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Published: April 24th 2007
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Heading out to the ticket box, we picked up our purple ticket, waved it around to make sure the man on the mic would call us when our bus arrived, and lined up the door egger to get the best seats.. Sound like a high school excursion? You have no idea!!
Stepping up, we were asked what language we spoke (the tour guide on the Tulip Garden’s tour would repeat herself in 6 languages!) Mum responded Australian! “Oh Crikey, will English do?” said the tour guide!? Spot on! I think we won him over right there and then, and we were quite impressed that with such a vocabulary, Crickey was still on his tongue!
Aside from the young group of American’s going to bed for the first time that night on the bus, we were surrounded by a crowd of very snappy happy Asian tourists. Mum and I were getting more of giggle from the people watching than the sites! I know I’m known for never having my camera to far off hand, but their were literally attached, like a 5th limb, and there was nothing they weren’t going to capture!!
First stop, a giant silver atom..
So we stopped, the group carelessly crossed 3 lanes of traffic still snapping and seemingly completely unaware of their surroundings, taking hundreds of photo’s of the sculpture! Most bizarre!!
When we got off at our first city stop at Antwerpen we were told it was the Belgium fries we had to try, so once again the group stops traffic as the mass crosses the road snapping without paying any attention to the moving cars, following the man with the umbrella.. Then comes ready, steady, snap as we are left in the square with 45 minutes to explore the whole city and get down some of these world famous fries!
After a full head count were back on the bus and onto Brussles.
Again being lead by the tour guide and his umbrella, it was off to the very first chocolate shop (so they tell us) to be served by the great granddaughter of the very first chocolatier (again - not convinced!).. To be perfectly honest, I don’t even think it tasted any different to my favorite block of Cadbury’s! But when a tourist, do as the tourists do, and 3 boxes of Belgium Chocolate later, we left
the store in tow of the man with the umbrella!!
Next was a sight I was a little less prepared for, and if I had done my homework would have possibly been much more informed. A world famous statue (not unreasonable in Europe!) of a little boy peeing, named ‘The Pissing Boy’ (slightly more bizarre).
But, it wasn’t just the Pissing Boy pissing (sorry Nanna, just repeating it as I have been told!), it was a very special day, as each of the 10 brewers in Belgium take it in turns to have a day where their very own brew is put in the fountain and therefore ‘pissed’ out!! No-one could really explain outside of folk law what the history of the statue or its significance, but it certainly proved extremely popular, and with the marking of the brewer’s day, had a full procession of oldies wearing uniforms and ribbons in aid of the day!!
Following the procession out and into the city square, we side stepped the tour who were continuing on to a lace making company, so we could track down a naughtier treat - a Belgium Waffle, and sat in the sun enjoying a
view that could never be found in Australia!
Once we had done dabbling in and out of stores, making sure we had all the family bases covered and that the boys had a little something each for Mum’s return, it was back on the bus and across the boarder. It still fascinates me that I caught a bus to another country, in fact it’s just mind boggling!
After such a long day, we happily slept through the return trip, getting off at a horrible, horrible motor way stop off for dinner before our return in Amsterdam at the Botel for our final night.
We had had a pretty amazing trip! Covering both business and pleasure, we experienced the highest of the high life and walked amongst the lowest of lows. It was amazing to spend time with Mum, and to have her share her holiday with me, although I think the job of Bag Boy is safely left in Dad’s hands, as it has been duly noted that Mum carried the backpack for the majority of the trip, and yes, I do take longer to get ready for the social functions!
Sunday at the airport was
Belgium Fries anyone??
And you can choose from over 40 sauces!! a mess, so I’m glad that we were able to do it together! Our tickets clearly stated that we only needed to be there 90 minutes before boarding, but we weren’t to be fooled!! Mum’s check-in was quick and easy, so she shot straight through to the huge and tangled passport control line while I went to my check-in desk. 40 minutes later, I was still in my queue and Mum only half way through hers! I finally get to the head of my check-in queue, and the register is shut, so I am sent back to the end to start again patiently knowing that I in fact still had a few hours up my belt.
I came to first see Mum off, so bit my tongue, but my fellow passengers were not quite so understanding (probably because they did just what they were told to and came and hour and a half before their flight!) working in my favour when I did finally make it back to the front and offered my sympathy to the attendant who in turn ignored my overweight luggage (I’m getting quite good, dare I say cocky, at stretching the limit!) and jumped to
the top of the passport control queue to join Mum, making it through for a quick coffee and final catch up on my remaining to-do list.
Putting Mum through the departure gate and saying our good byes through a glass window had me just as teary as the last time, but not wanting to wish my time away, I’m grateful to put more memories in the diary, as it won’t be to long until I’m home!
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