Ypres with My Adoptive Family

Today was my trip to Ypres with Karla & Chris' Belgian relatives, Karel & Kristin. I called Karel last night and he told me their friends Luc and Bea (who Chris knows) are joining us. Rounding out the bunch is Karel & Kristin's daughter, Caroline, who is a judge and a tour guide in Ypres.

 There was no problem finding each other- as soon as the car pulled up to the B&B, we knew we were all in the right place! We had a brief ride to Ypres, and as we parked, Kristin said something in Flemish - all I recognized was "apertif" which made me giggle. Sure enough, Karel asked if I was up for a drink before the museum. Thus we were drinking at about 10:30 am! It was a nice little ice breaker.

Next we headed to the museum, In Flanders Fields. What an amazing museum - the coolest thing, to me, was a selection of vignettes where actors played persons from the war and read from diaries as though they were telling you about their experience. It was very moving and had me in tears several times. Hearing what the local citizens went through, as well as the soldiers, was heartbreaking. The exhibits overall were incredibly well done. They also use RFID bracelets; you sign in at the beginning and at certain exhibits, it tailors the content to you. At the end it tells you if any relatives were in Flanders Fields (not surprisingly I came up empty).

The bell tower is newly opened, so Karel and I climbed up 315 steps to the top. We could almost see France. It was a very cool overview of the geography of the area and how that influenced the battles.

The last exhibit was about the U.S. program to send food to the people of Flanders after the war. There was a film of people describing what it was like, and Karel shared his memories as well. I had no idea that the U.S. had done that - if I'd once learned it, it was forgotten - along with aid to rebuild the town (which, by the way, is gorgeous!).

After the museum, we met Caroline for lunch and then she gave us a lovely walking tour of the Menin Gate Memorial, the ramparts, the cathedral and Anglican churches, and a small British cemetery. She did a marvelous job of informing and answering questions. She mentioned that to be a guide, she had to take a total of 3 exams! Clearly the Flemish respect their history and want to protect the sharing of it to ensure the accuracy.

We said goodbye to Caroline and returned to Brugge. After parking, we found a cafe where I "presented Guido's beers" - Guido is a friend of Chris and Karel who loaded my SIM last fall for my Austria trip, and I had hoped to buy him a beer but he was walking the Camino Santiago de Compstelo, so Karel kindly offered to accept his beer instead.  :-)

All in all it was an educational and interesting day with some deeply kind and wonderful people, and highly enjoyable!

Day 2-3: Brussels-Ghent-Brugge

So, where was I...ah the barbecue. Awesome. Potato salad, white sausage, and black sausage. There was other food but that was the stuff that made my tummy smile. YUM.

We took the bus back to Brussels and, unwilling to end a great day, decided to get a nightcap. We went to Moeder Lambic which has an excellent beer selection (duh) and got a round and a cheese & meat plate to share, which was delicious. After 2 beers, half the group sensibly called it quits while I was easily persuaded to be foolish - after all, I'd missed the last tram already! Mark and I hung out for another couple of rounds and I have to say, he is quite a cool guy; I enjoyed sharing beers and terrible stories with him. He also introduced me to the guy in charge of the bar, who is also very cool, and I was really pleased to be able to meet him.

So yeah, the metro is done. The bus is questionable. Taxi it is. I get back to the B&B around 2 am and fall in to bed.

MONDAY I actually wake up at 6 am to my neighbor peeing in the bathroom next door. I fall back asleep and wake up at 7 am because there's a skylight and I forgot to close the shade before going to sleep. Rats.

I have a lovely breakfast with my host, Adi; I love staying in B&B's and getting to know people a bit. After breakfast I headed to the train station for Ghent/Gent/Gand.

Delicious lunch at the Packhuis in Ghent

My arrival in Ghent is timed just before lunch, so I take the tram to the old city and walk around a bit. At first I go astray and am very cranky about how bleah the city is, but eventually I find the old center and... well it's a bit better. After some exploring I have a lovely prix fixe lunch, then head out to explore more. Somehow this city is making me cranky. It's not very charming or picturesque, people are rude (are they Eastern European?!?!?) and too many places are closed on Monday. I find a brewery I'm searching for after a great deal of effort and they don't seem to care if I patronize them or not, so I don't (which makes me mad at myself as much as I am at them). I don't know whether my hopes were too high for Ghent or if I genuinely find it to be meh, but I do. My feet ache from walking as I head to the train and I'm annoyed that they hurt so much for so little in return.

Ghent self porttrait

On the train I chant "don't be annoyed don't be annoyed" which works until, following the B&B instructions in Brugge, I nearly get on the wrong bus. Luckily I check with the driver and he says no, he doesn't go where I need him to. Now I'm annoyed again, grr. The right bus comes a few minutes later and we move toward central Brugge...and my annoyance melts. I smile. Happiness washes over me.

I hoof it for about 15 minutes to the B&B and am so charmed by what I find, I smile more! My room is beautiful, blue and white with a princess' bed.  ;-) My hostess is incredibly warm and friendly. After settling in and calling Chris' relatives to say I really am here, I walk around for a bit and find I am every bit as in love with Brugge as I was last year. This place touches my heart like only a few other locales.

As I wander I find this bar, De Garre, which is terribly difficult to find... unless a sandwich board is out front. :-) I realize I need to eat first and get frites, then go back to the bar where I enjoy the house ("huis") beer and a Rocheford Grand Cru while listening to classical music and American voices and reading my book on Paris. The service is low key but friendly. When I first walked in I felt conspicuous but that quickly fades and I'm completely comfortable and enjoying myself, until they close, which is perfect as I need to post this and go to bed.  :-)

Brussels & Toer de Gueze

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.

Pre-Trip Frenzy

So I leave for Belgium in 33 hours, I should be in packing or in bed but instead I am blogging!

I'm so excited about this trip. Its started with wanting to go to the Zythos Beer Festival that some acquaintances from FlyerTalk have been to and planned to go to again this year. Then I discovered the Toer de Gueze happening the weekend before, and thought fine, I'll go to both and have tons of free time to bike or eat frites or whatever in between. I thought I might not find enough to do during the week, but it would be relaxing.

Ha.

Turns out my friends of my brother are also going to both beer festivals, and they have been really great about passing on information about other events and inviting me to join them. I also connected with my friends Karla and Chris' family in Belgium, and am spending a day with them! All but one day is now filled, and I'm looking forward to all of the amazing experiences and people that await me.

Oh, and beer.

Now, though, I'd better get to bed - my last good night's sleep until I'm in Brussels!