Well, Tammy and I made an executive decision this morning that we were not going to go anyplace today that would make us cry. As you can imagine, that sort of limited our options, considering we're in the heart of a massive WWI battlefield. The good news is that we saw most of the most important sites yesterday, so today we're just meandering and taking in the beautiful scenic views. We've driven by about 10 cemeteries, but we only stopped at one and I didn't read one single tombstone. I'm not doing it today! I need a break from the depression that's starting to take over both of our brains! :-) So after a light morning of sightseeing, we've stopped at a beautiful little cafe right across from Hill 60, the site of an ongoing WWI battle that waged back and forth for months. The hill is rife with underground tunnels and trench lines that have mostly crumbled. But the cafe is perfect and we're going to sit here in the little bit of sun we can find and relax. And of course, I'm writing today's post here because we have seen everything on our list to see! No more to-do list! We can just veg for a couple of hours. :-)
So let me tell you about dinner last night. After our long day of seeing terribly depressing but very important sights, we wanted to just go to the big square in the center of town and relax at a cafe. Unfortunately, Ieper is hosting a big beach volleyball tournament this weekend so the square was all closed off for blocks around and there were people EVERYWHERE! (FYI - this is the fourth European city we've been in over the years during a beach volleyball weekend. Salzburg, Amsterdam, Prague, and now Ieper.) I have to say it's a little strange to see the main squares in beautiful, old European towns roped off with a HUGE rectangular box of sand in the middle. It seems so wrong. But it's popular over here, that's for sure! So anyway, after having to avoid Ieper, we decided to head ten minutes down the road to the town of Poperinge. It looks just like Ieper, has a beautiful town square (again with a parking lot in the middle, weird but OK), and is surrounded with cafes and restaurants (all with outdoor seating). So we picked one that looked appealing and had a seat on the outdoor patio under a shady awning. We probably sat there for two hours just relaxing, people watching (which is so much fun), and drinking lots of coffee because it's still pretty windy and cold in this part of France and Belgium. When we first sat down there were only two other people on the patio, a British couple named Peter and Deborah, probably in their 50s. They started up a conversation with us, asking how long we were in Belgium, what we'd seen, etc. They come across the channel quite often for little vacations, so they're very familiar with all the battlefield sights and they love WWI & WWII history just as much as we do. So during the two hours we talked with them off and on and then they went inside (the cafe is part of a hotel and they were staying there). By about 8 PM, we were starving and decided to move inside to the main restaurant and have dinner.
Low and behold, there were our new British friends, Peter and Deborah. They invited us to a table next to theirs and we proceeded to have a wonderful dinner and friendly conversation. We found out that Peter's grandfather served in the Great War, and that his father was in a British Army tank crew in WWII. He shared with us that his father had in later years gone back to a small Belgian village where he'd been billeted during the advance across Europe. As he was looking around, he stopped at the cafe that his tank crew had been posted in and struck up a conversation with the owner. Come to find out, the cafe was still owned by the same family and when the owner heard the story about Peter's father staying there, he suddenly disappeared and came back with his grandmother. She had been a young girl during the war and had vivid memories of the British soldiers who stayed there, and Peter's father remembered her, too. As the Nazi army had previously occupied the village, the Belgians were ecstatic to have the liberators there and pulled out some of the food they'd hidden from the Germans and had a party for the young British soldiers.
As he told his grandfather's story, Peter, a burly Brit, got teary and choked up. It happened that there was to be a fete - picnic - the next day, and with much insistence, the cafe owner and his grandmother insisted that Peter's father and mother come back for the celebration. They did - and Peter's father was given a special medal by the village, in honor of the part he played in its liberation from the Nazi army. He was a guest of honor, sitting with the Mayor and the other village leaders. You could hear the pride in Peter's voice as he talked.
As we sat with them, we traded stories of our travels, agreed that good food in Albert, France was sparse, and that it was achingly moving - but a duty to the thousands of boys - to visit the cemeteries in the Somme and Flanders. We learned about their love of the Brittany coast, and we shared our love of adventure and the lure of travel. They heartily agreed. We laughed and talked together for about two more hours - leaving only when we decided that we were tired and needed to make our way back to our little B&B.
I didn't get pictures of our dinner last night because we were so busy chatting, but the hotel restaurant was actually very good! Tammy and I started dinner by splitting an appetizer of roasted marrow bones and toast. We've been wanting to try this particular dish ever since we saw it on a travel show a couple of years ago, and Belgium seemed like the perfect place. It was absolutely delicious! The most decadent and rich beefy taste! It was basically beef butter on toast! There was also a little tiny side salad with a tangy vinaigrette to cut the richness of the marrow. Yum! I had Sole Meuniere for my entree, and it was fantastic! I've made this at home from Ina Garten's recipe a couple of times, but this was so much better! The Dover sole was tender and flaky and surrounded by a bath of brown butter with a few squeezes of lemon! And I'm getting pretty good at filleting a fish with only a few tiny bones I found as I ate. Tammy's main dish was a seafood gratin and it was also very tasty with a few pieces of sole, cod, salmon, and crab. How could that be bad when it's topped by a little melted cheese! We finished the meal with two cappuccinos; it was the perfect end to a great meal and wonderful conversation!
As I mentioned at the beginning of this post, we're sitting in a beautiful little cafe called Hill 60 Tea Room & Restaurant. It's newly opened and it's just the cutest place! It's decorated in a pale lime green and brown. It looks really modern and trendy, but they captured the history of the location by tastefully including a simple mural of WWI soldiers walking across the battlefields in silhouettes.
We had a light lunch - mine was a croque madame (grilled ham and cheese sandwich with an over easy egg on top) and Tammy had the ham, cheese, and veggie omelet. Both were tasty! Then we treated ourselves to a sweet dessert and it was so worth every calorie! Tammy's apple tart was tasty enough, but I had the homemade chocolate mousse!
I've been dying for some chocolate and this was perfect. It looks like a lot, but it was as light as a cloud. Imagine three little scoops of the lightest chocolate whipped cream. That's basically what it was, and it was DELICIOUS!!!
This is what my plate looked like after! And do you see the most awesome spoon ever?! It was so funny because when I had my first taste of the mousse I told Tammy that I wished I could lick the plate when I was done. Then I discovered that this spoon pretty much does that for you. It's flat across the top so you can scrape almost every single little bit of chocolate off the plate! How brilliant is that! I'm a happy girl! :-)
So our two hours of relaxing are over, and now we're heading up to Hill 60 to see if there are any trenches or memorials up there. This was a good day! No tears, great food, and lots of relaxing down time in a beautiful little town! I'm a happy girl! :-)
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