We woke up this AM at our normal time, about 8:38. I had been up probably 5 times with Julia, so I craved a bit of sleep. But that wasn't in the cards. We all went down to the included, 28 Euro breakfast. (That is per person.) It was a marvelous spread, with more stuff than I can even remember: yogurt, muscli, smoked salmon (with capers, onion, pickels), 2 kinds of ham, 2 kinds of cheese, 10 kinds of fresh bakery items, juices, Champane, bacon (our first of the trip!), hot beans, eggs, whole eggs in the shell, and hot food like pancakes and waffels.
We were by far the youngest people there. And the only family. Every one else had hair the color of fresh snow, and designer sunglasses, and fancy clothes. We had a nice table in the corner (ha ha) but that worked since we put Julia in the bouncy seat so she could relax while we ate, and ate, and ate.
After a leisurely we left the hotel (the Hotel Royal) and headed out to explore. We immediatly found the Saturday market in the market place, filled with stuff my Dad would call clap trap, but most people would call a flea market. In the next market (we found two) there were fresh flowers (a huge square of them, like as big as a house), fresh food, etc. I bought a sun flower for 1.75 Euro. The man wrapped it up for me in paper, and we carried it around. I think it made is look like locals, perhaps a tiny bit.
We did a walking tour suggested by the tourist office (a pamphlet with a map and descriptions) and it was wonderful. It was self guided. ---
To be continued....
Saturday, October 13, 2012
Friday - Boullion, Abby, Luxembourg
Today we got up in Bouillon and went down stairs in the hotel to the breakfast room for our breakfast. Nice setup, with a high chair ready for us. The breakfast buffet was: cook your own hard boiled eggs, house made yogurt, fresh raspberries, pine apple, oranges, grape fruit, and other fruits (cherries etc), meats, cheeses (several kids of cheese!), cereals, and juices. And four kinds of fresh bread. The owner brought coffee to us. Very friendly, and a great way to start the day.
After breakfast we let Sara play in a kids playroom in the hotel (how family friendly that is!) and we packed up and left. It was raining, like a soft drizzle, which actually gave the whole place a romantic air. We drove through Bouillon (that is where the name of the soup came from), saw the castle, saw the town, and then we headed onwards.
Our destination was Orval, a trappist brewery (just like Chimay was yesterday). We wove in and out of France - something we are almost used to now, but it was so funny when it happened yesterday. Finally, we found a sign that said Orval and we saw the abbey where the monks live and brew the beer. Our first stop was lunch at this modern (built in 2010) restaurant right on the side of the road (nothing else was on the side of the road, just trees for miles around) and had a nice meal. I had shrimp in sauce with pasta, Dan had quiche, and Sara had a rather fancy open faced cheese sandwich made with local cheese (the monks make cheese too). We also had the beer - naturally - that is made just down the street at the brewery in the abbey.
After eating, we left the car where it was and strolled down to the abbey. It was an imposing place, sort of like a castle.
The abbey was a delight. You pay 5 Euro, and you get to stroll all around the ruins of the old abby (monastery), keeping in mind that it is several centuries old. Probably even a thousand years old. And in view of the old abby was the new one - where they make the beer / cheese. There was also a museum, that was far from a dry boring museum. It was very well done, extremely interesting, and told the story of making beer really well. Even SAra enjoyed it, asking to see parts of it several times. They get the water for the beer from a local well - and that gives it some special minerals and taste.
We strolled the abby grounds for about 2 hours. Looking at the impressive old abby, and looking in the distance at the new one. We saw a monk walking around too. There were other people there - some of them getting a tour. None of the tours were in English (which we kind of liked, that means that it is not a run of the mill tourist attraction.) Dan, a big Belgian beer fan, loved being there. He strolled around with Julia in the Baby Bjorn carrier. Julia mostly slept. When she wasn't sleeping, she was looking around with her curious blue eyes. She never made one peep. Just quiet and happy. She is such a good baby. I toured around with Sara. Most of the time we were with Dan and Julia - but sometimes Sara's three year old legs and curiosity lead us in different directions and at different speeds. She had two favorite activities: 1) throwing money into the wishing well 2) playing with the little stones in the abby ruins. When we were playing with the stones, she said "lets make a pile so high it reaches the sky, we'll need a ladder for that."
Our visit to the abby was 90% rain free, but towards the end there was a light shower. No problem, it is such a serene place, the rain just seemed to add to the feeling of peace. As we left, we stopped at the small gift shop for beer, a postcard, a cookie, and a beer glass (each Belgian beer comes in its own special glass, so Dan wanted an Orval glass). The beer was a huge bottle (wine bottle size) for 1.25 Euro. Practically free! The monks aren't out to make a huge profit, just to make expenses, and to make money for their charity work.
After that we drove to Luxembourg. Our third country on this trip (Belgium, France, Luxembourg). It is a tiny country. Dan and I have never been here (but we have been to Belgium, France before). So this is new to us. We are in the Hotel Royal in the city center. We have a nice room, Sara is on a single bed, Julia has a "baby cot" and Dan and I have a double. The bathroom is marble, and there are the nice things like robes, slippers, a pool, sauna, etc. We did dinner in a cute little square near here, but we made it a fast dinner since it was like 6:30 PM and bedtime is 7:00. We had a nice table on the second floor of a restaurant right by the window. So we got to eat and watch the hustle bustle of the square. We had pizza and a crepe. I'm sick of cheese. I'm going to try to not have any cheese tomorrow - I'm going to turn into a block of cheese.
We are here for two nights. Sara and Dan hit the swimming pool while I got Julia to bed. Sara just loves swimming. She was perfect at dinner since I bribed her with swimming if she was good.
Time to sleep now. Having fun. It is hard to believe we picked up the rental car two days ago. Travel makes every moment count - so many memories jammed into every day, minute, and hour! So much to explore and see--and enjoy.
:) Signing off, Lori
Thursday, October 11, 2012
Thursday - France? Belgium?
Today was a full, fun, eventful day.
First I want to mention that the sea side town we visited yesterday was "Ostende." Then we drove on to Mons.
We woke up in Mons this morning, had the hotel breakfast, and did a walk around town, then left around noon.
At breakfast Sara, out of the clear blue sky said, "when I'm older, I will have a bicycle, and Julia can ride my tricycle, and we will connect by bicycle to the tricycle and I will pull her around." Yes, she said that! Exactly! It was so funny.
The walk around Mons was interesting, to compare it to the other Belgian places we've been to on this trip (Brugge, and Ghent). It was very real, with zero tourists. I mean zero. There were no chocolate shops. I mean zero. That is probably why there were no tourists. But they had crepes and waffels at little street side stands, and plenty of shops, restaurants, and so forth. We strolled the whole pedestrian area before loading up the car and driving off.
Our drive's goal was "Chimay." There are only a hand ful of "trappist" beers, and Chimay is one of them. So we drove to Chimay belgium to go to the Abby where the monks that make the beer live (and make the beer). The drive through the Belgium county side was a true delight. The landscape is flat as a pancake. That means you can see forever. 90% of what we passed was farmland. Huge manicured fields, or huge swathes of fertile brown dirt passed by out our car windows. Plenty of cows, some sheep, and several stone farm houses. No wood houses. Stone.
Watching out the window for our hour (or so) drive was such fun, we realized that driving was more than getting from point A to point B, but really part of the fun of the trip. We breezed around corners, being careful to stay on our side of the road, since the roads are as narrow as one-laned roads at home. It is amazing the small size of the roads are here.
I wouldn't say there were no hills, but there were certainly no big hills. The flat as a pancake landscape only varied like if you thought of the countryside as a frying pan and you took out the pancake and cracked an egg into the pan. There were some hills that were the size of the mound of yolk. Very pretty. It was a joyful ride.
We got to Chimay and our first stop was the cafe/restaurant (not part of the Abby where the monks live, but it is affiliated with Chimay, with a small museum, gift shop, and a huge nice restaurant). The first thing we saw were the two playgrounds that the restaurant had right off the sun terrace. How nice for parents who can dine and let their kids play! Oh, wonderful!
Our lunch was: home made meat balls in beer sause, 5 beer samples, 4 cheese samples, a salad, and a ham sandwich. All was great. Then we toured the museaum, which was okay. Then Sara rocketed towards the playground, and played to her hearts content. She climbed. She ran. She twirled. She was thrilled to do all that great playing. We liked watching her.
Then we went to see the Abby. I asked "how do you get to the Abby" because, even though it may seem obvious where it was - it wasn't. (The Abby is where they make the Chimay beer that everyone was there for). I was told, in French (which I don't speak) that the Abby was down a path. She pointed to the path. Fine.
I told Dan (who was outside with Sara) that we just walk down the path and we gathered up Sara and Julia for the walk. Julia was in the Baby Bjorn and Sara was walking.
Down the path we went. It was merely an opening in a forest. We stepped into the opening, and saw the path weaving its way through a thick dense forest. Only a little bit of sunlight found its way to the ground, giving the forest a near mystical quality. It was soothing and near magical. We walked happily down the path, expecting the Abby to just come in to view. Step. Step. Step. We kept walking. I was marveling at the green moss under the trees. The whole forest floor was covered with moss like it was wall to wall carpet. It even climbed up the trees a little. And it wasn't just one kind of moss, I think crayola crayons could get 20 different shades of green from that forest. The green leaves, the green moss, the greener moss on the trees, and the green moss around the short white mushrooms that probably provided homes for forest gnomes.
We kept walking on our forest path. Hmmmm. We came to a point in the path where all of a sudden it split into 4 paths. Which way do we go? We are in the middle of a forest - and we haven't seen a single other person! 4 paths? I paused for a moment. Dan paused. Sara didn't pause. She picked a path and kept walking. I guess 3 year olds are smarter than adults.
Sara's path was correct. We ended up at the Abby. We went into the huge stately, austere, serene building. Then we stepped into the courtyard. Oh, the courtyard was just so lovely I just gazed at it for a while. It had rose bushes, a stone pathway, manicured bushes, towering trees, and green grass. It was silent. No one else was there. No one. The only sound was the trees moving in the wind. Even Sara was quiet. It was quiet. I guess the Monk's vow of silences rubs off on visitors.
After the courtyard we wanded into their church. There were no signs. No enterance fees. No people. No employees. No other people. No monks. The only people there were us. We did know it was okay to be there, since the door had said "Enterance Free." The church was huge, plain white, and had some nice art in it. We were the only ones in the church, so our sounds were magnified by 100 as we walked in the huge openness of the church. Dan soaked it all in, really enjoying being where Chimay (special because it is a trappest beer) is made.
AFter the church, we walked down a tree lined lane to find a cemetery, where Dan noticed one of the monks was 110 years old when he passed away. The cemetery was perfectly manicured. After that we kept walking and headed out.
Our visit to Chimay and the Abby (I don't remember the name of the Abby) was awesome. Sara was an amazing trooper. She walked all the way, didn't act up, and was just her normal happy self. Julia was just happy in the Bjorn carrier. She didn't sleep, she just looked around. I'm glad she did, there was a lot of nice things to see.
We got back into the rental car (a VW van) and I nursed Julia. Then we did an 1.5 hour drive. The drive was funny. At one point, we passed a sign that said, "FRANCE." Ha! We had driven into France! That is the way our built in GPS unit routed us - to get to a certain part of Belgium, you just drive through France! I guess that means that this is a 4 country trip. Our drive in France was interesting. Passed towns. Passed farms. Dan noticed that the Belgian cows were fat and the French cows were skinny. It really did seem that way! The part of France we were in was thick forest mostly, with some towns. The towns were grey. A bit dismal, with not much action. We'd see a person on a bike, an old lady carrying a baguette loaf, and maybe a kid or two. Not very many people and we probably drove through 5 French towns. The french farms were nice, but I'd say not as plush as the Belgian ones.
We crossed back into Belgium, (no big fuss, just a sign on the road to indicate the border) and got here. We are spending the night in/near Bouillon (like the soup). We ate dinner here at the hotel, a 4 star hotel that feels like it is in the country. I had beef (funny since we passed so many cows and I was feeling bad that we eat cows, and then I had beef), Dan had wild pig/boar, Sara had pasta, ham, cheese. The meal was nice - especially since they brought out a coloring page and coloring pencils for Sara. After the meal was over we put Julia to bed (took 3 seconds) and then Sara (she has her own room in this quad room that we booked).
So it was a full day. We started in Mons, drove to Chimay, enjoyed the Abby, drove through France, and to Bouillon. I like travel. Days just are so packed with sights, sounds, and new things. You just never know what will be around the next corner - and when you find out - it brings something new to enjoy.
Good night. :) Lori
First I want to mention that the sea side town we visited yesterday was "Ostende." Then we drove on to Mons.
We woke up in Mons this morning, had the hotel breakfast, and did a walk around town, then left around noon.
At breakfast Sara, out of the clear blue sky said, "when I'm older, I will have a bicycle, and Julia can ride my tricycle, and we will connect by bicycle to the tricycle and I will pull her around." Yes, she said that! Exactly! It was so funny.
The walk around Mons was interesting, to compare it to the other Belgian places we've been to on this trip (Brugge, and Ghent). It was very real, with zero tourists. I mean zero. There were no chocolate shops. I mean zero. That is probably why there were no tourists. But they had crepes and waffels at little street side stands, and plenty of shops, restaurants, and so forth. We strolled the whole pedestrian area before loading up the car and driving off.
Our drive's goal was "Chimay." There are only a hand ful of "trappist" beers, and Chimay is one of them. So we drove to Chimay belgium to go to the Abby where the monks that make the beer live (and make the beer). The drive through the Belgium county side was a true delight. The landscape is flat as a pancake. That means you can see forever. 90% of what we passed was farmland. Huge manicured fields, or huge swathes of fertile brown dirt passed by out our car windows. Plenty of cows, some sheep, and several stone farm houses. No wood houses. Stone.
Watching out the window for our hour (or so) drive was such fun, we realized that driving was more than getting from point A to point B, but really part of the fun of the trip. We breezed around corners, being careful to stay on our side of the road, since the roads are as narrow as one-laned roads at home. It is amazing the small size of the roads are here.
I wouldn't say there were no hills, but there were certainly no big hills. The flat as a pancake landscape only varied like if you thought of the countryside as a frying pan and you took out the pancake and cracked an egg into the pan. There were some hills that were the size of the mound of yolk. Very pretty. It was a joyful ride.
We got to Chimay and our first stop was the cafe/restaurant (not part of the Abby where the monks live, but it is affiliated with Chimay, with a small museum, gift shop, and a huge nice restaurant). The first thing we saw were the two playgrounds that the restaurant had right off the sun terrace. How nice for parents who can dine and let their kids play! Oh, wonderful!
Our lunch was: home made meat balls in beer sause, 5 beer samples, 4 cheese samples, a salad, and a ham sandwich. All was great. Then we toured the museaum, which was okay. Then Sara rocketed towards the playground, and played to her hearts content. She climbed. She ran. She twirled. She was thrilled to do all that great playing. We liked watching her.
Then we went to see the Abby. I asked "how do you get to the Abby" because, even though it may seem obvious where it was - it wasn't. (The Abby is where they make the Chimay beer that everyone was there for). I was told, in French (which I don't speak) that the Abby was down a path. She pointed to the path. Fine.
I told Dan (who was outside with Sara) that we just walk down the path and we gathered up Sara and Julia for the walk. Julia was in the Baby Bjorn and Sara was walking.
Down the path we went. It was merely an opening in a forest. We stepped into the opening, and saw the path weaving its way through a thick dense forest. Only a little bit of sunlight found its way to the ground, giving the forest a near mystical quality. It was soothing and near magical. We walked happily down the path, expecting the Abby to just come in to view. Step. Step. Step. We kept walking. I was marveling at the green moss under the trees. The whole forest floor was covered with moss like it was wall to wall carpet. It even climbed up the trees a little. And it wasn't just one kind of moss, I think crayola crayons could get 20 different shades of green from that forest. The green leaves, the green moss, the greener moss on the trees, and the green moss around the short white mushrooms that probably provided homes for forest gnomes.
We kept walking on our forest path. Hmmmm. We came to a point in the path where all of a sudden it split into 4 paths. Which way do we go? We are in the middle of a forest - and we haven't seen a single other person! 4 paths? I paused for a moment. Dan paused. Sara didn't pause. She picked a path and kept walking. I guess 3 year olds are smarter than adults.
Sara's path was correct. We ended up at the Abby. We went into the huge stately, austere, serene building. Then we stepped into the courtyard. Oh, the courtyard was just so lovely I just gazed at it for a while. It had rose bushes, a stone pathway, manicured bushes, towering trees, and green grass. It was silent. No one else was there. No one. The only sound was the trees moving in the wind. Even Sara was quiet. It was quiet. I guess the Monk's vow of silences rubs off on visitors.
After the courtyard we wanded into their church. There were no signs. No enterance fees. No people. No employees. No other people. No monks. The only people there were us. We did know it was okay to be there, since the door had said "Enterance Free." The church was huge, plain white, and had some nice art in it. We were the only ones in the church, so our sounds were magnified by 100 as we walked in the huge openness of the church. Dan soaked it all in, really enjoying being where Chimay (special because it is a trappest beer) is made.
AFter the church, we walked down a tree lined lane to find a cemetery, where Dan noticed one of the monks was 110 years old when he passed away. The cemetery was perfectly manicured. After that we kept walking and headed out.
Our visit to Chimay and the Abby (I don't remember the name of the Abby) was awesome. Sara was an amazing trooper. She walked all the way, didn't act up, and was just her normal happy self. Julia was just happy in the Bjorn carrier. She didn't sleep, she just looked around. I'm glad she did, there was a lot of nice things to see.
We got back into the rental car (a VW van) and I nursed Julia. Then we did an 1.5 hour drive. The drive was funny. At one point, we passed a sign that said, "FRANCE." Ha! We had driven into France! That is the way our built in GPS unit routed us - to get to a certain part of Belgium, you just drive through France! I guess that means that this is a 4 country trip. Our drive in France was interesting. Passed towns. Passed farms. Dan noticed that the Belgian cows were fat and the French cows were skinny. It really did seem that way! The part of France we were in was thick forest mostly, with some towns. The towns were grey. A bit dismal, with not much action. We'd see a person on a bike, an old lady carrying a baguette loaf, and maybe a kid or two. Not very many people and we probably drove through 5 French towns. The french farms were nice, but I'd say not as plush as the Belgian ones.
We crossed back into Belgium, (no big fuss, just a sign on the road to indicate the border) and got here. We are spending the night in/near Bouillon (like the soup). We ate dinner here at the hotel, a 4 star hotel that feels like it is in the country. I had beef (funny since we passed so many cows and I was feeling bad that we eat cows, and then I had beef), Dan had wild pig/boar, Sara had pasta, ham, cheese. The meal was nice - especially since they brought out a coloring page and coloring pencils for Sara. After the meal was over we put Julia to bed (took 3 seconds) and then Sara (she has her own room in this quad room that we booked).
So it was a full day. We started in Mons, drove to Chimay, enjoyed the Abby, drove through France, and to Bouillon. I like travel. Days just are so packed with sights, sounds, and new things. You just never know what will be around the next corner - and when you find out - it brings something new to enjoy.
Good night. :) Lori
Wednesday, October 10, 2012
Wednesday - in Mons, Belgium
Here we are in Mons, Belgium. We left Brugge/Bruges today around noon. Dan went to pick up the rental car (he took a bus to get to Avis) and I scurried around the house getting ready to depart. It is the little things that make departing hard, packing up all the odds and ends, cleaning out the fridge, and taking care of two kids at the same time! But it was okay and we loaded all our stuff into the VW van and off we went.
Driving the stick shift VW van on those cobblestone roads was exciting. Bump. Bump. Rattle. Rattle. And at the first intersection, there were literally 10 bicycles in front of us at the light - bikes (the normal kind, not motor cycles) have road privildges here, and they just use the road as if they are cars.
Our drive to the Sea Coast of Belgium (the North Sea) was half hour. Went we got there, we found a parking garage right by the North Sea (looks like the ocean) and got out to explore. Oh, it was wonderful. A huge boardwalk/promenade, people enjoying the sun and the sand, and my goodness the sea stretched as far as the eye could see in all directions - and met up with the blue sky at the horizon. Lovely. The sandy area was immense. Probably the longest sandy beach I've seen. I don't mean length-wise, I mean from the board walk to the sea, there was a huge amount of sand. Surely, the tide was out, but it was just huge.
We strolled the promenade (it was built by a King, who used to holiday here and his promenade is still here), enjoying the sun, the sand, and the water. It was very relaxing. We were looking for food - no restaurants looked like what we wanted (there were a lot of them, but we didn't want a long-drawn-out-sit-down-meal). So, we headed over to "fisherman's warf." At "Fisherman's Warf" we looked at the fish market (a bunch of fish in buckets with 80 year old people buying fish), and we also found a string of stands selling ready to eat fish.
We picked the stand that we liked and got fish on a stick, and some french fries. Sara picked us a place to sit (on a near by step) and we sat to eat. We were hungry, so it was mighty good. We were no longer on a boardwalk, but we were still right by the sea, on a raised walk way - made out of stone. After eating, we got ice cream. I should have gotten two cones, because the cone I got to "share" ended up in Sara's hand and never was released. That kid can eat ice cream cones. I wonder where she got that from.
The ice cream flavors were chocolate and pistacchio. It was funny to hear Sara try to say pistacchio. She strolled along the water/beach side stone walk way, happy as a lark, eating that ice cream. Dan and I managed to get small tastes, while she maintained a hand-hold on the cone. She wasn't taking any chances.
After the ice cream was gone, we walked on the beach. Sara and I had a "sea shell party" (something she decided we'd have) which meant we found shells and collected them. The liked to bury them and find them again. It was just her and I sitting on the sand for this party. Dan was with Julia strolling around on the stone walkway (but he did later join us on the beach). I liked having this sandy play time with Sara. She was enamored with the shells, and I liked looking up at our sweet daughter and seeing the sea breeze blowing her hair. The breeze was gently blowing her pony-tail and some loose wispy hairs back away from her face. She looked pretty and sweet. After several "sea shell parties" we went down to the water. There were waves, but not huge ones. The waves didn't crash at the shore, but they did have white caps. There was no salt smell, and no fishy smell. It mainly smelled like warm sand.
Soon we were all back on the stone promenade again. Sara and Julia were both in the Bob Stroller. I saw Sara take off her pink sneaker, hold it over the side of the BoB Stroller, and all the sand that found its way into her sneaker emptied out. The sand seemed to like its freedom, and flew out of Sara's sneaker and streamed to the ground. She was holding onto a container of sand and shells that we collected. Her treasure of the day.
We paid for the parking and drove here to Mons. One night here. Our room is a triple room, and has a kitchen (that we won't use), a bathroom, a couch, a crib, a double and a single bed. Right now both kids are quiet. Good thing since it is 10PM!
When we got to Mons we went out to eat. I had a beef dish and Dan had pork. Sara had a huge dish of pasta, ham, cheese. I also had soup that came in a bowl that would have served 4 people. I ate it all. Yum. Our huge meal was only 38 Euro (the tip is included here). And that was with our two beers. It seemed like a good value to us. Other than one other couple, we were the only ones in the restaurant. They eat late; we eat early.
After dinner we went to the Grand Place, which is what they call the main square (just like in Brussels). It was nice, and Sara did some laps to release some energy. The square was flooded with evening darkness, but punctuated by the lights of the restaurants and especially the city hall, which is a gorgeous building. There was also a fountain that looked like it was dancing in the starlight.
Then it was time to get back here. I got Julia to sleep (two second) and Dan got Sara to sleep (he did her list, which took maybe 10 minutes). I'm going to turn in too.
:) Lori
Tuesday, October 9, 2012
Tuesday - walks, treats, windmills
Well, now Sara and Julia are both asleep. This is two bedrooms, so Sara has her own room (with puppy and turtle) and we have Julia in our room. It has worked well. One interesting thing about this house is the steep staircase. I hold my breath everytime Sara goes up or down it! Thankfully, she has immediate acceptance of rooms. "This is my room" she said, and that was that. We bring her little-kid pillow for a bit of home, but she is using the blankets provided (and not those from home) unlike other trips where we brought her favorite blanket. It just didn't make sense to pack them when we already had enough stuff to pack!
Anyway. Today was our last day here. It is amazing how fast time flies. We began our day with something that most tourists (who probably spend 2-3 days here) do first. The boat ride. We went to the boat dock and I asked for a discount, and he said no. I figured it was worth asking and it didn't phase me that he said no. But when he asked how old Sara was, I said, "3" and he said "2 and a half, so she goes free" -- so he did give us a discount after all! Funny. The boat ride was super cool. We did it the last time we were here (years ago) and surely we have walked the whole route along side the canals, but there is something about gliding along the water - under bridges and along side towering churches, houses, and gardens that is just plain fun.
I had done a www.youtube.com search for brugge boat ride, to prepare Sara. I wanted to show her the boat ride before we did it. She watched the video (made by a tourist) about 4 times! And it worked, she did sit nicely on the boat and she enjoyed it. The boat driver pointed out which bridge was the oldest (from like 1623) and it was a tiny little brick bridge that only gave a few inches clearance for people's heads as we went under it. He also pointed out all the old houses, the spires, and other pretty things in town. The town is from medieval times, when it was very wealthy from the cloth trade, so the buildings are spectacular. The ride was 35 minutes. A fun thing to do first thing in the morning as some of the buildings looked especially nice in the morning light.
After the boat ride we tried to find one particular place to eat, but thankfully we ended up at another place that we really enjoyed. We had walked past it a number of times. Sara picked us a table right by the window, so we got to enjoy the people walking by as well as the interior of the restaurant. Dan had a house beer, and a ham dish, with salad. I had "Flemmish" onion soup, 1/2 a chicken, and salad. To drink I had something on the menu that sounded good. It was 70% a local beer, and 30% "lemonade" it was good! And it was only 2.50 Euro, versus more expensive water (yes really) and more explensive beer (beer is like 4 Euro). We all enjoyed the meal. I had a few paper plate in my backpack, so I just whipped one out for Sara to share our meals. That is handy since usually the server somes to take your order, deliver your food, and then doesn't return 'till you want your bill (and leave). So asking for a spare place isn't practical, so how nice just to have one. We gave her some chicken, some vegetables off our salads, and she ate some peanuts too. It was a happy meal of us just enjoying our selves.
After that we went to see the ruins of the oldest stuff in town - the Vikings were here in 900 AD, and there is a church that was built around that time, and you can go see the foundations of the church. They are under the new Crowne Plaza hotel - and they let you go see them. It was so cool!
Then we came back here to get the Bob Stroller (we had spent thus far with Julia in the Bjorn carrier and Sara on her feet) and then we did a walk - a long walk - on the ring around the former moat. We walked past the 4 windmills, and through town a bit. It was a nice good bye walk. Before long it was time to think about more food (does it seem like we are always eating?) so we got some snacks at Panos (a muffin, a waffel, and a raisin pastry). And then later we had a nice time at a restaurant on the market near the belfry, of a hot coffee drink for me, a beer for Dan, and a crepe (they call them pan cakes). It was 12Euro, and a great chance to sit down on a heated terrace and watch the world go by, while listening to the belfry chime every 15 minutes. I love hearing bells in Europe. It was one of my favorite things - I just find it to be so happy and charming. While at the restaurant on the market we also took time to nurse Julia, and change her diaper twice. We find that taking time out to meet her needs - especially around 2:00 is helpful. It sets us up for success the rest of the day. She is so low maintenance, a couple of feedings, a couple of diapers, and plenty of hugs and smiles is all she needs to be our happy travel companion all day. We have her wearing a little white hat and under a baby blanket to keep her warm as we travel around. Some times we carry her, which is fun for us (to snuggle with her) and fun for her (to see things from an adult's view point - since we basically carry her cheek to cheek). People always smile at her since she is so cute.
After that we did a long walk, to the back streets, where we were the only ones around. It is easy to feel like you are back in the 15th century. Super cool.
Back into the town we noticed Sara was asleep, so we wanted around a square. I popped into a store and bought a "belgian jar scraper" and a little spoon for Julia. Small things to remember this place by. We also got some ice cream while Sara was sleeping, a strategic move to have one less person to share with. It was run raisin, the specialty of the ice cream shop, for 1.50 Euro. He also makes chocolates, and says he likes plastic chocolate molds better because they are lighter and they make it easier to make flawless chocolates. I found that interesting since he had his old heavy chocolate molds out for sale, since he never uses them anymore.
To wrap up the day we enjoyed the view from the "post card" spot, which is known to be a super pretty view, and then we walked back here. We had a nice visit to Brugge / Bruges. It seemed like we had so much time and it just went zipping by. I've grown used to walking on cobblestones, hearing the clip-clop of horse hooves, and gazing at six centuries of architecture. :)
Tomorrow noon we'll have the rental car and continue our journey. Not sure if we'll have wifi where we go. Not sure when I'll update this next. We'll see! I want to keep it up - since this is my travel journal. I used to write this type of stuff with pen/paper to track notes of our days, but I can type faster!
'Til later,
Lori
Anyway. Today was our last day here. It is amazing how fast time flies. We began our day with something that most tourists (who probably spend 2-3 days here) do first. The boat ride. We went to the boat dock and I asked for a discount, and he said no. I figured it was worth asking and it didn't phase me that he said no. But when he asked how old Sara was, I said, "3" and he said "2 and a half, so she goes free" -- so he did give us a discount after all! Funny. The boat ride was super cool. We did it the last time we were here (years ago) and surely we have walked the whole route along side the canals, but there is something about gliding along the water - under bridges and along side towering churches, houses, and gardens that is just plain fun.
I had done a www.youtube.com search for brugge boat ride, to prepare Sara. I wanted to show her the boat ride before we did it. She watched the video (made by a tourist) about 4 times! And it worked, she did sit nicely on the boat and she enjoyed it. The boat driver pointed out which bridge was the oldest (from like 1623) and it was a tiny little brick bridge that only gave a few inches clearance for people's heads as we went under it. He also pointed out all the old houses, the spires, and other pretty things in town. The town is from medieval times, when it was very wealthy from the cloth trade, so the buildings are spectacular. The ride was 35 minutes. A fun thing to do first thing in the morning as some of the buildings looked especially nice in the morning light.
After the boat ride we tried to find one particular place to eat, but thankfully we ended up at another place that we really enjoyed. We had walked past it a number of times. Sara picked us a table right by the window, so we got to enjoy the people walking by as well as the interior of the restaurant. Dan had a house beer, and a ham dish, with salad. I had "Flemmish" onion soup, 1/2 a chicken, and salad. To drink I had something on the menu that sounded good. It was 70% a local beer, and 30% "lemonade" it was good! And it was only 2.50 Euro, versus more expensive water (yes really) and more explensive beer (beer is like 4 Euro). We all enjoyed the meal. I had a few paper plate in my backpack, so I just whipped one out for Sara to share our meals. That is handy since usually the server somes to take your order, deliver your food, and then doesn't return 'till you want your bill (and leave). So asking for a spare place isn't practical, so how nice just to have one. We gave her some chicken, some vegetables off our salads, and she ate some peanuts too. It was a happy meal of us just enjoying our selves.
After that we went to see the ruins of the oldest stuff in town - the Vikings were here in 900 AD, and there is a church that was built around that time, and you can go see the foundations of the church. They are under the new Crowne Plaza hotel - and they let you go see them. It was so cool!
Then we came back here to get the Bob Stroller (we had spent thus far with Julia in the Bjorn carrier and Sara on her feet) and then we did a walk - a long walk - on the ring around the former moat. We walked past the 4 windmills, and through town a bit. It was a nice good bye walk. Before long it was time to think about more food (does it seem like we are always eating?) so we got some snacks at Panos (a muffin, a waffel, and a raisin pastry). And then later we had a nice time at a restaurant on the market near the belfry, of a hot coffee drink for me, a beer for Dan, and a crepe (they call them pan cakes). It was 12Euro, and a great chance to sit down on a heated terrace and watch the world go by, while listening to the belfry chime every 15 minutes. I love hearing bells in Europe. It was one of my favorite things - I just find it to be so happy and charming. While at the restaurant on the market we also took time to nurse Julia, and change her diaper twice. We find that taking time out to meet her needs - especially around 2:00 is helpful. It sets us up for success the rest of the day. She is so low maintenance, a couple of feedings, a couple of diapers, and plenty of hugs and smiles is all she needs to be our happy travel companion all day. We have her wearing a little white hat and under a baby blanket to keep her warm as we travel around. Some times we carry her, which is fun for us (to snuggle with her) and fun for her (to see things from an adult's view point - since we basically carry her cheek to cheek). People always smile at her since she is so cute.
After that we did a long walk, to the back streets, where we were the only ones around. It is easy to feel like you are back in the 15th century. Super cool.
Back into the town we noticed Sara was asleep, so we wanted around a square. I popped into a store and bought a "belgian jar scraper" and a little spoon for Julia. Small things to remember this place by. We also got some ice cream while Sara was sleeping, a strategic move to have one less person to share with. It was run raisin, the specialty of the ice cream shop, for 1.50 Euro. He also makes chocolates, and says he likes plastic chocolate molds better because they are lighter and they make it easier to make flawless chocolates. I found that interesting since he had his old heavy chocolate molds out for sale, since he never uses them anymore.
To wrap up the day we enjoyed the view from the "post card" spot, which is known to be a super pretty view, and then we walked back here. We had a nice visit to Brugge / Bruges. It seemed like we had so much time and it just went zipping by. I've grown used to walking on cobblestones, hearing the clip-clop of horse hooves, and gazing at six centuries of architecture. :)
Tomorrow noon we'll have the rental car and continue our journey. Not sure if we'll have wifi where we go. Not sure when I'll update this next. We'll see! I want to keep it up - since this is my travel journal. I used to write this type of stuff with pen/paper to track notes of our days, but I can type faster!
'Til later,
Lori
Tuesday - Last day Brugge
Our itinerary is Brugge / Bruges for 1-10 October, so today was our last full day. We pick up our rental car tomorrow.
Oh, I have to run, Sara just came over and said, "will you please play with my toys please?" so I get to play with our sweetie now.
Oh, I have to run, Sara just came over and said, "will you please play with my toys please?" so I get to play with our sweetie now.
Monday, October 8, 2012
Monday - day trip to Ghent
Dan worked last week (telecommuted) and this week he is on vacation. That means we can do things all day, with out coming back to the house around 2:00. Having the whole day is wonderful! :)
We have a rail pass that gives us 10 trips anywhere in Belgium. Up till today, we had only used 2 trips. So we decided to journey to Ghent. It is 25-35 minutes away by train.
After a semi early start (we got up around 8:30) we took a bus to the Brugge train station. Then, we took a train directly to Ghent. Thankfully, all the transportation was easy. Finding seats was no problem (we were thankful that it wasn't crowded) and also loading the Bob Double stroller was no problem (which is nice because it is big!).
Sara enjoyed the train trip. We sat side by side on seats and she and I looked out the window. WE went past cows, fields, rivers, small towns, and other train stations. She still loves trains so it was fun. She played with her new helicopter the whole way.
The Ghent train station was highly adorned with paintings on the walls and ceiling. People were coming and going, and it was a hustle bustle. We joined in, and actually decided to hit Starbucks as a little taste of home. It was Sara who spotted it, and she bolted over to it, since we walk to Starbucks from home I bet it was nice for her to be in the chain's familiar surroundings. And it was nice anyway to sit and start our time in Ghent. We had one coffee and a cinimon bun and it was like 5 Euro.
We took a tram to get into the historical center of Ghent. The tram goes right down the center of the road on rails. It was like a tour. After 15 minutes we hopped off the train, and did a walking tour in our book. Ghent is as old as Brugge, but is more of a "real" city - thus it is gritty in places and not as totally cute as Brugge.
Our walk took us past a chocolate shop, that was so good that we went back twice. It was that good. You could look into the lower level and see the man making the chocolate. It came out of spout, and he held up molds to catch the chocolate, then he used a flat tool to top off the mold. After a minute, he dumped off the extra chocolate, so that they could be filled with things (creme, gnache, etc) and then they are sealed off. Sara got a kick out of seeing them be made, and announced that "we could do that Mama!" perhaps we should make chocolate sometime!
We went into a cathedral, and taught Sara about stained glass. We also helped her be quiet in the church. She was in awe at the scale of the church, with the soaring walls, imposing altar, and overall size of it. It is awesome for an adult, so I bet it really was something she found impressive. Julia looked around too - she is very inquisitve and really looks around a lot.
As we did our walking tour, we walked over old food bridges, up cute streets, and saw huge old buildings. Oh, and a really neat castle. Complete with a dungeon. Ghent is similar to Brugge, but at the same time totally different.
In one square we paused to check out a traditional bakery (where you could take 2 steps inside and that was as big as it was), a mustard shop (where the mustard has no preservatives, so you eat it that day or quickly refrigerate it), and also a few carts where they sold "noses" or these little pyramids that are purple in color and have like jam in side. They are unique to this area, so we got a little bag of them for 3 Euro. Two stands were selling them, and when I asked the one guy, if his were better than the other stand, he said "mine are the best - those are the same you can get at the supermarket" - he went on and on about how is are superior, and I found it funny how passionate he was about it.
We ended up at a water side cafe for a late lunch early dinner. I had "chili con carne" with ended up being a good choice. We were outside and the warm fullness of the chili was nice. It had everything in it - things like meat, corn, squash, tomato, almost like it was everything they had in the kitchen. It also came with a salad on the same plate, which was delicious, with everything in it too - things like walnuts, seeds, vegetables, greens, etc. I like how random the food is. They seem to add anything that is fresh and it makes things so yummy. We also had 2 beers. I just drink a little beer since it is so special here and it is cheaper than other beverage options, even water. And we have water in our backpack, so I can just have that when I want anyway. Dan had these little pancake things, and Sara nibbled on those also. It was a good meal. It rained while we were there, but the cafe had a long awning, that kept us dry. So it was fun to watch other people stroll in the rain while we were cozy in our seats (which were even covered with blankets).
The rain let up when we left. We did some more strolling and decided to head out. A bit unfortunately we took the correct tram, but in the wrong direction. And ended up in the middle of no where before we figured it out, got off, and got back on going the correct direction. By the time we got off at the train station in Ghent, to start our journey home, Julia was crying with huge tears. At the train station I nursed her - and she was happy again. The train ride back to Brugge was quick and non eventful, with us just enjoying sitting there watching the world go by outside the windows. We had a four pack of seats, that faced each other. So I had Julia on my lap and Sara was on Dan's lap. We just have looked like a jolly traveling family.
Back here in Brugge we took a bus back to our house, and gave Sara bet time bite and gave Julia a bath. It is now 20:43 (8:43) and it was a long full daly. Doing the day trip was fun. It will also be fun to have a full day here tomorrow (Tuesday) as we leave Wednesday.
Well, I'm going to wrap up. I know I ramble a bit, I just type what ever comes into my mind with no revision. Sort of more of a travel log than a true blog. Oh well.
Signing off. Lori
We have a rail pass that gives us 10 trips anywhere in Belgium. Up till today, we had only used 2 trips. So we decided to journey to Ghent. It is 25-35 minutes away by train.
After a semi early start (we got up around 8:30) we took a bus to the Brugge train station. Then, we took a train directly to Ghent. Thankfully, all the transportation was easy. Finding seats was no problem (we were thankful that it wasn't crowded) and also loading the Bob Double stroller was no problem (which is nice because it is big!).
Sara enjoyed the train trip. We sat side by side on seats and she and I looked out the window. WE went past cows, fields, rivers, small towns, and other train stations. She still loves trains so it was fun. She played with her new helicopter the whole way.
The Ghent train station was highly adorned with paintings on the walls and ceiling. People were coming and going, and it was a hustle bustle. We joined in, and actually decided to hit Starbucks as a little taste of home. It was Sara who spotted it, and she bolted over to it, since we walk to Starbucks from home I bet it was nice for her to be in the chain's familiar surroundings. And it was nice anyway to sit and start our time in Ghent. We had one coffee and a cinimon bun and it was like 5 Euro.
We took a tram to get into the historical center of Ghent. The tram goes right down the center of the road on rails. It was like a tour. After 15 minutes we hopped off the train, and did a walking tour in our book. Ghent is as old as Brugge, but is more of a "real" city - thus it is gritty in places and not as totally cute as Brugge.
Our walk took us past a chocolate shop, that was so good that we went back twice. It was that good. You could look into the lower level and see the man making the chocolate. It came out of spout, and he held up molds to catch the chocolate, then he used a flat tool to top off the mold. After a minute, he dumped off the extra chocolate, so that they could be filled with things (creme, gnache, etc) and then they are sealed off. Sara got a kick out of seeing them be made, and announced that "we could do that Mama!" perhaps we should make chocolate sometime!
We went into a cathedral, and taught Sara about stained glass. We also helped her be quiet in the church. She was in awe at the scale of the church, with the soaring walls, imposing altar, and overall size of it. It is awesome for an adult, so I bet it really was something she found impressive. Julia looked around too - she is very inquisitve and really looks around a lot.
As we did our walking tour, we walked over old food bridges, up cute streets, and saw huge old buildings. Oh, and a really neat castle. Complete with a dungeon. Ghent is similar to Brugge, but at the same time totally different.
In one square we paused to check out a traditional bakery (where you could take 2 steps inside and that was as big as it was), a mustard shop (where the mustard has no preservatives, so you eat it that day or quickly refrigerate it), and also a few carts where they sold "noses" or these little pyramids that are purple in color and have like jam in side. They are unique to this area, so we got a little bag of them for 3 Euro. Two stands were selling them, and when I asked the one guy, if his were better than the other stand, he said "mine are the best - those are the same you can get at the supermarket" - he went on and on about how is are superior, and I found it funny how passionate he was about it.
We ended up at a water side cafe for a late lunch early dinner. I had "chili con carne" with ended up being a good choice. We were outside and the warm fullness of the chili was nice. It had everything in it - things like meat, corn, squash, tomato, almost like it was everything they had in the kitchen. It also came with a salad on the same plate, which was delicious, with everything in it too - things like walnuts, seeds, vegetables, greens, etc. I like how random the food is. They seem to add anything that is fresh and it makes things so yummy. We also had 2 beers. I just drink a little beer since it is so special here and it is cheaper than other beverage options, even water. And we have water in our backpack, so I can just have that when I want anyway. Dan had these little pancake things, and Sara nibbled on those also. It was a good meal. It rained while we were there, but the cafe had a long awning, that kept us dry. So it was fun to watch other people stroll in the rain while we were cozy in our seats (which were even covered with blankets).
The rain let up when we left. We did some more strolling and decided to head out. A bit unfortunately we took the correct tram, but in the wrong direction. And ended up in the middle of no where before we figured it out, got off, and got back on going the correct direction. By the time we got off at the train station in Ghent, to start our journey home, Julia was crying with huge tears. At the train station I nursed her - and she was happy again. The train ride back to Brugge was quick and non eventful, with us just enjoying sitting there watching the world go by outside the windows. We had a four pack of seats, that faced each other. So I had Julia on my lap and Sara was on Dan's lap. We just have looked like a jolly traveling family.
Back here in Brugge we took a bus back to our house, and gave Sara bet time bite and gave Julia a bath. It is now 20:43 (8:43) and it was a long full daly. Doing the day trip was fun. It will also be fun to have a full day here tomorrow (Tuesday) as we leave Wednesday.
Well, I'm going to wrap up. I know I ramble a bit, I just type what ever comes into my mind with no revision. Sort of more of a travel log than a true blog. Oh well.
Signing off. Lori
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