Traveling in January---post 1

Canal and buildings in Ghent

The reason we rose at 4:30AM on day seven was to drive to Dover to catch the 8AM ferry to take us to Dunkirk, France. I learned that you are supposed to arrive an hour before departure to get through the various check points. It was about an hour drive from London to Dover. It was a two hour ferry ride. There weren't many passengers and many of the passengers were quiet or sleeping. I suppose they had celebrated the previous evening and the 8AM ferry departure was too early! We docked at Dunkirk, France which perhaps at another time, would have been an interesting place to have explored.

Lunch--Flemish stew, chips, beer cheese soup and beer

Once we arrived, we drove about an hour to Ghent, Brussels where we checked into a cute air B&B located above a doctor's office! After we off loaded our luggage, we drove 15 minutes to the park and ride and hopped on the free shuttle to town. The weather was cold with a breeze; but, we walked around town and saw the sites. It is an old town built around canals. There are many beautiful buildings and picturesque scenes involving the canals. Because it was New Year's Day, most of the businesses were closed; but, that also meant that the streets were less crowded.

For dinner, we tried some local fare. Bob and Nicole had the beef stew which was beef in a dark gravy.  The waiter told us that three beers were used to prepare the dish. They said it was good. I had the waterzooi which is a Belgium stew that is made with fish or chicken. It was more like chicken soup but, it filled my hungry belly!

Beer and chocolates were the items for sale in this store

Ordering waffles

On day eight, we drove from Ghent to Bruges. It was a bit warmer (three degrees). I wore an extra layer so I was more comfortable walking about the city. We parked in an underground lot in the center of the city. We walked to the marketplace and explored all the streets that radiated from the marketplace.

Skyline view from the city square in Bruges

Bruges is famous for its beer. I was shocked to learn that there are 1600 varieties of beer brewed in Belgium. The alcohol content varies from five percent to more than 14 percent. There are fruit beers, ales, lagers, stouts and more! There are also many shops that sell beer. We went to a couple of shops that had 560 beers for sale and we went to a couple of breweries too!

Bruges bicycle shop

Manneken Pis statue

Bob and I sipped a beer for lunch at De Halve Mann. Nicole had leek soup and charcuterie. Bob ordered beer cheese and ham soup. I ordered beef stew. This beef stew was better than the beef stew that we ordered in Ghent. We saved room for a coffee--N saved room for a hot chocolate. The food was great!

Cover of the menu

Holiday decoration on a Brussels sidewalk

Mural depicting comic strip characters

We sampled chocolate from Chocolatier Mary. Mary Delluc was the first woman to move chocolate from an ingredient to cover up the bitter taste of medicine to making it a luxury item. She opened her store in 1919. It was fun to look at the chocolates and pick some to take home. We also picked one to fuel us forward on our walk!

I was amazed to learn that there are 2000 chocolatiers in Belgium.  Belgium is about the size of the state of Maryland so it is a small country to be making all that beer and chocolate!

Belgium is known for their chips (fries) which are crisp and delicious, and their waffles which are sweet and fluffy. Belgium is also known for a number of classic comic strips. In many shops we visited, we saw items relating to the comic books for sale. I knew that "The Smurfs" were created in Belgium; but, I didn't know about the other cartoons.

Nicole and I paused at a waffle vendor. We watched the vendor make the waffles. The batter looked like my batter. We shared a plain waffle. It was delicious! We were both glad that we had the plain waffle as it was plenty of tender crust and sweet flavor! I don't know what all was in it because my waffles at home don't taste like that!

Bruges is also an old city with canals. I couldn't resist taking a photo of the bicycle shop. We enjoyed the building architecture, Christmas markets in addition to the waffles, chips, chocolate, and beer.

Bob's lunch at the CowFish

What surprised me was that it wasn't light until after 8AM and it was dark by 4:30PM.

Day nine found us traveling about an hour to Brussels. Brussels is a modern city with some old architecture. It was a rainy day so we didn't see the spectacular views; but, we still had a nice walk.

We walked to the Manneken Pis statue. This little boy peeing into the fountain has been in place since about 1618. The statue we photographed is a replica circa 1965. The original is in the Brussels museum.

I thought that the statue was built to honor the tanning industry because children's urine (sans hormones) was collected and used in the leather industry. Wikipedia gives other versions and doesn't list that one! There is also a statue of a little girl peeing which we didn't see. At any rate, the sense of humor the statue invokes was not lost on me!

Formal garden setting in Brussels

From there we met Leon, a previous co-worker of daughter, Nicole. He was so interesting! He was quick to add a humorous comment into conversations. He provided thoughtful answers on a variety of subjects. Nicole always spoke highly of him and he spoke highly of her! He lives about an hour away and drove in to the city on his day off to visit with us and guide us to the various places in the city.

Imagining the view on a clear day; but, capturing the view with rain

We met at a chocolate shop named Debailleul. We ordered an array of dark chocolate which was delicious. It was a French chocolate shop and I could read most of the menu items! (Daily Duolingo lessons are beginning to pay off!) I thought that their menu cover was unique! I had a coffee; but, some in our party had hot chocolate. The waiter brought milk to thin the chocolate and when I saw the chocolate I understood. . .the chocolate was thick!!

We had lunch at the Cowfish restaurant. It is named because there are beef and fish entrees on the menu. I had a tuna burger which was delicious! As we walked we would see beautifully painted murals on buildings. Leon said that these were depicting many of the characters in the various comic strips that had originated in Belgium.

Most of all I enjoyed the tour. Thanks, Leon for spending your day off with us! While we were walking, I managed to slip, fall and scrape my knee. The first point of contact was my knee hitting the cobblestones. The second point of contact was my backside colliding with the cobblestones. I remember as I was falling that I was concerned I was going to mess up my neck!

After the initial pain subsided, I was able to stand up under my own power. I stood for a bit to see how my body felt. I remember mentally doing a head to toe check. Once I decided I was okay, I took a few steps. My knee worked and so I finished our walk. I also managed to keep the knee of my pants intact too! I laughed at myself as to what I was so concerned about . . .the knee of my new pants!!! Silly me!