P
eople must know the past,
to understand the present,
and to face the future.” This
is a quote attributed to the
pioneering politician, feminist and
social activist – as well as one of the
world’s first “celebrity” authors –
Canadian Nellie Mooney McClung.
It was with this thought in mind that
I led my daughter across Belgium and
France one summer. Here are four of
our favourite experiences.
Lest we forget
For all its fame as the site of some of
the most brutal sustained fighting
during World War One, and now
home to a UNESCO World Heritage
Site, the town of Ypres in Belgium
is surprisingly small and not easy
to get to by public transport. But,
A holiday
with history
Karmel Schreyer
and her daughter backpacked through
Belgium and France one summer on a month-long “field
trip” that brought ancient and modern history to life.
it is well known throughout the
Western world for its Menin Gate
Memorial to the Missing – a British
and Commonwealth World War One
memorial – and the sounding of the
Last Post
, the haunting bugle call that
has been delivered every evening at
eight o’clock since 1928, except for the
four years of German occupation from
1940-44.
A crowd of veterans and tourists,
the solemn and the curious, assembles
expectantly under the massive stone
arch of Menin Gate, upon which
countless names of the fallen are
engraved. Then, at five minutes to the
hour, the buglers arrive in uniform –
cadets, enlisted or veterans. The
Last
Post
is sounded on the hour, followed
by one minute of silence and then the
Reveille
, at which point the buglers
depart and the ceremony is over.
If you are lucky to see an extended
ceremony, as we were, there may be
a laying of wreaths, and a visiting
dignitary will say, “The Exhortation”
from the poem “For the Fallen” by
Laurence Binyon: “They shall grow
not old, as we that are left grow old:
Age shall not weary them, nor the
years condemn. At the going down of
the sun and in the morning, We will
remember them.”
To hear the
Last Post
and
Reveille
as
it sounds from under Menin Gate, visit
.
Gateway to the Medieval World
Another UNESCO World Heritage
Site, Le Mont St. Michel is a
monumental fortress perched on a
rocky islet some 600 metres from the
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