Days 13 & 14, October 19 and 20

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Friday October 19

After checking out of our hotel at 9:30 we left Beaune and once again found ourselves on the motorway towards the city of Dijon with the help of Monique. Our first stop was along the motorway to get some fuel and have a light breakfast. We know our day was going to be hectic because our trip to Brugges would be on four trains at four different stations. Our first challenge was to find where to drop off the rental car in Dijon. Monique did her best but was not as accurate as we would have liked. Somehow, with a little luck we found the Europcar office outside the train station and dropped off the car at 11:00 AM. Our first train was leaving Dijon at 12:01 and arriving at Gare Lyon in Paris at 1:37. The problem is our next train from Paris to Brussels was at Gare Nord, which is nowhere close to Gare Lyon, and our train leaves at 2:25. So we had to figure out how to get on the local metro to Gare Nord in less than an hour. Not an easy task, Jim has an app on his iPhone for the Paris metro but it just lists station stops and nothing else. With some luck and assistance from a local station attendant we got on the right metro train. Keep in mind that walking through any of the Paris train stations is like living in an ant farm, people going in all directions and the stations have no logical layout.

We arrive at Paris Nord and it too is like ant farm and with time short we are literally running through the station with our large suitcases. The locals must have been thinking, “look at those dumb tourists”. With about 5 minutes to spare we found the platform for our train to Brussels, bought a sandwich at a shop in the station, and got on the train and it pulled out of the station at 2:25, whew!

The ride to Brussels was uneventful and gave us some time to relax and eat lunch. We arrived in Brussels on time at 3:47 and like Paris the station was packed with people coming and going. We did not book tickets to Brugges as there are commuter trains that leave every half hour all day long. All we needed to do is buy a ticket and jump on a train to Brugges, easier said than done. With no idea how to buy a ticket we stood in line at an information booth. As we approached the head of the line we noticed the guy inside did not look happy and we could only imagine what his job must be like. Jim asked how to get to Brugge and the man gave him instructions but Jim only understood about half of what he said. Something about buy a ticket and the train leaves in 5 minutes. After trying five times to buy a ticket in an automated machine with no luck we decided to go back to the information booth and see if “Mr. Happy” could give us more instructions. He did, “go to the orange doors, buy ticket” is the advice he gave us. So we did and with tickets in hand we now just had to figure out what platform the train for Brugges was leaving from. Using logic from the other train stations we have been to we figured all we had to do was look at the big schedule board for the train leaving for Brugges and then go to the platform number listed next to the destination listed. Well, not in Belgium! Jim decided we needed to go to the information booth one more time but he asked Lisa to go this time because Mr. Happy might give him bad information. Once again we were not sure about his information but with the help of one of the locals we found the right platform and jumped on the train at 4:26. Needless to say even though we were on a train we were still not sure it was the right one until the conductor came by checking tickets and he confirmed we were on the right train. Since we had such large luggage we stood for the hour ride in the vestibule.

The train arrived in Brugges at 5:25 and we were just happy to be at our destination, somehow we made it, not sure how but we are finally here. Outside the train station we found a taxi and the driver spoke good English and within 10 minutes we were at our hotel just before 6:00. From hotel to hotel today it took 8 ½ hours (9:30 to 6:00). It has been a long day and we are ready to stretch our legs and get the blood flowing again.

We quickly unpacked and headed out to find a beer, after a travel day like we had more than one beer was in order. But first Lisa spotted a friterie, (French fry shop) so we had to stop. Belgium is known for their frites and we were not disappointed. Served with mayonnaise instead of ketchup we opted for the special sauce, mayo, ketchup, and chopped onions. After devouring the frites we walked through the main square of Brugges, which is breathtaking, and were soon going down one of the side streets. Jim peeked down an alleyway and had a feeling good beer was to be found. Little did we know we came across the best beer bar in Brugges so we found a table and ordered a couple of the 250 beers offered on a beer menu, yes, 250 beers! Jim bought a book prior to our trip listing all the best beer bars in Belgium and this is the spot the authors came up with the idea of writing the book. After we had 3 beers we decided to call it a night and headed back to the hotel to rest. The day did not start out all that well but it did end with some great beer in a great city in Belgium.

Saturday October 20 – Day 14

Our day started with breakfast at a local waffle shop where each of us had a fresh heated waffle and a cup of coffee. Again Belgium is famous for its waffles and we were not disappointed. Not sure how they are made but they are delicious and a little sweet and do not require any syrup or butter. Going to have to figure out how to make these when we get back home, (after losing 10 pounds of course). The clerk at the hotel mentioned that Saturday is market day at the square outside the main city area. After a short walk we came across the market where merchants offered everything from watch repair, clothes, baked goods, meat and fish, rotisserie chicken and ribs, sausages both cooked and uncooked, cheese, vegetables, flowers, live animals, housewares, cigars, knife sharpening, cookware, wine, olives, car wax, antiques, Belgiun chocolates, just to name a few. Most of the merchants have elaborate trailers from which they sell their products. It was like a small portable shopping mall setup just for the day. Our first purchase from a small truck setup to cook and sell sausages and we opted for the medium sausage as the large was longer than a foot long. Next was dessert so we found a pastry vendor and made our purchase and quickly devoured it. The weather was gloomy and just about noon it started to sprinkle so we ducked into a café for a beer to wash down our lunch.

We spent most of the afternoon walking around Brugges and since it is a tourist town the city streets were packed with people from all over the world. The streets of Brugge are all cobblestones and luckily we both have good shoes. Brugges is a bike town and there are more bicycles than cars in the streets. Considering all the bikes, cars, tourists, horse drawn carriages, city buses, and motorcycles it’s a wonder no one gets run over. For a while we just sat on a park bench and watched the dance take place in front of us wondering how it all works.

Brugges has a number of canals throughout the city and is called the Venice of the north. Right outside of our hotel room is a canal and with the window open we can hear the tour boat guides talking about the history of the city when the tour is in English.

There is one brewery in Brugges and it is on our must see list so we use our trusty city map to find it. Since we have been to so many brewery tours we decided to just visit the brasserie and have a beer. After walking all day it was nice to relax and do some people watching and enjoy a decent beer so we stayed for about hour and a half, you figure out how many beers. We left the brewery and headed back to the small beer bar we found the night before. To our surprise it was not crowded and we quickly found a table next to a group of four men from England. It was easy to figure out they had been enjoying the beer for some time and it was not long before we were chatting with them. One of the men gave Jim a list of four pubs to check out in London and another talked about his trip to California. There was on bloke who was not saying much and Lisa asked him why he was so quiet and what he was thinking about. His response, in a proper English accent, was “I am thinking about how drunk I am.” It was easy to tell he was feeling no pain, as his eyes were barely open. The other three gents were soon to give him some grief and even accused him of being from Scotland, which is an insult if you are an Englishman. He didn’t seem to matter and it appeared he went back to thinking about how drunk he was. They had come over for the weekend and are heading back to England in the morning. The trip back will probably be a little painful.

As we get towards the latter half of one of these long trips, we start to think about what foods we have missed from home and what we want to have first when we do return. We have had great bread, wine, now beer, all types of cheese, olives and assorted charcuterie. We have seen limited restaurants with food from around the world: Chinese, Italian, Thai, Brazilian, and Egyptian. We have not seen a single Mexican restaurant. Even if we did it would not compare to the longing for Jim’s mom’s tacos. Many of you have heard about those tacos too!

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Photos

Belgian Frites
Wonderful fries served with mayo instead of ketchup

Open Air Market in Brugge
Some of the many cheeses offered at the market

Roasting Chickens
One of about 5 trucks selling roasted chicken and ribs

Jim enjoying a beer
Finally some good beer to enjoy!