Brugge, Vlaams Gewest, Belgium, Thursday, July 19, 2012

Grand Place

July 18th/19th
What a day! After yesterday where everything went smooth, we reverted to a popular rule of travel where it rarely goes smooth and as planned two days in a row. We arrived at JFK a little after 3:00 PM. Security, no problem; choosing pizza for lunch/ dinner, no second thoughts, but that was the end of easy. We started at gate 10, then after a half hour, we changed to gate 44, quite a long walk and the departure time changed from 6:15 to 7:00 o’clock. Then another gate change to gate 38 and a new time of 7:30 . We were not done yet when we get another gate change to gate 34. Still not convinced that they showed us all of their terminal, American sends us back to where we started at gate 10. I forgot to mention that while sitting at gate 34, a wicked lightning storm came through closing the airport. This of course backs up everything. So, back at gate 10 the time goes from 07:30 to 09:00. This eventually becomes 10:00 and lastly 10:15. We actually take off at 11:00 which is almost 5 hours late.
The only good thing is that due to some people’s visa and passport requirements, they could no longer fly to Belgium so the flight was less than full and we lucked out with two rows to ourselves. This made the sleeping a lot easier. We arrived in Brussels at 11:30 in the morning. After getting our packs set up and finding the ATM, we left the airport and caught the 12:27 train to Brussels. We got off at Centraal Station and worked our way up to the street.

In Front of St. Michaels

Brussels was a quaint town and we saw the sights we wanted to see. It was smaller than we thought. Not crowded and very friendly. From the train station, we found our way to St. Michaels church, our first gothic style church in Europe. Very different than the churches we saw in Italy. They had an intricately wood carved pulpit that we later found to be the norm in the gothic style. As we exited the church, we could see the gold spire of the town hall over the rooftops so we took aim and headed in that general direction. The town hall is in a plaza called the Grand Place. We sat and read the history of this particular area. In 1695, the French sighted their cannons on the town hall and managed to level everything but it. The workers guilds rebuilt all the surrounding buildings better than ever out of stone and gold. It took seven years and the Place was more glorious than ever. Leaving the Grand Place, we stopped at a store where we sampled and bought some Belgian chocolate.

Mannekin Pis

From here we saw the mannekin pis, a statue of a boy peeing. It was smaller than we thought and we really did not see what the fascination with this statue is all about. Different countries have gifted outfits for the statue to wear at certain times of the year, but today he was in his naked stone glory. We did a walking tour from here, seeing a couple of churches and other sights. We had our first misplacement but managed to use our meager map and my superior navigation skills to work our way back on course. Twice it rained on us but we had raingear so it was no problem. Temperature wise, the weather was perfect. It was only like 65 degrees, big difference from the 92 degrees in NY or the 110 in St. George. We then caught the 4:21 train to Brugge.
We arrived in Brugge at 5:30 and checked into our hotel (ETAP) which is a European motel 6. Very clean, great shower, but very small . But the way we look at things, anything bigger than our tent is a luxury suite! Even though we were very tired, we decided to tough it out with trying to adjust to the time zone change by just going out to dinner.

First Belgian Beer

We walked about a mile to town and decided to eat at Cambrinus, a pub that had 400 different beers. What we found amazing is that each brand of beer has its own labeled glass that it is served in. There is definitely pride in their beer and it makes it easy to see what others are drinking. It was very crowded with all tables either filled or reserved. We managed to get the last two seats at the bar and ordered the house brew, one light and one dark.

 

Flemish Carbonnade and Frites

After a while we ordered dinner, a 3 course meal that included cheese croquettes as an appetizer, Flemish stew, and creme brûlée for desert. Our other entree was much simpler and less expensive, half a chicken with salad and frites ( Belgian fries). The food was excellent and the fries came in a big bowl with mayonnaise on the side. The mayonnaise was not our cup of tea, but the fries were superb. The Belgians invented the “French fry” and they fry them twice. They are not at all greasy and much different than ours. We made friends with an English couple sitting next to us and noticed he was drinking a beer called Bush. He said it was the strongest one they had at 12% alcohol. Of course, we had to order one and it was very good. It had a different smell than any beer we have had, yet did not taste strong. We really liked it. Our new friends told us about a church in Chesterfield, England that has a crooked spire. We will have to check it out if we are ever in that area. As is the European way, meals are not rushed and we spent over two hours eating, drinking, and having a good time.

Luxury Accomodation

Due to a local concert in the square, we were rerouted on our way home and became slightly misplaced again. Figuring out where we needed to go was easier than getting there. We ended up walking along a bike path and a canal with houseboats. It rained on us pretty hard for about 15 minutes while we found our way. What’s an extra mile or two after several strong Belgian beers! We finally arrived at our room surprised that it was 10:00 o’clock as it was just getting dark. Exhausted after our first long day, we showered and crashed into bed. See you tomorrow.
Charlie and Carol (CNC )

Expenses
15.60 E – Airport Train to Brussels
5.45 E- Box of Belgian Chocolates
15.00 E- Train to Brugge
53.00E- Hotel
50.00E- Two dinners, three beers at Cambrinus.
Miles walked estimated 7-8 miles