Exploring Brugge and on to Brussels (Days 9 and 10)
We try the train and Oh My!
Happy Canada day!!!
Two more days have flown by! Yesterday we struck camp in record time and then spent over an hour chatting with Alan from Nottingham. What a fun and delightful person. We all enjoyed sharing stories and insights. We tried encouraging Alan to come and visit Canada but he said he was concerned that if he visited he would never what to return home. What a nice compliment to a country he had only heard about. Eventually, Alan’s wife called him away, teasing about how chatty he is, and we headed off to Bruges.
As we entered town we decided we wanted to cycle the outer area of the main part of town. We cycled past several working windmills and enjoyed the ride quite a bit. We even discovered the Canada Bridge that was built in memorial of the Canadians who liberated Bruges during WWII.
However, we did get somewhat turned around and had an elderly gentleman come to our rescue. Once he understood where we wanted to go he gestured us to follow him. When we were back on the right path he simple waved good bye and continued with his day. We have met so many wonderfully kind people in our travels; people we will never see again who choose to help when they see a need. It makes you want to try to be a better person yourself.
We had been in Bruges seven years ago when our daughter Katie was working on her post-doctoral studies at the University of Antwerp. One of the days we took the train and visited Bruges. It was a somewhat grey day in early May. Yesterday was bright, sunny and the first day of summer-break in Belgium. So, where the fist time we went to Bruges we, more or less, had it to ourselves, yesterday it was packed!
The crowds were thick, tour buses were everywhere, and horse drawn carts also wanted their share of space. In addition, the carillon was playing continuous music. The musical selections were somewhat unusual. First, they play the score from West Side Story and the next thing we know it was playing Bohemian Rhapsody! Quite honestly, after spending the better part of two weeks cycling in the country and enjoying small quaint towns, the cacophony was a bit much. We did a bit of poking around but then decided it was time to head off to Brussels.
We then got to do our second round of trying to find our way around Bruges. The GPS map should be interesting. I am sure we retraced our steps several times.
We had decided that we would take the train to Brussels and give ourselves some time to relax, get reorganized and prepared for our first mail-back of excess things. Our wandering round Bruges did add up to over 20 km so, while not a lot, we did get some riding in.
Marvin adds: We definitely noodled around a bit finding the train station. We still didn't have reliable access to the internet for our phones to be used to find the way. Once we solved the internet problem (later in Leuven) we have been able to use the phone when I don't have a GPS track to follow. More on that later.
Back to Erika: Getting onto the train was a bit of an adventure. In Belgium you pay for yourself and an additional 5€ for your bike. We were told that the carriage for the bikes was at the front of the train, Marvin later noted that either end of the train could have been the front as they are able to travel both directions! We charged off to the “front” checking each carriage we passed for the emblem that indicates it was a bike carriage. There were five or six of us doing this. It soon became apparent that there was not bike carriage and we would just have to load the bikes on a regular carriage. Unfortunately, that involves a narrow door way and a couple of steep steps, not small task with a loaded ebike! Fortunately, Marvin benefited from being raised on a farm and is strong. He muscled his bike onto the train while the conductor started blowing his whistle and yelling to get on board. Soon it was evident that he was specifically yelling at me. Marvin managed to haul the second bike up just in time. We then were faced with nowhere to place the bikes, so they had to be left in the area just up the stairs before you enter the seating area of the carriage. All in all, it worked okay for us but the people who later wanted to enter that carriage were unable to do so and had to be directed to enter through a different door. We later realized that all the cars below us were packed full while we cyclists sat in peace and comfort. 😉
Bikes jammed in in front of the door and blocking the passage between carriages.
On getting to Brussels we then had the fun of trying to find our hotel. It was definitely the day for retracing our path. After two weeks of cycling in the nice flat areas of the Netherlands and Flanders, I was not prepared to be facing hills and the traffic of a large busy city. In time, Marvin was able to navigate us to our hotel. There, they had not yet received notice of our reservation from booking.com but that was quickly resolved.
Noodling our way to the Hotel. Especially at first as we tried to get away from the train station
Some further comments from Marvin: Brussels and Amsterdam are both big cities. Brussels and Belgium in general has good bike infrastructure, the difference is that it is not as clearly purpose built (you do more sharing of road space) and not as clearly marked as is Dutch standards. We were warned by the Dutch that it was more dangerous to cycle in Belgium and I suppose that is true, but even though they may be in a hurry, we found Belgium drivers to be very cycle aware and generally courteous about it. We think the Dutch are a little competitive about bragging about their superiority in cycling infrastructure and attitude and so they make it sound worse than it really is in Belgium. But hey, bottom line, we DO much prefer cycling in Holland to Belgium !
Back to Erika: Once we had our room cards in hand we headed off to the elevator with our loaded bikes. The pictures tell it best. The elevator is tiny! Three people make it crowded and even an unloaded bike was impossible. The hotel staff were quite willing to let us keep the bikes in the luggage holding area so we unloaded them only to find that our gear plus us filled the elevator fully. It really gave us a good laugh and caused us to wonder how if this is the elevator in what is said to be a three-star hotel, what on earth are the elevators like in one and two star hotels!
Once in our room we were happy to cool down and relax. Although we both do enjoy camping, it was also nice to not have to worry about setting up camp.
July 1st, Canada Day:
This morning we were up at 7am and down to a very nice breakfast. Three hotels seem to share the dining facilities so the buffet was well laid out and very generous. (Steve, there was lots of jam, buns, yogurt, etc.)
Marvin and I are active members of our faith community and quite enjoy visiting other congregations and meeting other members. We had a pleasant morning attending church and then bused it back to the hotel where naps were had by the old and weary (and I think Marvin may have slept too!). It was certainly a nap that left me refreshed and provided us with energy to explore the old part of Brussels downtown.
This is the first time we had seen this particular style of signal
If I were to describe the Netherlands I would talk about flowers, tidy farms, clean towns and cities, thatched roofs, warm welcomes and a sense of pride from the citizens of the country. Brussels is big, noisy and, I hate to say it, filthy. At the same time, it is full of beautiful buildings and sights. The crowds are dense, and the people are of every size, shape, color, ethnicity and you hear every language being spoken. This makes it a very interesting place to people watch. We were somewhat surprised to see people set up with mattresses and other personal effects living on the street. I think most cities now are dealing with some degree of homelessness, but it was the first time I have see mattresses and lamps set up in alcoves.
An example of the homeless in the streets of Brussels. It is hard to take pictures since you feel very awkward if you are seen taking a picture. We even saw families with mattresses and little children on the sidewalk
I am trying to see the Google instructions for where to catch the bus to the church we were attending that morning. Lots of sunlight and quite a hot day, I was trying to squeeze into the only shade available
Everyone at church was commenting on what unusually hot weather this was for Belgium. After our church service and the nap at the hotel we ventured out:
Ok, we sat in the shade and ate ice cream here. But it was ice cream and we look forward to Eis cafe's in Germany where they have gelato
We couldn't help noticing how much garbage there was on the streets, even outside of upscale stores in shopping areas. Any garbage bins were full and overflowing
The old part of the city is quite lovely architecturally. It was particularly enjoyable to discover the narrow, picturesque streets that lead to the main square. Those streets were even more enjoyable when we discovered we were on one that was lined with Belgium chocolate shops. Now, I could tell you that you can go from shop to shop and get enough samples that you would not need to purchase any chocolate and I would be telling you the truth. However, somehow a bag of chocolate still made it into our possession. We were also pleased to find Belgium noses, a candy treat unique to Belgium that we were introduced to by our daughter.
As we entered the main square we were thrilled to discover beautifully maintained buildings from the 1600s. The facades are ornate, and many are gilded. The intricacy of the stone masonry is impressive, and I don’t think can be matched today. While we did take a lot of pictures, I think there are some things that need to be seen to truly appreciate the impact they have. After spending a fair bit of time enjoying the square we took time to meander up and down several of the side streets. On one of those streets we paused to investigate an ornately decorated hotel in an Arabic theme.
As we were looking, a man inside the door greeted us and welcomed us in to take a look. It turned out he was the owner. A very pleasant but also very opinionated man. He was pleased to show us his hotel but soon he was taking about Islam. He stated that Arabs and Jews never had any problems with each other until Christians got involved. He also stated that Europe was already Muslim, and that Christianity was dead. Interesting. He clamed he has been nominated for the Nobel Peace prize. Hmmm. I tried t o check it out but the only info I could find online was his own website. Other sites were blocked by my computer as being unsafe. Hmmm. Never the less, he was very pleasant and keen to show us pictures of his new granddaughter and of him dog sledding in Labrador.
Shortly after wandering away from the above gentleman, we were seduced by a restaurateur and meals we could see his patrons enjoying. Note to self, always check the prices before ordering. That being said, the meal was amazing, and my handsome date made it a lovely evening and end to a full day.
I really enjoyed just sitting and observing the group close to me. I didn't understand anything they were saying but I could certainly understand the humour, love and conviviality that was there. (Here's to Rick Steves for imprinting that word in my brain)
