Blogs from West Flanders, Belgium, Europe - page 26

Day 10, 10th June. In Wissant near Calais Woke with massive hangover - no more beer! Urs took us on a car trip at noon to the secret cannon base at Mimoyecques built in WWII by the Germans. Twenty-five underground super-cannons which could reach London and were never used. They were designed as the V3 weapon which would have destroyed London! Later we went off to Bologne town for a walk about the old walled town - had a coffee and worked out who owes what to who - complicated, there has to be a simpler way to combat this maddening waste of time. Back at the caravan we had chips at the local chippy, Toby cooked sea-kale and pasta for dinner, and Scott made green-tea. Urs left for Düsseldorf, so I have to stay in ... read more

Well, everyone from the short couse left yesterday, so today I decided to see a new town. Got up this morning and hit an open air market for coffee and a pastry. Wandered around Gent for a while and then went to another market for a half dozen oysters and a glass of wine. Then I hopped a train to Ieper (Dutch, Ypres in French), which was where some very significant fighting took place during WWI. Unfortunately the "In Flanders Fields"museum was closed until February, but I still saw St. Martin's Cathedral, the Menin Gate which is a monument listing the names of the 54,000+ British soldiers who died at Ypres and whose bodies were not found, and walked about halfway around the fortified walls of the city (it was a long walk). Took the train ... read more

Day 4 Finally a chance to sleep in. At about 8:30 in the morning, I awoke from my restful slumber. The room had its own private shower so I scrubbed off yesterday’s filth in private and made my way to the room where breakfast was served. The cafeteria was littered with small clusters of older middle-aged hostellers quietly chatting over tea. (cheap pricks!) My morning fare companions were of the bearded class. They (and when I refer to bearded, I am not being gender specific) were of German or Austrian origin. Surveying the gaggle of lederhosen spendthrifts, I determined that this hostel would not rank high in the Lonely Planet: Partiers Guide to Travelling through Europe. Sitting down at my table, I decided to order the entire menu for my morning fare. I was a hungry ... read more

Not all Infrastructure Committees visits were long or distant. Belgium, the Netherlands and Luxembourg usually hosted one or two day trips, as these countries were close by. An example of a short trip was the one hosted by Belgium, a one day trip to their naval base at Zeebrugge, followed as the custom by a cultural and historic tour of nearby Brugge. After a tour of both places, we had a pleasant dinner of moules and frites before returning late to Brussels. I will let the pictures speak for themselves.... read more