Sleeping on the airport floor in order to save a bit of money by not renting a bed at a hostel sounds like a great idea. The execution of said idea is a bit more complicated when you factor in bright lights all night long, cold tile floors, and chilly breezes wafting in through the automatic sliding doors every time someone walks past them, all complimented by the announcement over the loudspeaker every half hour telling everyone what they already know… “Do not leave your baggage unattended. Do not accept anything from a stranger…” So, after about 4 solid hours of sleep at the airport after I finally fell asleep, curled in a ball with my coat draped over my head to make myself think it was both dark and warm, the Baeza crowd and I got on our flight from Madrid to Charlevoix, Belgium where we caught a train north to the famous (or infamous) city of Amsterdam.
In Amsterdam we discovered that it is not a place where using a bathroom is a right, but rather it is a privilege you must pay for, and even then you are not allowed to brush your teeth at the sink. Oh no, the sink is only for washing your hands. A horrible discovery when one has been traveling for over 24 hours and desperately needs to clean the grunge off one’s teeth. After that we stashed our backpacks in lockers at the train station and headed out into the city where bikes rule the roadways and there are canals on every block. Amsterdam is an amazingly picturesque city full of great architecture and cute little shops. After wandering around for a bit we made our way to the Anne Frank Museum, housed in the flat where the Frank family hid for years during World War II before they were discovered. I can’t even describe how powerful it was to walk through the empty rooms imagining living there in secrecy day after day, afraid that someone would find them. Walking through the quiet rooms, up the creaking stairs really made Anne Frank’s diary come alive. People spoke in whispers, in testament to the struggle and terror the place had witnessed, out of respect for the people who had lived out their last days within its walls.
Afterward, we found a little restaurant where we had dinner, walked to the Van Gogh Museum and discovered that it was more expensive than we expected and decided to bypass it. So instead we went to a café where we coincidentally met some Andalucians on vacation like us. We then walked through the Red Light District of Amsterdam, an area guaranteed to embarrass you if you pay any attention to the advertisements or the windows where girls pose provocatively in skimpy clothing. And yet again, we didn’t rent a bed at a hostel so we spent the night moving from pub to pub, to McDonalds, to Burger King, buying a beverage here and a sandwich there in order to secure a table so we could sit in out of the cold and drizzle. When the train station opened at 5 a.m. we actually found a couch to sit on in the waiting room there and sat in an exhausted stupor for a few hours, drifting into sleep only to be awakened by station employees who were under the impression that we thought the train station was a hotel. We were well aware of the fact that it wasn’t, but I’m sorry, when you’re running on 4 or so hours of sleep in 48 hours, you sleep when you stop moving. And we’d stopped moving.
So we caught the train back to Belgium, to Ellen’s (my apartment mate) house in Kortemark, a small sleepy little town where we finally crashed and slept for a solid 7 hours. It was heavenly. That night we traveled to Ghent, the town where Ellen went to university, where we met up with some of her friends and got to experience the nightlife of a university town.
The next day we piled into a car and drove to Bruges, about 45 minutes away. We walked around for a bit. Then we made our way to a local brewery where we took an hour tour of the old brewery, a very informative tour made more enjoyable by the guide who had a wickedly dry sense of humor that caught you a bit off guard if you weren’t expecting it. At the end of the tour we got a complimentary pale ale, which we enjoyed in the pub there. Then we decided to take a riverboat tour of the city, through the canals throughout Bruges. It was really neat to see the city and its buildings from the water and to listen to the guide talk about the city. Justi and I decided we were going to live in Bruges someday. Then we drove back to Kortemark where we had another delicious meal (Ellen’s parents were wonderful hosts who introduced us to great varieties of scrumptious Belgian food), watched a bit of TV, relaxed, and went to sleep.
Our last and final day in Belgium, we took the train to Brussels, a 2 hour trip made longer by the fact that we accidentally got into the bicycle car where there weren’t many seats and thus had to stand for most of the trip there. We visited St. Michael’s Cathedral where you could go down into the basement area and look at ruins under the church. Then we stopped by a famous statue/fountain called Manneken Pis. There are many different legends about its origins but essentially it is a statue of a small boy peeing. If you are interested in the legends take a look atit on Wikipedia. They’re actually pretty funny. The boy has several hundred different costumes that he wears throughout the year. Hunger drove us to find anywhere to eat and we got lucky because we found a cute little sandwich shop which reminded me a bit of Subway, but with gourmet ingredients and having to order in French. The next stop was the European Union Parliament where we got to tour the parliament building for free with an audio commentary. It was really neat to see such an important building and to hear about what goes on there. Then we hopped on the metro and took it to the outskirts of town where we walked to the Atomium, a huge sculpture of an iron crystal which was created for the Brussel’s World Fair in 1958. Then it was back to Kortemark for dinner and sleep before we got up early and began a solid 14 hours of travel back to Baeza.
The long weekend was absolutely fantastic although I spent last week recovering from all the travel and catching up on sleep a bit. More pictures are soon to come. Oh, also, my dad’s birthday was two days ago! So Happy Birthday Dad! Hope you and mom are having fun in Australia with Steve!
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