9-15 October 2010

This is the cool train station in the middle of Antwerpen - it used to be a palace or something! It's pretty grandiose for a train station.

Last P-day we were trying to find this chateau in a little town south of Brussels in the French speaking part of the country - we got lost, and had to stop and take a picture - it was really pretty, even though we were lost! The GPS took us down this little one lane road that seemed to be in the middle of no where. Our destination was just around the next bend.

We found it! This cool chateau that was having a Scottish medieval festival. This is the entrance.

Of course they had to have a bagpipe band. Very cool to listen to. The day couldn't have been more beautiful - Indian summer weather in the 70's, gorgeous scenery everywhere.

This is an owl that Loel loved. There were also lots of cool hawks that were trained to fly around as their owners would call them. This is the first time I've seen owls used as hunters.

Some fancy guy on a horse. Loel said this festival reminded him of a medieval mountain man rendezvous - everyone in costumes, hanging out in tents, cooking over open fires, etc. Except the funny thing was, they all spoke French! And the weapons were quite a bit more primitive.

A cool archer. If you look closely at the arrow, the tip is blunted and he is shooting across a moat at some people.

More French people hanging out in mountain men costumes, pretending to be Scottish medieval people. They had a lot of artisans here. One couple was making willow baskets and carefully trimming the willow so it could be easily woven and because it was so exact in thickness and width, the baskets were very tight. They had a blacksmith, with a small forge, a seller of reindeer skins and a lot of sellers of "stuff".

One day we went to Kortrijk to inspect a missionary apartment - it's way far west. While there, we stopped at a Beguine convent and saw these cute little school kids all dressed up on some kind of a historical excursion.

I don't think this convent is used as such any more, but it was like a quiet little town in the middle of Kortrijk. With me are Elders Johnson and Leash.

Notice the cute little alleys, white brick buildings and red tile roofs. Very picturesque. And don't I look European? Notice the shoulder purse, the scarf, and the black tights. Everyone's wearing them!

Close to Kortrijk is the town of Ypres (French) or Ieper (Dutch), which was a town completely destroyed during World War I. The entire town was rebuilt around 1920 and they tried to rebuild it just as it was before. This is the town hall, now made into an In Flanders Field Museum. A very small part of the Town Hall (originally built in the 13th century) remained after the war and was incorporated into the new Town Hall. It's said that in this part of Belgium, there was not a square centimeter of ground that was not torn up by exploding shells.

This is the Menin Gate, a monument to 55,000 unidentified or unknown British soldiers who died here . Each night at 8:00 pm, there is a Last Post where they play a bugle to honor those lost in war.

A view of the town of Ieper, looking down from the Menin Gate. The history books say not one stone in the whole city was left after the war. It's unbelievable that they rebuilt the city in the medieval style.

One of hundreds of military cemeteries, some quite small, throughout the whole region. Now it's all beautiful farmland. There are monuments, memorials, and cemeteries everywhere. Very somber feeling to the area. Thousands and thousands of men died here - Germans, British, Canadians, Australians, Americans, etc.

When you hear the story of the story of the soldiers coming out of the trenches on Christmas Eve to celebrate Christmas with their enemies, it was along this front. Not actually in this area, but not far away.

This is a monument to the Canadian soldiers who died - in a very picturesque, serene countryside. This is the site of a battle site called Sanctuary Woods, or Hill 62. Paula mentioned that there is some of the feeling of Gettysburg here. Very peaceful, green farmland. However, it's much, much bigger than Gettysburg.

We picked up a new van in Rotterdam this morning. It's bigger than the last one! Loel is going to enjoy driving it around the narrow streets of Belgium and the Netherlands, dodging bicycles, pedestrians, and traffic! Luckily we have a smaller car for every day use.

Lest anyone think that all we do is sight see, we had a very nice meeting with Anya's family with the Assistants this week. We set a day to pray and fast with her and her boys, that their family would be able to join the church. It was a very sweet evening, filled with the spirit in their humble home with her 3 boys.

We also received a letter from Elder Ballard and Elder Rasband, thanking us for our service in helping drive them around during their visit here last month. They also thanked us for helping out with the meal at the mission home! Signed by both of them, this is something we will always cherish.