Quote: AJGO @ January 29 2012, 11:00 PM GMTWas it.., I don't know the right way to put it without sounding flippant..
I went to Ypres years ago and it was so odd, like the space holds its own ghosts. It's probably that you invoke that yourself, but, without believing in actual ghosts, it does feel like some places are sort of captured, apart in their own atmosphere. That sounds like such wank, I do apologise. I quite want to go to other places where horrific things have occured but am not really comfortable with tragedy tourism.
The awful thing was that there were so many graves of 18/19-year-olds. But I know what you mean about projecting your own feelings onto it. Remember stopping in a lay-by - green fields, trees, peace, and, indeed birdsong, and I realised it had been an area of devastation in WW1.