Apologies to those of you waiting for the next thrilling installment of the European epic but events overtook me and I never got around to writing it! I fully intended to finish it, but wise people whose opinions I value said things like, “You can’t write about that, you idiot: that was months ago!”
Slightly peeved by the realisation that they were right, I decided instead to put finger to keyboard about my latest big adventure – a long weekend in Bruges!!
Many of you who have watched the film In Bruges will know that the town is so full of excitement that young people, who are not yet sufficiently immune to these things, have to avoid the place. Being not quite as young as these people, however, I was confident I could cope and when Helen expressed a desire to experience the thrills of a journey on the Eurostar, I pointed out that Bruges would be the perfect end point for such an excursion.
On the evening of Friday 18th February, we packed our best going-away outfits and went to bed early as we had to be on the road by 0820 the next morning.
At 0813 on Saturday 19th February, I rolled over in bed and looked at the curiously silent alarm clock. Having stared at it for around a minute, knowing that something wasn’t quite right, I suddenly remembered that we needed to be up at 0700. I woke Helen and, after a moment of drop-jawed panic, we swung into action. In a 10 minute burst we were ready and out of the door (slightly smelly having not had chance to wash, clean teeth etc). In the car, Helen explained that she’d forgotten that, this week, Saturday fell on a weekend and that her alarm was only set to go off on weekdays.
We ended up making Huntingdon railway station with 10 minutes to spare and easily caught the train to King’s Cross (with a chance to sneak in a quick polystyrene coffee for good measure). We made our way over to St Pancras International and were quickly through the check-in – with the added delight of a quick search, having set off the scanner with my belt buckle.
A trip on the Eurostar is quite an experience. The carriages are smart and the ride is incredibly smooth compared to most trains and, as we sped through the countryside of Kent, France and Belgium, Helen and I relaxed and got ourselves into holiday mode after our rather hasty start to the adventure.
The Eurostar terminated in Brussels (not my favourite city for various reasons) and we caught a local train to Bruges where, after a very short taxi ride, we arrived at The Hotel Aragon and checked in. Our room turned out to be very comfortable, and Helen got extremely excited by the discovery of L’Occitane toiletries in the bathroom!
That evening we took a quick walk round the town to get a feel for the place (and possibly to have a first sip of the fabled Belgian beers we’d heard so much about). Walking into the main square, Markt, was like walking onto the set of the film for me and I was quickly in Helen’s bad books by incessantly quoting lines. We managed a couple of beers (when I say ‘we’, I actually mean ‘I’ as Helen doesn’t drink beer) in the Youth Hostel bar and then made our way to a little bar the guide book recommended. I walked up to the bar and loudly asked whether they sold wine (the guide book said lots about beer but didn’t mention wine). The whole room fell about laughing as the barman kindly reminded me that the name of the establishment was ‘Vino Vino‘. Drinks were quaffed, Tapas was eaten and fun was had by all.
The next day we ate the world’s largest buffet breakfast (“We may as well eat as much as we can as it’s included in the price!” said Helen (or was it me?)) and launched ourselves upon the unsuspecting town.
An enjoyable day was passed amongst the historic buildings and canals, although we were slightly disappointed that the best sounding museum, The Groeninge, was closed for refurbishment. The highlight of the day (for me) was undoubtedly an accidental visit to The Konigin Astrid Park after getting lost. This park featured prominently in the film and, as part of my vow not to spend the whole weekend re-enacting the main scenes, I’d said we needn’t visit it. It was though, as I said, an accident and Helen took it in good part, joining in with a scary exploration of the famous alcoves.
Another highlight of the day was a fantastic afternoon break sipping really rather good Chablis in a bar, sheltering from the slightly arctic weather.
That evening, we dined splendidly at the Assiette Blanche, and drank in the hotel bar before collapsing tired but happy in our room.
The first thrill of Monday (after eating too much for breakfast again, of course) was a visit to the lace museum. It was only around 1 Euro entrance fee and was nearly worth every cent. I always find small, damp rooms with a few doyleys in glass cases are well worth a look and Helen and I thoroughly enjoyed the 90 seconds we spent there.
The tower was a favourite of mine with its 366 steps and fantastic views. I felt a little let down by the total absence of obese Americans having heart attacks but was able to close my eyes and conjure up a vivid image of Harry and Ken running down the stairs!
By evening, breakfast was still with us and, with the help of the odd bottle of Belgium’s finest, we managed to forget dinner altogether (about the most healthy happening of the whole weekend!). Unfortunately, realising we’d missed a meal, we were so upset we had to try a few more bottles of beer to enable us to get to sleep (which wasn’t, perhaps, quite so healthy).
Tuesday morning was spent cramming in the last few sights and pretending to shop for presents, before catching the train back to Brussels. Once there, we found the railway station was in a part of town with absolutely no attractions and had itself but one or two very iffy cafes. We spent a rather cold and uncomfortable two hours loitering around the station, only to find that the Eurostar had been delayed by a mystery technical problem and that we would have the chance to really perfect our loitering (that’s why I hate Brussels: something always goes wrong there).
Once the train finally set off though, the rest of the journey went without a hitch and we made it back to Helen’s in time to enjoy a nightcap and a few more lines from the film before turning in.
