I know I keep giving 4 stars to almost everywhere I write a review about. Let's put it down to being appreciative to everything I see and feel. These places and sites in my opinion and experiences do deserve the ratings I give it. Notice I do not put a 5 star rating on any so far. I will reserve that for something really really really special and nothing so far has come close yet...I may never give it - we shall see. Coming to Ypres was something quite unexpected. The whole idea of coming to Ypres was to witness the Eclipse in the 1990's. There were 2 families - us and our in-laws. We drove in 2 cars from London , crossed to Calais on the ferry. We booked into 4 rooms at a Premier Class Hotel (which did not even have any star rating). Cheap cheerful as the English would say - meaning it was good value not bad. Though not as close to the site as we had hoped. We had to drive about 20kms to a field belonging to a farm and pitched up when the time came to witness the eclipse. It was well worth the 1hr wait sitting on the grass in the field. A really memorable historical day... (but that will be in another review). When that was over since we were in the region my husband and his sister suggested to go into Ypres as it has alot of war history. Ypres is a very ancient city with history going as far back as the Romans. To some of you who have read the Canterbury Tales you will find there is a mention of Ypres who traded with England for it's linen. Yes it was a prosperous town rich in trade hence it had to be fortied from invaders hence you will soon discover military connotations. A good start is the Lille Gates - where you will find early signs of early battles even to this day. There is just so much to learn and see in this town - another interesting and colourful historical monument is the Cloth Hall. Where the Habsburgs the French had some input into this 'castle'. Although Belgium 's neutrality in World War 1 was guaranteed by Britain , Germany decided to invade Belgium thus bringing Britain into this first World War. In this particular war this town was played like a 'yo yo'. Well in the first battle it was captured by the allies from the Germans, in the 2nd the Germans took it back by the use of poison gas - first time it was ever used in the Western Front. However the worst and most devasting battle was the 3rd battle where the town was almost obliterated many many more lives were lost. Basically the town was flattened! All those historical architecture which took centuries to build had gone in days. With that knowledge especially of lives lost in a small town words could not express the suffering of thousands of locals and soldiers. Walking around Ypres always makes us lost for words. Understandably we are told that Ypres is now called 'city of peace'. This is a sign that these people has had enough of the wars... and quite unexpectedly we were told that it maintains a close friendship to the town of HIROSHIMA - similarity they have is the profound impact wars have on these 2 towns. Gruesome similarity? Yes because both these two town have witnessed warfare at it's worse. Hence you will see acres and acres of war graves covering the landscape of both the allies and the Central Powers. This poem tells it how it was - In Flanders fields the poppies blow
Between the crosses, row on row ,
That mark our place; and in the sky
The larks, still bravely singing, fly
Scarce heard amid the guns below . We are the dead. Short days ago
We lived, felt dawn, saw sunset glow ,
Loved, and were loved, and now we lie
In Flanders fields . Take up our quarrel with the foe :
To you from failing hands we throw
The torch; be yours to hold it high .
If ye break faith with us who die
We shall not sleep, though poppies grow
In Flanders fields . — John McCrae St. George's Memorial Church is another place you should visit as it commemorates the British Commonwealth soldiers who lost their lives in the World War 1 in Ypres . You will be interested to know that many famous people came from or lived in Ypres for example -  Catherine Verfaillie (b. Ypres , 1957), MD and stem cell pioneer  Cornelius Jansen (1585-1638), bishop of Ypres and father of the Jansenism movement  Erik Vermeulen (b. 1959), jazz pianist  Henk Lauwers (b. 1956), classical baritone singer  Jacob Clemens non Papa (ca. 1510-1556), Renaissance composer  Jules Malou (1810-1886), politician, Prime Minister of Belgium from 1871 to 1878 and in 1884  Lernout Hauspie , founders of the speech technology company of the same name  Nicholas Lens (b. 1957), author and composer  Renaat Landuyt (b. 1958), politician , Belgian minister  Simona Noorenbergh (Ypres 1907 - Fane 1990), nun, social worker, co-founder of Fane , Papua New Guinea  Yves Leterme (b. 1960), Politician, current prime minister of Belgium  Walter Fiers (b.Ypres ,1931), molecular biologist A small, quiet and unassuming town yet it is amazing how much impact it has on millions of lives all over the world. Never under-estimate it. I went home from Ypres with alot of respect for the Belgiums and especially for Ypres .