Monday, April 7, 2014

Postcard from...Ypres, Belgium



Ypres is municipality of about 35,000 people that contains the city of Ypres and several villages in the Flemish province of West Flanders in Belgium. Although Ypres is most commonly how it is referred to in English {even though that is actually the French name} the official name is Dutch and it is spelled Ieper.

During WWI, Ypres was the center of some intense battles between the German and Allied forces. At that time French was used for official Belgian documents and maps which is why the spelling "Ypres" is still so commonly used. During the war, British troops even nicknamed the city "Wipers" because the name was hard to pronounce in English!

Photo taken March 14, 2014

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