Tuesday, November 25, 2014

In Bruges

In the last blog post, I documented our time at WWI sites in Belgium and France. Understandably, this was a very sobering experience. Wisely, however, those who planned this trip built in many pleasant experiences too. We spent four nights and four days in Belgium but only two of them were dedicated to travel to war monuments and memorials. The others were spent in delightful activities, mostly in Bruges.
Bruges' Market Square

The town hall at Burg square
Bruges is a very pretty place. If you have seen the movie, In Bruges, you will have learned that even hardened hired killers are susceptible to its charms. In my opinion, it is the ideal European city: it is small enough to be explored on foot, and yet large enough to offer lots of variety. It has history, culture, good shopping and great beauty.
The Provincial Court Building in the Market Square in Bruges. The Historium is on the far left.

Animated figure in the Historium
Upon our arrival to the city in the late afternoon, we headed immediately to the main square to visit the Historium, a quirky museum which uses animation and film to tell the story of the city's glorious past as a centre of trade. From the top floor of the building where the Historium is housed, we were able to look over the Market Square which is full of restaurants, and people enjoying the city.
Solene, Kienan, Becca, Liam and Will get in the mood for history.

Market Square as seen from the Historium
Bruges shines after dark. Major buildings are lit up and its canal network reflects the light beautifully. We were very fortunate with the weather while we were there, with clear days and beautiful evenings day after day.
One of the beautiful canals of Bruges

Another view of the canals at night
The Belfry of Bruges at night.
On our only day spent entirely in Bruges, we explored it in three ways. First, we were taken on a Segway tour - after Segway training, of course. The entire experience took about an hour, which felt more like double that to me. I was a nervous driver on my Segway, and although I avoided any accidents, I was troubled when my right foot fell completely asleep while aboard. I was the exception, though. The students loved every minute of this experience, and were only disappointed that they had to travel under the speed limit and were a little cold.
Beautiful Bruges in the morning light
 Hiding my terror on the Segway.

Godshuizen in Bruges: houses for the poor and needy.
Next, we saw the city by boat, on a barge tour that took us along many of its canals. Our driver/guide narrated the history of the sights in three languages - impressive, although not always comprehensible. Based on the number of people jammed into the barge with us, this is a very popular way to see Bruges.
A view from the barge
I took this shot of a church from our barge.
Finally, I explored the city on foot - always my favourite way of getting around. First I located the Van Eyck statue where I posed with Terry for our version of a famous movie still. Becca was our photographer and she went over and above the call of duty to get a great shot. Tatyana hung on to her legs lest she tumble into the canal while getting the angles just right.
I really wanted to be Colin Farrell but Terry won the part, so I played Brendan Gleason instead. Bad casting I say.
My perambulations also took me along the main shopping streets in search of Belgian fashion. Bruges is a centre of Belgian lace and chocolate as well, and so I made sure to get some of both of these too. Mostly, I took photographs of beautiful Bruges on a beautiful day.
Barge tours as seen from  the land.
Over my time there, I was utterly entranced by Bruges. I saw many of its attractions and sampled Belgian cuisine (mussels are a very popular choice here). I was reluctant to leave. Still, we had to make our way back home. Our flight was scheduled for the late afternoon, but we left in the early morning so that we could have time to explore the Belgian capital before we left the country.
We gather in Brussels by the statue of Don Quixote and Sancho Panza.
With only about three hours in Brussels, I decided to spend my time exploring on foot. I managed to see quite a bit.
La Maison du Roi on the Grand Place in Brussels

Town Hall on the Grand Place
The main attraction is the Grand Place, which is a large square surrounded by beautiful buildings. Apparently, in summer, the space is carpeted with flowers, but on this day, it was all cobblestones. Nearby are narrow streets leading to shops, cafés, and many stores selling chocolates.
The view from the Royal Museums of Fine Arts towards the City Hall tower in the distance
The Royal Palace of Brussels
From there, I headed toward the Royal Palace which is very close to the Royal Museums of Fine Arts, a complex of buildings with collections from various periods. I decided to have a look at the Magritte collection, before I headed to the Cathedral.
A Magritte
The beautiful and very stately gothic Cathedral is perched on a hill. It was my second-to-last stop in Brussels. My final destination was the train station where I purchased my only Belgian waffle on the trip. How could I leave the country without having one?
The cathedral of St. Michael and St Gudura
By mid-afternoon, we all met at the bus which would take us to the airport for our flight to Geneva. From there, a short train ride brought us back to Neuchâtel.

My first trip to Belgium was a memorable one. This is a country that I would like to see more of in the future.

Monday, November 17, 2014

Remembering

When I was first interviewed for a position at NJC, I heard about the trip that the school organizes every November to World War I sites. This prospect fired my imagination. WWI has great meaning to me, and the prospect of visiting the battlefields and memorials connected to it was something I embraced wholeheartedly. It would be especially poignant to be in this part of the world on Remembrance Day.

 
Students and staff at the base of the Vimy Memorial
Unlike the trip to Munich that we took a month ago, travel to the WWI sites was not optional; the entire student body went as part of their education. Because I am currently teaching Timothy Findley’s The Wars, I asked the students in my classes to research topics connected with the Great War beforehand and upon their return, to respond in writing to their experiences. With their permission, I am using parts of their responses in this blog entry. Clearly, I am not the only one who was moved by this trip.

Note this personal connection by Spencer: "Notts & Derby Regiment was my great-grandfather's regiment, and it really hit home with me, far more than anything else I had witnessed. My great-grandfather could very well have known these brave men who were killed and never found."
This wreath was laid at the base of the St. Julien Memorial, The Brooding Soldier.
On November 9th, we travelled first to Beaumont Hamel, the site of a senseless massacre of the Royal Newfoundland Regiment, and later, to Vimy, where four divisions of the Canadian forces worked for the first time as a unit. They were successful in capturing the highest point - the ridge - a great achievement, not without great loss and sacrifice, that symbolizes Canadians coming together as a nation.

Below are student comments about our visits to both sites.

Beaumont Hamel

Matt O: "80% of the Newfoundland regiment was killed at Beaumont Hamel. The craters, trenches, and our just being there made it feel too real, too true."
Trenches at Beaumont-Hamel
Matt N: "The caribou, with its head held high, signified the pride and power of the Newfoundlanders."

A caribou stands atop the memorial to the Royal Newfoundland Regiment.  
Stephen: “It was a huge waste of talent, and of young lives for nothing but the twisted idea of a greater empire.”  
Becky: "The Danger Tree now is tiny, dead and grey - so small against the harsh environmental elements, but for me, it had a wonderful symbolic meaning: it represented the soldiers in the Newfoundland Regiment who withstood such a harsh attack."

Vimy


We approach the Vimy Memorial
Isabelle: “I feel that the statues that represent faith, honour, peace, justice, charity, truth, knowledge and hope are very moving. I feel these symbols are important because they do not dwell on the bloodshed of war, but remind us of what Canada stands for.”

The figure of Canada mourning her fallen sons
Katie: “Normally the memorials for the victorious are prideful and strong, but the Canadian memorial, designed by a Canadian, was extremely humble.”  
Nick, our guide, explains the symbolism at the Vimy Memorial
Melanie: “It was horrific to imagine that large a bomb exploding to make that large a crater and imagining how many soldiers would have been killed in the process.”  

The guide explains what the students will witness as they enter the trenches at Vimy.
Becca: "There was a tree planted for every fallen Canadian soldier inscribed on the monument, 11215 soldiers."

 -------------------------------------
On November 11, Remembrance Day, we traveled to Ypres for the Remembrance Day Ceremony. We then stopped at four sites with great significance to Canadians: Essex Farm Cemetery, the site that inspired John McCrae to pen "In Flanders Fields"; the St Julien Memorial, honouring the contribution of Canadians in the second battle of Ypres: Tyne Cot Cemetery, a large burial ground where most of the graves are for unknown soldiers; and Hill 62, a museum with lots of military paraphernalia, and trenches as they would have been a hundred years ago. We were among thousands who made similar pilgrimages that day.

Ypres

I stood on the parade route as many bands marched towards the Menin Gate in Ypres
Julia: "I realized that we were here not just to pay our respects but to witness the large national pride that people have and the impact these wars have made on people generations later."
Flag bearers on parade
Viggo: “It might sound weird but it felt beautiful to actually be sad and sympathize with others as I did.”
Each of these paper poppies was placed in the ground in honour of someone.
Kaitlyn: "I had chills when poppies fell from three holes in the ceiling."

The poppies raining down into the Menin Gate
Vanessa: "If fifty thousand soldiers died, that means that there were fifty thousand grieving families who were unable to come to terms with the deaths of their relatives because they were never found and laid to rest.
Some of the names on the walls of the Menin Gate
Essex Farm Cemetery

Memorial stone at Essex Farm 
Rachel: “It is very strange to think about someone younger than yourself dying in a brutal war when I have never experienced anything close to what the soldiers had to experience during the war.” 
Someone remembered this Canadian on this day.
Solene: "It never occurred to me before that the soldiers would be the ones to bury other soldiers."
Our guide, Christine, at Essex Farm, the inspiration for "In Flanders Fields"
St Julien Memorial

Siobhan: "Being able to sing O Canada at a Canadian Memorial for fallen soldiers was one of the proudest moments of my life."
We pose for a photo in front of The Brooding Soldier monument.
Sierra: "When we stayed to watch the remembrance ceremony by the British band, the man who stood next to the immense statue of The Brooding Soldier said, "When you go home, tell them of us and say, 'for their tomorrow, we gave our today'."
This British band played "O Canada" at the St, Julien Memorial

Tyne Cot Cemetery 

Tom: 100 years ago the world embarked on a path of great misery which would change the face of the world for good. 100 years ago, nationalism and militarism overcame rationality. 100 years ago, England called on its colonies to protect it, regardless of how it had treated them. 100 years ago, was the start of the Great War. 100 years after the start of this tragic First World War, I stood where thousands lay.
Tyne Cot cemetery
Alix: "Everywhere I looked there was a name I hadn't yet read. This helped me picture the battlefield from so long ago, filled with a sea of men, without identities, as that is how so many of them are buried."
The names of the soldiers who were lost in the war but whose remains were never found are etched on the walls of the Tyne Cot cemetery.
Jesse: "These men died for our freedom, and no one could even say who they were."

Hill 62


Erin leads a group through the trenches at Hill 62. She provided me with several of the photos I have used in this blog.
Alex: “I imagined hundreds of soldiers cramped into the narrow trenches, the rats running below their feet, and the fear, the constant hunger and the inescapable cold of the changing seasons.” (62)
Students enter a tunnel in the trenches
A final word from Alicia:

"My father, who served as a military surgeon in Afghanistan and Bosnia, survived, and I am so very grateful that he did. I believe we need to continue to remember the soldiers’ courage and sacrifice from WWI and every other war on November 11th, and every day of the year.”

Friday, November 14, 2014

Hello and goodbye

Hallowe'en at Neuchâtel coincided with Parents' Weekend. In preparation for this, the staff worked hard to finalize interim reports in order to indicate student progress. We may be living in the shadow of the Alps, but this is still a school and with it come instruction, assignments and evaluation - the usual routine.  As the only English teacher, I was very popular with the parents - that is to say, many requested an interview with me on Friday. In fact, I was booked solid for over six hours. Also, I scheduled three more interviews on the day before, as well as three more during the week afterwards (on Skype) for those parents who could not attend. I was very busy, needless to say.
Parents and staff enjoy lunch at the Hotel du Peyrou
I was impressed by how many parents made the journey to Switzerland to meet the teachers and, more to the point, to reconnect with their sons and daughters. Outside of the interviews, the staff also spent time with parents in more relaxed settings. On Friday, we enjoyed a delicious lunch at the Hotel du Peyrou, and, later that day, there was a reception in the Foyer at school. On the Saturday, the school arranged excursions to nearby locations, Bern and Grandson Castle, but I did not take part in those.
Students, staff and parents attend the reception in the Foyer building
Instead, I had planned some time with my husband, who would be returning to Canada early Monday morning after three months in Europe. Fittingly, we chose to visit one more beautiful city before his departure: Zurich.
St. Peter Kirche tower and the quiet square in front of it.
It took a while for Bob to pack so we did not get away until around noon on the Saturday. By the time we checked into our airport hotel and made our way back to the centre of Zurich, it was late afternoon. On that first evening, we wandered for only a few hours. Zurich is lovely at night, and, although it is Switzerland's largest city, we found many corners of it quiet and peaceful.
Grossmunster across the Limmat River
Sunday was also quite serene - at least during the first part of the day. European cities we have visited keep the Lord's day quiet, with shops closed and the only sounds, the ringing of church bells. This was a particularly lovely morning weather-wise, too, so we took our time exploring the older parts of the city on the east side of the Limmat River.
Fraumunster across the Limmat River
A square near Neumarkt
We really enjoyed Zurich's many small squares, and numerous fountains. There were several plaques on the walls of homes indicating who had lived there at one time. We discovered, for instance, that Vladimir Lenin had taken residence in Zurich at one time.
One of Zurich's narrow streets with a view to the Grossmunster
As the morning turned into the afternoon, the weather warmed up so much that I opted to remove my coat and carry it rather than wear it. The sun brought out lots of people too, especially along the waterfront of Lake Zurich. It was hard to believe that it was November.
Looking north up the Limmat River
The views across the lake and over the river are very beautiful, as you can see for yourselves in these photos.

Looking south towards Lake Zurich and the Alps in the distance.
Finally, we climbed up to Lindenhof, an elevated portion of the old town that offers a spectacular view over the city. This was an ideal way to see Zurich for the last time before we made our way back to our hotel. It was time for us to go our separate ways.
The eastern view from Lindenhof
For the first time since I arrived in Europe, I boarded the train by myself to return to Neuchâtel. I will miss Bob's company and you, blog followers, will miss his talent with a camera. You will also see fewer pictures of me, unless I learn to master the selfie, a skill I have yet to acquire.