Visit to Passchendaele 1917 Museum

Saturday 17-10-15  
We had a sleep-in at our beautiful B&B and was greeted with a delicious sight for breakfast. Our host had made a compote of fresh berries crushed to a smooth consistency and yogurt. Rob even enjoyed this starter. It was followed by a pancake full of assorted berries. Freshly squeezed juice and coffee was also available. Besides all this, cheese, sliced meats, museli, different breads for toasting and jams were all set on the sideboard if you wanted. Rob and I  managed a couple of slices of toast but we were quite full by the time we finished. 
Every Saturday morning, the market square in Ypres comes alive with a variety of stalls and we walked down to explore these. Very large special trucks that turn into shops were everywhere.  We'd never seen anything like them before. They included butcher, fish, cheese, fruit and veg shops etc. They had full refridgeration and display cabinets. Most of the local Ypres people do their weekly shopping here as food shops seem to be few and far between. There were also all the usual market stalls of jewelry, clothes, shoes and bags etc.
We were booked to take a mini bus to Zonnebeke to visit a museum dedicated to the many battles fought around this area from 1914 to 1918. We were so impressed with this museum and it took us a nearly 2 and 1/2 hours to go through all the displays. A large section was dedicated to the Passchendaele 1917 battles which my great Uncle was involved in. There was a whole section about the ANZACs and the battle of Menen Road, the battle he was killed in. We also were able to experience what the living conditions were like for the WW1 soldiers as they had constructed an underground bunker that you could walk through. We then found the trenches that once again you could walk through. Information about the different types of trenches built by different groups was shown and highlighted. Rob said it was one of the best museums he had been in so that is saying something. After this we had a quick bite to eat and then had to be back at the bus stop to once again be picked up by the mini bus. Once back in Ypres we decided to book a tour of the cemeteries and battlefields. We were lucky to get into one for tomorrow morning.