Specifically Ypres!  Am going for a couple of days and was wondering what the weather is usually like so I know what to pack.

Also , it's really a trip to look round the battlefields etc so i'm guessing there's lots of walking but is the area generally big , or just a small town? Actually any info any of you have about the area would be really helpful as ( as you can probably guess ;) ) I don't really know anything about it! Ooh just thought of something else - what language do they speak over there?

Many many thanks, Kate :)

In Belgium they speak Belgian, it is a French/Dutch language, the weather is much like here,so expect an autumny mix.
Have a fantastic time it should be great.

Karen :)

Pack for the same weather as here, although it may be a few degrees warmer if your home is in the North!  Kent weather should be about right.  Expect to speak French in this area of Belgium

If you are planning on visiting Battlefields, memorials and cemetaries you need to do your research before you go.  There are areas where you can just happen upon sites but they aren't all very well marked or explained.  This appears to be quite a useful site

Presumably you're going with someone who has an interest?  Make sure to check what they want to see and get maps, directions and guides in advance.  It can be a bit frustrating to visit sites without really understanding what you are looking at.  The battles of the Western Front covered a huge area so prepare to cover the miles, there are multiple locations and thousands of gravestones and names listed on the memorials.  If you are interested in architecture Thiepval Memorial is an astonishing piece of design and a truly humbling experience, it "contains the names of 73,357 British and South African men who have no known grave and who fell on the Somme between July 1916 and 20 March 1918"

I have little or no known connection with the fallen but I found my trip a very emotional one.  The bright well kept cemetaries are frightening in their sheer numbers and it's hard to grasp that these young men were killed in such a short space of time.   If you do your research you'll find it a memorable experience and one that will affect you for years to come.

Thank you both!

I'm going with my boyfriend and his parents ( it's the men who are really into it! ) so they have been before and know where they're going :) I'm prepared for it to be sad too as I find even watching the programmes upsetting so seeing the cemetries is bound to be worse. I tend to turn into a bit of a quietly gibbering loon!

Myself and his mum have made them promise we'll get to do a bit of goodies shopping while we're there! ;)

I think Ypres is in the French-speaking part of Belgium. :)
The country is roughly split into two parts - French-speaking and Flemish-speaking, which is very close to Dutch. I've found that many Flemish usually also speak English, more so than the French-speakers. Weirdly, there are not many Belgians who speak both French and Flemish!

Ypres is in the Flemish part, as taken from Wiki
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ypres

I only know one sentence in flemish and it's rude so I don't think it would help you round the battlesites.  Sounds really interesting.  We wanted to do this in France when we went but never got round to it(son took ill).

There is a film called 'In Bruges' that is set in Belgium, so it may be worth a look for you (if you havn't seen it already), I think it is a really funny film as well (black comedy type). Worth a rental this weekend if the weather is rotten.

> In Belgium they speak Belgian

That's Flemish, the other Official languages are French and German is spoken in some parts.  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Belgium

yes its fab. most speak french, many speak dudtch and flemish.

I know one sentence in Flemish (Vlaams) which may help if you get the pronunciation right.
"Ik sprek geen Vlaams" = "I don't speak Flemish"
'geen' is a bit difficult though. The 'g' in Flemish is pronounced something like a scottish 'ch' as in 'loch'. The 'ee' is like 'eyn' a bit like the 'ain' in Again.
'Vlaams' is pronounced as you'd think but the 's' is soft ss not like a z: 'vlahmss'

Luckily all the Flemish people I have ever met all spoke excellent English, particularly the younger ones, and somehow they have always appeared to have the same easy-going nature of the Dutch, to which their language is very close... it may be no accident. I've not met many French-speaking Belgians (Walloons) but one I did know well, told me that they don't ever learn Flemish and consider themselves entirely separate from the Flemish, and are proud of that, in the same way that native Welsh speakers would never consider themselves English.

We went at the end of August on the way home from France. The weather was definately warmer than t was at home and through the day I quite happily walked around in a maxi dress without being cold. If you are going to the last post at 8pm it is abit like a wind tunnel so I would wrap up abit warmer and it gets absolutely packed so it is worth getting there abit earlier if you want to see clearly. It really made you stop and think though and I am very glad we went and took our daughter. Ypres itself is beautiful especially the big cathedral in the centre and is also close to Bruges. We just had one day in Ypres and then drove to Bruges after the last post and got a hotel room and had the next day in Bruges which I am so glad we did too as Bruges was also beautiful!! Everybody I have come across in shops and hotels and things in Ypres and Bruges (and also Ostende when we visited there in the past) have always spoken English.

One more thing to add if you do happen to go to Bruges it is well worth paying the 35 euros for the half hour of doing the city tour by horse and carriage. The guide was very good and we saw places we wouldn't have seen by walking. When you split the 35 euros down by however many are in your party it works out not alot!