Wednesday 27 May 2015

Canadian Battlefields 2015 tour summary: Adegem and Bruges

After leaving the Netherlands, our next stop was the Canada-Poland Museum near Adegem, Belgium. This museum was built with private funds by Mr. Gilbert van Landschoot, to honour the soldiers who liberated his country. My first trip to this museum was in 1996, and Mr. van Landschoot's stories about the "water rats and the lover boys" of the Canadian army have only become more colourful over the years. This museum is a regular feature of my tours, and our guests are always incredibly impressed with what is obviously a labour of love.

 







My approach on these tours is to tell people the story of a particular battle or campaign on the fields and beaches where events occurred, and then visit the cemeteries to see the human cost to which the history books and movies rarely do justice. This is how I was first introduced to the battlefields nearly 20 years ago, and it's a privilege to help people discover their military history and, sometimes, a piece of family history. After leaving the museum it was a short detour to the Adegem Canadian War Cemetery, where one of our group found her uncle's grave.



 Our group also found the Canada Bridge in Bruges. The 12th Manitoba Dragoons -- recce regiment for II Canadian Corps -- got credit for liberating the city, hence the bison on the bridge.
 Bruges is one of the most picturesque towns in Europe...


 ...with medieval squares...

...ornate buildings...
 

...canals...
 
...and parties-in-your-mouth.







Oh yeah, they also have a statue at the Church of Our Lady which was apparently the only one of Michelangelo's sculptures to leave Italy during his lifetime. The Bruges Madonna was a big-enough deal to be featured in the recent film, The Monuments Men, but I get a bigger charge out of trenches and other battlefield remnants. I guess you just can't put culture into some people.




 

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