Ypres & the Somme We travelled over to Paris Beauvais by Ryanair on Saturday 24th - the flight is at 7:15 so we arrived at Watsons Ayr Park just after 5:30 and were slightly miffed to just miss a bus due to "processing". However, the check in queues were minimal and we reached Beauvais uneventfully to find a very long queue to collect the car from Hertz, it took almost an hour to collect a pre-booked hire car ! Next time we go this way, I will book with National/Citer - they have an office there and have always been OK in the UK. Not sure why, but I need to check why the Hertz hire in Spring, from Poitiers, cost £259 versus last week, from Beauvais, which was about £150. The rental this time was a very boxy Opel Meriva - basically a Corsa pretending to be an MPV - I would rather have had the Corsa.The journey from Beauvais to Ypres was relatively easy - although via Michelin instructions were wrong, recommending the wrong turning in Armentiers (we did not see the Mademoiselle !! ) - but after a stop for lunch in a very average pub, we thoroughly enjoyed the Flanders museum. When I addressed the landlady in the pub in my best French, she asked if I was British - quite interesting, usually they ask if we are English although I also recall being asked if we were Irish during this week.Back to the Flanders Museum, in the Cloth Hall which is the very centre of Ypres. This hall was qualified as the largest non-religious Gothic building in Europe !! My generation expects to go to a museum and look at a lot of artefacts in glass cases. I am way out of date. This one was very interactive, lots of PCs with slide shows, lots of video, music, noise, poetry being read & so on - it was excellent, very professional especially the way everything was presented in 4 languages. The Ariane hotel was pleasant - would have liked to stay there more than one night.Walking over to the Menin Gate - actually R insisted that we drive part of the way - and came across a pipe band from Leyton who all seemed to have SE.UK accents. They were due to perform the 8pm ceremony at Menin Gate which was excellent, though they do need a bit more practice, especially of Amazing Grace. That particular rendition reminded us again of the shot of L. at her wedding when the piper was “playing”.At Menin Gate, every night at 8:00 the last post is played. On that night, there was a huge crowd, a number of wreaths were layed, the pipers played and the last post was done on trumpets. The atmosphere was sombre but amicable.The Menin Gate is a British (or Commonwealth) memorial so there was a focus on GB, but it was spoiled a bit when some jingoistic idiot (this editor needs a thesaurus !! ) started God Save the Queen. This is fine if you are English (I presume they like it), but if you are Scottish and, particularly from a Catholic background it is actually very offensive because it is used as an offensive weapon in Glasgow and other parts of Scotland by militant Protestants and Orangeman in a forcefully anti Catholic manner. That said, it was an interesting ceremony, very well attended with lots of youngsters. The Great War was over 90 years ago; becoming ancient history and difficult to imagine now.We ate at a small pizza restaurant nearby and tried Hoogarden beer - delicious. All the locals seem to speak excellent English. Although I am officially off the beer - too much Guinness too often when I was working in Dublin and do need to lose some girth & weight - I enjoyed 3 bottles and must try to get some for the party time at Xmas & see if the others like it as much. BTW, S. does not know where in Belgium James is now living !I liked the ramparts at Ypres, apparently you could walk from the Menin Gate to the Lille Gate around the ramparts.(Ypres or Ieper is actually in Belgium !)