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Published: April 26th 2006
Belgium is a choco-holic's dream
They had to come out and clean off the glass after this.From sweaty to sweaters! We left Tanzania where it was so hot and humid that we were sweating constantly, and arrived in northern Europe where it's still early spring --- our clothing is barely cutting it here. In Amsterdam we managed to secure a hostel for one night, but the city (SOOO beautiful) was fully booked for the following night. We secretly believe that Amsterdam is the Vegas of Europe, with its red light district and cannabis cafes --- combined with Easter vacations for the continentals, the place was crawling with european tourists. It was wonderful just walking around the city, though, with all its canals, old buildings and bicycles EVERYWHERE. With more time (and a place to stay), it would be a wonderful city to explore. Alas, we checked all kinds of hostels and hotels, including one attached to a cafe where we walked past two fellows smoking something funny at 10 AM (soon after, Sarah began irrationally demanding to eat bananas --- what's up with that?).
We decided to head out of the city in the general direction of England, since we have many to visit in and around London. First stop: Bruges, Belgium. It was only a
Antwerp Station
Classic European scene. few hours by train, changing trains at the amazing Antwerp station. While we were worried about accomodation (again not having made any plans), within five minutes of walking from the station we'd found ourselves a nice little B&B.
We've really enjoyed walking down the cobblestone streets and admiring the beautiful architecture, canals and of course, the chocolate stores (something for everyone...). Since this is one of the most touristy cities in Belgium, if not Europe, there are countless chocolate, lace, and souvenir shops which are frequented by the hordes (and hordes) of tourists brought by bus every day (but especially on the weekends). It is just as much fun to watch the tourists as it is to look around. And here if we pull out a map or a camera (we bought a replacement in Amsterdam), we are the norm. In fact, we've already been mistaken for locals twice (a nice feeling) by a little French girl and a Belgian woman.
Bruges is an old medieval town in Flanders (northern Belgium), surely one of many in Europe but with one extra bonus: these people are very fond of making beer. Permit us a small note about the beer.
Belgium is a choco-holic's dream
They had to come out and clean off the glass after this. When we arrived we quickly found a pub that serves 250 different kinds of Belgian beer. How you get 250 different beers from a country this small is beyond us, but it sure impressed Nick. The menu has one page for snacks and 10 other pages just listing all the beers. Since it's all in Flemish (a nice but funky language that sounds part French, part Dutch and all incomprehensible to us), we can only point and try. We pop in once a day to try one beer each. It was while in this pub that we sat in front of a beer and some wonderful Belgian cheese and thought to ourselves "Hey Mark, this is what they've done for the world --- or at least for us".
Sarah realized that we were definitely in Europe only this morning (she can be really slow sometimes), when Nick woke up and said he'd had a horrible nightmare: we'd slept in and missed our wonderful, REAL continental breakfast of baguettes with meat and cheese, toast and nutella, good coffee and orange juice. No more instant coffee or white toast with nasty jam that tastes like melted down candies!
Today we
Nick found his second home
This pub has 250 fine Belgian beers. Eric, remember this one? tried our first Belgian waffle. Light, slightly crispy, topped with chocolate sauce. What the Belgians didn't bargain for is that Sarah comes from a family with a proud waffle-making history of at least 30 years. The verdict? "Nice, but nothing beats my dad's waffles on Sunday morning".
Melvilles: 1, European Union: 0.
Our plan from here is to travel west into northern France, where Sarah has relatives in Normandy... and after that to take a boat to a magical island where Sarah says they eat "beans on toast" for breakfast. Beans on toast? For breakfast? What have we gotten ourselves into...
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Kieran Melville
non-member comment
Nick's hair
Uncle Nick I dig your cool long hair! Mine is just a little longer than yours but you're getting close! I can't wait to meet you and Auntie Sa Love Kieran