"Is it a hotel?"
Well, only if you were killed sometime between 1914 -18.
And then when we finally step off the train several hours later there the sign says Ieper.
"Is this Ypres?"
"There must be two Ypres." says Isabelle.
"The only thing I know about Ypres is it was completely flattened in the First War, Perth looks more damaged than this place."
Opposite the medieval town hall we try our luck at a bookshop with various munitions in the window.
Turns out Patrick the proprietor is a local expert on unexploded Mustard Gas shells and the identification of dead German soldiers.
"There are no buildings in the town less than 90 years old."
"Amazing! Who paid for all the rebuilding work?
"The Germans."
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