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Published: December 25th 2010
Fantastic Blankenberge....
Just admire the skyline and you'll fall in love with the city views...OK, we started our trip on 16 September 2009 by taking a train from Luxembourg train station with 2 loaded backpacks, a day pack and 2 extra bags. We were desperate to leave and enjoy freedom. However, we didn't make it that far during the first week, only a few hundred kilometers up North. We had a good reason to spend some time in Western Europe: Good friends of ours, Gijs and Marjolein were getting married on the 19th in Oisterwijk, The Netherlands. Stating that we wouldn't come wasn't really an option, and besides that we really wanted to be there. So between the 16th and the 19th we had some time to spare. And which country is wedged between Luxembourg and The Netherlands? Belgium, country of plenty of beers and great Bourgognian food. An easy start and a good final preparation for our trip.
The Belgian Beach Resort
We headed off to
THE Belgian beach resort: Blankenberge. It's known throughout the whole of Belgium for its beaches and actually we heard that one drink is particularly good there: Sangria, served with loads of fresh fruits. And of course, loads of seafood. Good choice for us.
Ok, we
The Beach and the Pier
We must admit: The winds blew us almost away, but the beers there were good. were there a bit behind the high season, quite some stuff were closed, average tourist age 60+ and the winds were blowing pretty hard. A beach picknick was not really recommended anymore, but still we did it. Being just after the main season also had its benefits: One afternoon we heard some live music and saw a tent with too many bicycles around. We checked it out: one school apparently decided to kick-off the new school year with a nice event for their students: a 'private' mini-festival on a grassy field with young local bands near Blankenberge. I guess we were the only ones there not belonging to the high school. No beer, but some good music and just relaxing in the sun. Nice surprise.
A good friend of ours, Sebastien had mentioned to Agi earlier that in case we do end up in Blankenberge we should go to the 'other end' of the small port and look for a restaurant tucked away, close to the dyke. He promised excellent sea food, so indeed we headed there and found it. We will go back there again when we are not backpacking anymore, because the lobsters... wow, they looked good,
SMILE!!!!
Not the happy couple, but an other happy couple... We won't wear this kind of clothes for a long, long time.... but that time they did not fit our daily budget. And we were not supposed to screw it at the very beginning??? We just settled for the mussels, and feasted on them... Belgians know how to treat their bellies well..... We also found the sangrias almost immediately. Good, but the Belgian beers still rule.
With hindsight it was sooooo good to do a pre-trip to Blankenberge for a few days: during that time we figured out we had way too much clothes with us and we really had to trim down our stuff. So in the hostel we drastically cut down on our clothes. I got my stuff sorted pretty fast (it still lasted some time and indeed some tricky moments). Agi of course needed more time. Phrases and protests like
"But I know you like this t-shirt, so ....." were heard a few times. In the end all was solved and two full shopping bags didn't make our final selection: More stuff to be stored with friends.
The Wedding
As I mentioned earlier, the main reason why we didn't 'fled' Europe immediately was the wedding of our friends on the 19th in the South of The
The Happy Couple
And some people who liked their party :-) Netherlands. So from Blankenberge we headed there for a good day of fun and meeting some friends for the last time before our real departure. Early in the morning we took a train from Belgium to magnificent Oisterwijk in Holland. We already had a hotel room booked, so that was easy. We really dressed up for the last time for a long, long time.... We were kinda late and rushed down to the city hall. Arrived there in a black taxi with blinded windows. Quite some people were already waiting, so we felt somehow a bit like celebrities when we got out of the car. No paparazzi's though... Good party, good food and a good live band. In other words a good wedding. The happy couple looked great and we had a good time.
The next day Patrik and Sarina, good Belgian friends of ours got our two extra shopping bags with our extra's to stay behind and our party clothes
(Pat, did you actually bring them to the dry cleaner????) and drove us a bit towards Düsseldorf, from where our flight to Russia would leave early morning the next day. We had a farewell drink in Maastricht, wished
each other well and they drove off. We got into a train and left The Netherlands. Slept at Düsseldorf airport on nice benches in a secluded coffee corner and our real trip started: Stop #1: Saint Petersburg, the city of Peter the Great.
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