One of the 'essential' experiences of a trip to Ieper is the nightly playing of the Last Post at the Menin Gate by a volunteer team of current and retired firemen, in memory of those who fell in the Great War. This has taken place every night at 8pm since 1927 except during WW2. This is followed by a minute's silence and, sometimes, the laying of wreaths then the Reveille. I've been there many times and it still sends a tingle down my spine. I've never photographed the ceremony in the dark before and I didn't have a tripod so they're not great pictures but could have been much worse. Here are the crowds assembling under the gate shortly before 8pm:
![Image](https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-S_B-rzVy4qs/VIt25dTOeAI/AAAAAAAAB1Y/_JYzbQXUrPs/s640/_P1050836_edited-1.jpg)
The buglers walk out ready to play:
![Image](https://lh4.googleusercontent.com/-sov8n455wpA/VIt26UcD4YI/AAAAAAAAB1k/ZGP4YJqNk78/s640/_P1050839_edited-1.jpg)
Here they are, a couple of nights later, playing the Last Post:
![Image](https://lh5.googleusercontent.com/-fIHK9nJ4zRg/VJBv6xbVJ_I/AAAAAAAAB40/a-dQzZR6yBE/s640/P105027-ed.jpg)
Belgian soldiers about to lay a wreath:
![Image](https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/-HgU1-8QBUoE/VJBjPVC8o5I/AAAAAAAAB3o/xbSkvPJECvA/s640/P1050521_edited-2.jpg)
This lovely building, set in parkland, is the 1917 Memorial Museum at Passendale:
![Image](https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-j-cp-BQjpCQ/VIt22UPO7gI/AAAAAAAAB0o/LfYkIZeIYXo/s640/P1050482_edited-1.jpg)
The museum overlooks a lake and, even in late November, there was still plenty of autumn colour to be seen:
![Image](https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-NsY2ysKwNk0/VIt24By_HWI/AAAAAAAAB1E/UtCfZUqmsFI/s640/P1050501_edited-1.jpg)