Blogs from Belgium, Europe - page 10

I can hear you all singing along as I write!! Even further back than the car towing incident, in 2001, we had plans to visit the battle site where the 1815 battle of Waterloo between the Imperial French army of Napoleon took on the might of the British, Dutch and Prussian allies. You think Napoleon would have learnt his lesson. Only having just escaped from Elba, rather than live his life a free man he decided to stick it out for round two. In case you don’t know your history (or Abba songs), the next line of the ditty is, Napoleon was defeated… Before I carry on, it is probably best that I provide a potted history of this tyrant with the nickname, the Little Corporal. After attending military school, ... read more

On 2nd August 2018, Roisin and I walked out of the doors of HMRC for ever. The day had finally arrived. We are now retired (although not officially retired until 3rd September 2018). The most popular question to ask retirees is: ‘Now what are you going to do with your time?’ However, the few people that asked Roisin or myself this question knew, in their heart of hearts, what they answer would be!! When we both became partially retired twelve months ago no one asked us the question: ‘Now what are you going to do with the extra two days per week?’ I can now, however, reveal how one of us has spent most of HER partial retirement…..making travel arrangements for when we retire!!! As of 2nd August 2018 we had twelve ... read more

On 21 June we got up and had breakfast very early in the morning, and left for the station. Mark had purchased the tickets for InterCity Rail for us to travel at the specific time. Amsterdam Centraal station is one of the major stations in Europe. Eurostar is scheduled to arrive at Amsterdam Centraal Station in 2019 and we could see the construction of the new terminal from the platform where we were waiting for the train for Brussels. The InterCity train, ‘Thalys’ looked very impressive and it offered us a comfortable ride between Amsterdam and Bruxelles-Midi. Upon arrival at Bruxelles-Midi, we realized that the language had been changed. Mark asked the station staff which platform he should go to catch the train for Bruges; the station staff replied in French. The train for Bruges departed ... read more

Hello Everyone Yesterday we got up early to go to a Museum,we were told it was one of the best in Gent,when we arrived we were told it was closedon a Wednesday!!! We made the most of the day and saw the rest of Gent,walked around the shops all to expensive for us,but it was fun. We had a meal out at night. Today we got on the tram to the train station,and hopped on the train to Oostend took about 45 mins,first stop was Brugge,then ours. We hopped on another tram that goes down the coastline towards the Netherlands 68km there and 68 km back,passing all the beach resorts and seeing some of the sea. The rest of day we walked around Oostend down to the beach,and had a fish lunch,and took photos of some ... read more

Today we were heading into Belgium to spend the afternoon and evening with a couple of friends, Valerie and Isabelle that were on our African overland trip last year. Both girls live in different parts of Belgium but it was easiest if we camped near Ostend for quick access to the Dunkirk ferry in the morning and Isabelle and her partner Joe said it was easy enough for them to come visit from where they lived. We decided to take the scenic route past The Hague and take the bridges over the islands and arrive for about lunchtime. The weather started out OK but by the time we reached the first island near Ouddorp it was cold, grey and windy, it was like a Melbourne winter! The North Sea looked bleak as did the coastline which ... read more