many of us are ready
to get home, yet not ready to leave beautiful Europe, but rest assured
you are all missed.  See you in a few days! 

Dag (Goodbye for all the non-Flemish speakers in the audience),

Lydia, Maria, Allan, Jennifer

PS: 
Hope you all enjoyed our last bit of school ever.  As the four Seniors
in the group, having completed this blog, we are officially done with
“homework” (we use the term really loosely). 

Posted by IBIP Administrator