Come on, how many chances will I have to say that I went to the wrong country by accident?! Actually, I hope this will be the first and last time!
My niece Angela who was in London was going to meet me in Bruges for the wknd. My train from dd was leaving at 8am Saturday with two stops (Cologne and then Brussels). I got to Cologne ok and went to the right platform for the connecting train to Brussels. What I didn't realize was that there were 2 trains on the same platform and ofcourse I got on the wrong train! I was expecting to be in Brussels at 10:30 and when that time came and passed I started to get nervous. Maybe the train was just running behind schedule. I didn't see a conductor anywhere to ask. When it was 11 I got up and found all 3 conductor in the bar part of the train. Nice work ethics. I showed them my ticket and said "Brussels"? They started laughing and said I was on the wrong train! This train was heading to Amsterdam which was way north of where I needed to go! The bartender said that I'll have to take a cab in amsterdam back to Brussels and it would cost about $3,000 euros. After my mouth dropped open he said just kidding! Bastard, I'm glad somebody thought it was funny. Fortunately one of the conductor felt sorry for the stupid american and looked up the schedules and wrote out what I needed to do. I basically had to backtrack and take another 2 connections before I can get to Brussels south station 1 1/2 hours later. I would have been so lost if they didn't help me. I tried to reach Angela but couldn't get through for a good 15 minutes. I was panicking thinking that I wasn't dialing the international code correctly. I think it was because she was underground in the train station in brussels. When I got a hold of her Angie decided to wait for me in brussels and we would take the train to Bruges together. She took a cab and went to see the Grand Palace in Brussels. I only told Angie I was running behind. I didn't want other people to hear about my incredibly stupid move. The crazy thing was the conductor did one point scanned my ticket and he didn't notice I was on the wrong train! At one of the stop I looked on the map and saw I traveled almost all the way through the Netherlands! I totally missed Belgium! This gave Angie a good laugh. She couldn't believe her well traveled auntie could have made such a blunder. Well, nobody's perfect. I can just see Gary shaking his head again. I have to say this was not a bonehead american move, it was a bonehead anh move!
Bruges is a beautifully preserved medieval town with cobble stone streets. The centerpiece of the old town is the Market Square with the Post Office on one side and the Bell Tower (built in the year 1200). You can climb the 366 steps up the Bell Tower which we did on Sunday. The town is 12km from the north sea and is known for its lace, chocolates, frites (fries), mussels and ofcourse the belgian waffles. Angie & I were so excited to eat our way through the city, screw our diets! To start our weekend properly we had waffles with ice cream topped with warm chocolate sauce for lunch. It was sooooo good. After lunch we had to try the fries from the stands in front of the bell tower, only because the tour book said we had to! The fries here are fried twice, once to cook it and second time to brown. I don't know if this made it different but it was the best fries EVER! I got Angie turned on to curry ketchup with the fries. It was the same sauce as my Curry Wurst in germany. When we bought it I asked for an order of "french fries". The vendor looked at me and said "what"? I said "french fries" and again he said "what"? Suddenly it clicked and I asked for "belgian fries"?! He nodded in approval and took my order. Whew!
We took a 20 minute boat tour in the canals and got a little history of the city. Because of the canals this town is referred to as the Venice of the north. Angie said she liked this place better than Venice.
We then rented bikes from the shop next to our hotel and rode through the town for 4 hours for $5 euros. What a great way to see the city. We rode through quiet narrow cobblestone streets away from the busy market square, along the pretty canals, and then onto a nice bike path that has 4 windmills along the way. There are dozens of cafes or bars that you can stop at along the way to take a break. One point I stopped to take a picture of a house and was too lazy to put the kickstand down and park the bike. The bike slipped away from me and I was too slow to react. As a result the metal petal scraped along the top of my bare foot. Luckily no heavy bleeding, just a big bruise a little blood and some missing skin! Oi vay, I am sure Gary is shaking his head again.
Throughout the weekend the market square had a big stage for music. There were alternating bands playing traditional or classical music. Restaurants & bars that bordered the squares had tables and chairs that overflowed into the big square. All were filled with happy tourists. I don't think we sat inside any restaurants the whole time. The weather was perfect, it was warm and mostly sunny. Angie was so happy to get a break from the depressing London weather. We agreed that so far this is one of our favorite european town. It was the perfect size and perfect blend of charm, history, architectural significance, cuisine and culture. I guess we were there during the peak season so it was very lively.
We loved the mussels so much we had it both days! On Sunday I did try the traditional peasant style beef stew which came in a miniature copper pot. You pour the beef stew over fries. At first we asked for ketchup to eat with our fries, but after dipping our fries with the gravy we ditched the ketchup, yeah that is SO american! The restaurant (called The Flemish Pot) had its own cookbook so we found the recipe to see how the beef stew was made. They put beer in it! I'm going to try it when I get home! It was such a charming place with red & white checkered curtains and flower pots, we sat outside on the patio which was in a quiet alleyway.
Even though the book said that the dutch do not eat belgian waffles or pancakes (which is really our version of crepes) for breakfast, Angie & I were determined to find a place to eat waffles for breakfast. The book did not lie. It took us a good half hour before we found a place. Actually we went back to the same place from the day before because we couldn't find anything else! Angie ended up getting apple struedel with ice cream and I got the pancake with warm apples and caramel sauce. It was so good! We were moaning our delight pretty loudly. I wish we had more time for more meals here!
A small note of our hotel (Hotel Heritage). Since it was just for one night I decided to splurge on this small boutique hotel, $215 for the night. It was so luxurious! After going up a spiral marble staircase we get to our room (only 24 rooms). There was a huge king size bed with a chandelier on the ceiling and beautiful 18th century furniture. It had airconditioning! There were robes & slippers for us and the toiletries were from Hermes (ofcourse I took them home with me!) The soap smelled so good!! I made Angela take one home for her mom! The hotel had Turkish steam bath & sauna but unfortunately we did not have time to enjoy it. Best of all it was located right behind the main market square so we were walking distance to everything.
It was lucky for me that the clothing shops were closed on Sunday because I could have done some serious damage! I wish we had enough time for another leisurely bike ride but we had to leave for the train station at 5pm on Sunday. Even worse, I wish we had more time (and stomach space) for another belgian waffle! At least we had some ice cream before leaving.
This town is perfect for 2-3 day weekend. The people are very nice and it was much easier to communicate since most could speak german, french, english and ofcourse the native tongue which is dutch. Gary has been here before otherwise I would seriously consider going back with him.
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