Belgium and one day in France... back to the Continent

Brussels, Belgium
We started off our journey really early in the morning – 4:15am to be exact! We had to be up and out to catch our 8am flight, and we had no idea what to expect at the airport nor on the 40 minute drive to the airport. We thought that the airport would be quiet at 6am, especially at that time of day! Our drive in only took about 35 minutes, and we easily dropped off the car in the Budget lot. No luck with a quiet airport - it was a madhouse since the school holidays had begun the day prior!

Our flight to Brussels on the commuter jet was easy – it only took us 1.5 hours, and when we landed, it appeared really different! The land was flat, green, pasturelands and …. SUNNY! We easily got our luggage and headed off, deciding to take the airport train downtown to the Metro to our hotel. It was a pretty straightforward journey, which took one transfer and a new ticket, and a little caution on our part – pickpockets were in operation! About 1.5 hours later, we rolled up to the hotel. In Brussels, we heard about the antiques market, which turned out to be right up the road from us. It was a darling little market, all of all kinds of higher end treasures, including rings and jewelry (for Christy), pocket watches (Marcus), and general neat silverware, paintings and other antiquities. Next up – it was time to check out what the Mannequin Pis was wearing… it is this tiny statue of a small boy who is urinating into a fountain. The city loves him, and has devoted a museum to his clothing, as he is dressed every day in something different. We wonder what that person’s resume reads like!!! Every tourist shop around the city sells Mannequin Pis souvenirs, for example, you can buy garden figures which will water your garden in the shape of the statue, chocolates in the shape of the statue, and a cork screw where the screw part replaces the statues' nether regions, we kid you not! We carried onto the Comic Museum, where Marcus shopped at the gift shop, looking at comics about Lucky Luke, Smurfs, Tintin and Asterix, while Christy sat on - free- email. We then walked back to the hotel via the Plaza (which was quite ornate), Old Town, the park and palace, which were wonderful, filled with lots of locals and tourists having a good weekend day.

Brussels was interesting, as it was a very cosmopolitan city, but it did not grab us necessarily. We found the city was very urban and chic, and thought we looked scruffy walking around in our shorts. We also found it to be really overly expensive. Most luncheon entrees started at 15 euros – and that was at the cheaper cafes. It was a lot of sticker shock for us, and we were not as prepared for it!

Bruges, Belgium
Our train ride to Bruges was fairly simple… we only had to walk 20 minutes to the Central train station and buy tickets. However, we were a little befuddled at the station since we walked in on the pedestrian entrance, which is where the tracks were. We eventually figured it out, and went upstairs with our – heavy – bags to buy tickets. Two tickets to Bruges cost 25 euros total, and we were happy that the train only took an hour.

In any event, we rolled ourselves 20 long and hot minutes away to our B&B Het Wit Beertje, or, the “Little White Bear” B&B. It was located right outside the city gates, and was a really cute small rowhouse. It was located only one block away from the canal, and the city gates, in more of a residential neighborhood. We had vowed to start eating less cheese and white bread (our favorite foods which we had been eating too much of), but it was hard at the B&B.... breakfast was amazing! We had a full basket of breads – two sweet rolls, two sandwich rolls, crackers, wheat breads – meats, two types of cheeses, yogurt and fruit. Delicious!

The town of Bruges was really adorable – it was large enough to have a great variety of shops and restaurants and restaurants in the city center. The city was surrounded by a series of moats and canals and little rivers, which added to the allure. People in town also dressed up – everyone was in heels and dresses or suits and more formal wear. Cafes filled up during the day and late afternoon, but would empty by 6pm, in preparation for the early closing of EVERYTHING in town. Even the grocery store closed at 7pm! There were several large city plazas in town, including one main one where all the streets seemed to radiate from. Our B&B owner warned us not to eat anywhere in the center of town – as we would pay close to 6 euros per coffee. We took this advice to heart and planned our meals - and eating times - very carefully, especially as we noticed that the food was very expensive in the restaurants. So one night we ate at a pasta bar, with indoor seating, which seem to be all the rage in Bruges. Pasta bars generally have one up to several types of pasta and sauces… where you pick the size of pasta, the sauce, and the type of pasta. If you want it to go, it is served to you with a fork, and in a container similar to a Chinese take out box. Everyone was walking down the streets with hot pasta – but miraculously – no one was wearing any.

We spent a lot of time in Bruges walking the streets and seeing the sights… we had no guidebooks which meant we had no agenda for two full days. One day we walked to Saint Salvation Church, which was an ancient church dating way back. Throughout the years, the church had been rebuilt, each architectural style was replaced, and sometimes buried with new additions on top. Archeologists found Roman-style crypts buried beneath a newer wing of one of the church additions. The inside of the church was eerie (check out the picture of the statue) – it seemed as if the church was undergoing a massive renovation, while still being an active church. The church had different chapels, all of which held amazing things, many of them saint’s relics.

Lille, France
We pulled into the Lille Flanders Station, and were pleased to find out that our hotel was literally right across the street from the Flanders Station. Our hotel Le Napoleon was panned in Tripadvisor, and we had no expectations, but were pleasantly surprised. We stayed there since we had planned to arrive in Lille that afternoon, and pick up our car lease from the Lille Eurostar station the next morning.

We had a lovely time walking around Lille, especially the old town, which was outstanding. The streets were cobblestoned, and the boulevards wide, although there was not as much green space to the city and it did seem to have a seamier aspect. However, the heat made us tired, so after a fresh home-made yogurt each, we went back to the hotel for a siesta. It is not only Spain that siestas!

That evening, we checked out Carrefour, the grocery store, which was located in the mall across the road. Yes, their are groceries in malls, which sounds strange, but is something we noticed in both Europe and in Australia. We went through Carrefour and nearly fell over – the wine aisle had an aisle just dedicated to rose wines (our favorite wine for hot weather)! Additionally, the cheeses were also too amazing, and there was a separate cheese deli! We had to make a decision on cheese since we were only in France for one day – and decided to forego the great cheese and white bread two-day fast – and had pecorino and goat cheese and a stick of bread along with a homemade salad to balance it out. MMMMMM.

So in the end, we enjoyed our stay in Belgium and as always, enjoyed France. We were excited to be done with public transport for a bit and looked forwards to our lease car and Germany!

Next Up - Germany by autobahn!