Yes, I know, I've been a terrible blogger so far on this trip. The past 2 days have been so packed with fun this is the first quiet moment I've had!
The flight to London was fine, but the overnight in Heathrow was quite an experience. Unlike in the past, you cannot just sleep in any terminal. They now round up all overnighters and herd you to T1. Once there, you are directed to a seating area... and after an hour alseep a voice politely says 'Excuse me madam, you need to move to Gate 2." So 35 folks shuffle, half-asleep, to Gate 2, where we settle into seats and try to sleep under glaring lights. About 3 hours later, a polite voice says "Excuse me madam, the doors will open in about 10 minutes." Yes, they shut us in to the gate area! So the doors open at 4 am, an hour before anything opens or the busses begin running. So back to the original seating area, where instead of trying to sleep again, I chatted with a young woman working as an au pair in France and heading to Atlanta for a wedding. At 5 am we go looking for the busses but the signage is terrible. We join forces with another pair of women and finally get correct directions. Yay! At last we head off to our flights.
So I arrive in Brussels seriously sleep deprived. To my amazement I hear my name called out as I walk out of customs - the couple I met through Bill and Marcia are waiting with friends who called to them as they were walking out! Sadly I break this chain of serendipitous meetings and head off to find my hotel.
After finding my hotel, I meet Mary & Craig and their friend, Mark, at Cantillon where we have a quick drink. We begin to head off in separate directions but the group invites me to join them at the Lambic welcome center, so we hop on a bus and spend a lovely 1/2 hour getting a tour of the (non-English labelled) exhibits. Having examined how lambics are made, we must then try some from the bar - I believe we managed to sample a good 6-7 bottles. And by sample, I mean drink. The rest of the group is far more knowledgeable than I am and I learn quite a bit from them, which is very cool.
At last we head back to Brussels, where we go our separate ways (all in search of frites!) and after a bit of walking, I turned in for the night. Because I needed to rest up for Toer de Gueze!!!
Toer de Gueze was wonderful - after taking the train to Denderleeuw and meeting the group (who, it turns out, were on the same train), we await our bus. Mark's is there and leaves on time, but ours turns up 25 minutes late. But we eventually get rolling to De Troch, where the geuze is fine but not outstanding. Next up is Timmermans, where I have a very sweet raspberry kriek and a geuze. We all concur the raspberry could be a breakfast drink. The museum and tour here are great! Next up - Tilquin, where I am served the wrong drink and it's awful. Turns out I got a young geuze, more like juice than beer. Bleah. Fortunately 3 Fonteinen is next and much better! Last stop is Oud Beersel which is good, and at which we walk off with our glasses (2,50) because the bus is about to leave.
It heads back to Denderleeuw, and pulls in to a rest stop, because... it has broken down. !!! We wait for a new bus, Mary calling our taxi that is meeting us to let them know we are late, and get back about 30 minutes late. No problem, Mark has only been waiting a bit, and we head off to the barbeque at Het Geuzegenootschap in Eizeringen. AWESOME time - great food, we end up hanging out and drinking more geuze for 4 hours before catching the bus back to Brussels.
The flight to London was fine, but the overnight in Heathrow was quite an experience. Unlike in the past, you cannot just sleep in any terminal. They now round up all overnighters and herd you to T1. Once there, you are directed to a seating area... and after an hour alseep a voice politely says 'Excuse me madam, you need to move to Gate 2." So 35 folks shuffle, half-asleep, to Gate 2, where we settle into seats and try to sleep under glaring lights. About 3 hours later, a polite voice says "Excuse me madam, the doors will open in about 10 minutes." Yes, they shut us in to the gate area! So the doors open at 4 am, an hour before anything opens or the busses begin running. So back to the original seating area, where instead of trying to sleep again, I chatted with a young woman working as an au pair in France and heading to Atlanta for a wedding. At 5 am we go looking for the busses but the signage is terrible. We join forces with another pair of women and finally get correct directions. Yay! At last we head off to our flights.
So I arrive in Brussels seriously sleep deprived. To my amazement I hear my name called out as I walk out of customs - the couple I met through Bill and Marcia are waiting with friends who called to them as they were walking out! Sadly I break this chain of serendipitous meetings and head off to find my hotel.
After finding my hotel, I meet Mary & Craig and their friend, Mark, at Cantillon where we have a quick drink. We begin to head off in separate directions but the group invites me to join them at the Lambic welcome center, so we hop on a bus and spend a lovely 1/2 hour getting a tour of the (non-English labelled) exhibits. Having examined how lambics are made, we must then try some from the bar - I believe we managed to sample a good 6-7 bottles. And by sample, I mean drink. The rest of the group is far more knowledgeable than I am and I learn quite a bit from them, which is very cool.
At last we head back to Brussels, where we go our separate ways (all in search of frites!) and after a bit of walking, I turned in for the night. Because I needed to rest up for Toer de Gueze!!!
Toer de Gueze was wonderful - after taking the train to Denderleeuw and meeting the group (who, it turns out, were on the same train), we await our bus. Mark's is there and leaves on time, but ours turns up 25 minutes late. But we eventually get rolling to De Troch, where the geuze is fine but not outstanding. Next up is Timmermans, where I have a very sweet raspberry kriek and a geuze. We all concur the raspberry could be a breakfast drink. The museum and tour here are great! Next up - Tilquin, where I am served the wrong drink and it's awful. Turns out I got a young geuze, more like juice than beer. Bleah. Fortunately 3 Fonteinen is next and much better! Last stop is Oud Beersel which is good, and at which we walk off with our glasses (2,50) because the bus is about to leave.
It heads back to Denderleeuw, and pulls in to a rest stop, because... it has broken down. !!! We wait for a new bus, Mary calling our taxi that is meeting us to let them know we are late, and get back about 30 minutes late. No problem, Mark has only been waiting a bit, and we head off to the barbeque at Het Geuzegenootschap in Eizeringen. AWESOME time - great food, we end up hanging out and drinking more geuze for 4 hours before catching the bus back to Brussels.
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