We got up this morning, had some breakfast and then finished our packing, checked our e-mail and headed to the train station. We got there about an hour early, so we picked up some sandwiches for the train. While we were waiting for our track info, this guy in a surgical mask walked up to us and asked if we spoke English. He then was asking us where to buy tickets and proceeded to tell us he "was crazy," and wanted us to go with him to buy tickets. We figured he meant finding the ticket place was driving him crazy, but it worked in both ways. We explained where the tickets were, but wouldn't go with him. When we got on the train it seemed like all the seats were reserved (and it was crowded). ... read more

Today when we got up, it wasn't sunny. It was overcast. After some breakfast we got ready to walk up to the Old Town Square. It's another big square surrounded by buildings and filled with people and vendors. We saw the Astronomical clock on the old town hall. It's pretty crazy looking. Not only does it tell the time, but the zodiac, day, place of the sun, moon, etc. Every hour, on the hour, the four statues (representing the four vices) come to life by moving their heads, and the skeleton (death) rings a bell. Two doors open up and a parade of apostles goes by. At the end, a golden rooster comes out and crows - though it sounds pretty pathetic - I can see at the time all this was a big deal. It ... read more

Our last day in Belgium is almost done. We just finished packing so that when we get up at 5am we can do as little as possible. Today was full of downs and ups. We got up this morning, had a tasty breakfast and eventually made our way to the train station and caught the train to De Panne so that we could visit the De Struise Brewery. Everything went smoothly. We got to De Panne and started our 35 minute walk via Google Maps to the brewery address. We walked down city streets and Adam commented that the place was like a little beach town - lots of things were closed, there was a bowling alley and an amusement park (Plopsaland). About half way on our walk we turned and the road became a dirt ... read more

Yesterday we took a train to Bruges. It was only an hour ride. It was sunny and warm out here. We walked from the train station to our B&B, which was about 15 minutes or so. Certain things looked very familiar from our last trip. It was busy around here though. We have the same room at the Papageno B&B as we did in 2005. It's really nice here and the bed is one full mattress, not 2 twins pushed together! After dropping our stuff off we walked around the Markt and eventually found a small sandwich shop. I got a chicken curry sandwich in a baguette. It was good. We found a statue in a small square to eat lunch at. It was relaxing and nice to sit and people watch. We walked around a ... read more

Today we hung out with Amyn, Priya and Chandu. Amyn really wanted to go to the beach. After breakfast we took autorickshaws to a bus station -- trying to catch a bus to Mahabalipuram. We ended up getting on one to Guindy, where someone told us we could catch the bus we wanted there. The conductor told us to get off --- at some random intersectin of road. We ran across traffic and waited for a bus in the middle of nowhere. A guy waiting there was trying to help us -- and eventually we got on the right bus (where we saw the first other white people since we've been in Chennai). The trip to Mahabalipuram is about 2 hours by bus, so we would have gotten there at 11:40a, and Amyn needed to be ... read more