4 Countries and 5 languages in 5 hours, no it wasn't a Contiki Tour in fast forward it was a weekend trip to Luxembourg and Belgium.
Duncan and I got up at 3:30am to catch the train from England, through France, into Belgium and down to Luxembourg.It's crazy to think that in 5 hours we saw 4 countries in Europe.In 5 hours in Australia you probably won't have even left the state you started in!
Luxembourg was, cute!It's a tiny city built on the edge of a lush green ravine.We spent our day there wandering the streets of the city and enjoying the views.It's a pretty little fairy tale city all that was missing was a castle.
If I had to sum up Belgium in one word it would be easy.Delicious!If I was only able to eat food from one country for the rest of my life Belgium would be that country.Fries, waffles, chocolate, beer……………..(And for the seafood lovers muscles).What more could any person want?The secret Beligum trick to the perfect frie is to fry it, shake the fat off and fry it again. Crispy on the outside, soft on the inside, Perfect. The Belgians are so passionate about their fries they even have a museum dedicated to them.
Bruges was great, we spent 2 days there eating, drinking and taking in the sites.We hired bikes and rode around the city - breaking two of my safety rules on the one day, riding a bike without a helmet and then drinking beers and riding the bike some more.We went to a brewery with the intention of going on a tour but the tour was full, so what could we do but sample some of their product instead.My only hot tip if you ever go to Bruges and hire a bike - town bikes with no suspension and cobblestone streets become quiet painful after a while……………………………….I'm still having difficulty sitting down!
After our visit to the brewery we decided it was only polite if we sampled some more of the beer that the Belgians are so proud of so we returned out bikes and went in search of a pub.Not that they're that hard to find but we were looking for a certain pub, one that was rumored to sell 300 different types of beers.Down a little ally away from the crowds we found it, andwith a choice of 300 we didn't know where to start.So we started at the top of the list…………… We didn't quiet try all 300….. um we got as far as 6.But with an alcohol content of around 9% I think we did pretty well.
The last day of our little trip saw us head to Brussels.Our first task was to hunt down Manneken Pis.Not that hard, follow the crowds of people.Manneken Pis is a 1 foot high statue of a little boy weeing and appeared to be the main tourist attraction in Brussels.Says a lot I think.After that Brussels was a bit of an anticlimax.We even wandered through the city and the main square and after that all that was left to do was hunt down the lesser known Jeanneken Pis (you can guess what that was)No luck.I'd say next time, but there won't' be a next time Brussels was a bit of an anticlimax to what was a fantastic weekend away.
Wuttisiri jimbo - Wilbur, In my experience there few thngis that can give you a singular focus and clarity of mind better that fear and pain. Not nagging fear or dull pain but that real in your face pucker factor fear and hot poker in the eye type of pain. Sounds like you have received both by the score as of late. Sorry for that! But for what it's worth I agree with Carol that your even more so yourself and it has provided a sharpness and richness to your posts that I don't think you are even aware of. It has transformed you into quite the Hemingway. Take that for what it's worth but it leaves me looking forward to you next post. Know that we are actually living vicariously through you as hard as that may seem to fathom. You have the rare gift of time (yeah I know probably too much for anyone's liking!), and the greater gift of the inclination to stop and smell the roses. We all want to make time to examine the world we live in in greater detail, to take it all in and roll it about in out brain pans for bit longer than we usually can afford to, but alas we are too caught up in our rodent races and the minutiae of our lives to stop and do so. So thanx for doing some of it for us, it really is providing a rare bit of escape from our grinds. Love ya man!