Month: September 2019

On Monday we took the train from Ghent to Brugge, or Bruge or Bruges. Multiple spellings for cities seem to be common in Belgium as there are three languages in governmental affairs French, Flemish and Walloon. To our good fortune almost everyone also speaks at least passable English. As does our group.

Brugge historically was a very sucessful trading port that through canals had access to the deep blue sea. It must have been a sight to see square riggers at her docks far inland. Being active traders was very profitable and the City was apparently fairly prosperous. Unfortunately the good burghers of Brugge neglected to dredge the canals and docks and the accumulated silt cut off access to the ocean for large vessels. It is the 1500’s and you are looking for a new gig. What do you do? The Bruggers filled the swamps and moved their port to the coast where it is still a major European harbor. The old city is still crisscrossed with canals similar to Venice. Bruges expanded trading and established a major textiles industry which exists today in the form of hundreds of shops selling lace and tapestries which supposedly are still made locally. When we saw the tapestry throw pillow of Elvis on the white stallion I started to doubt the veracity of the previous assertion. Good thing I have not entered the throw pillow stage of life.

Bruges principal product today is tourism. Tourism and waffles. And chocolate. You cannot swing a cat there without hitting a waffle merchant selling lace and tapestry dog pillows. For some reason the Wehrmacht managed to miss Brugge in 1915 and again on their reunion tour in 1940. As the result it is a very well preserved medieval wonderland. Everywhere you go you are serenaded by the sounds of roller bags on cobblestones. It is a sound like chainsaws cutting logs. Constantly. If Disney had added “Medieval Land” to the park right next to Tomorrowland it would look like Brugge. Mickey would look great in chain mail and Minnie would not show signs of smallpox or the plague.

We did manage the trifecta of weird in Bruges. Three art exhibits in one day. Picasso’s collected works on paper, Dali’s multi-medium weirdness and Mummies. The Mummies were the most stable of that bunch. Part of our group went off to climb a tall tower with little uneven steps and packs of fourth graders on school trips. The sensible one went to the Cafe in the square and drank beer.

The last few days have been an education in the intricacies of European trains, European blogging access and email access. Hopefully those are worked out now. If so my somewhat irregular posting will resume.

Ghent is by far our favorite City on this trip. Also the first. Ghent is a former maritime and trading powerhouse from the 16th century that has changed with the times and remains compelling. It helps that it was an absolutely spectacular weather day. We visited the preeminent cultural and archaeological sites in town. About two hours, but what an action packed two hours. The Cathedral dedicated to St. Bavo (or something close to that) is an artistic and architectural marvel. The side altar dating from long before the start of this blog was stunning. An arch of intricately carved wood topped with marble, ivory and gold, difficult to convey it’s beauty without the photographs that are prohibited. The most compelling element was the gold leaf encrusted serpent coiled sinuously through the sculpture with an apple in it’s mouth. Incredible visual, cannot put my finger on the underlying theme. Remarkable stained glass and soaring vaulted arches over the spectacular pulpit and choir nave. By far our favorite Cathedral on this trip (so far). The altarpiece is a world renowned work by the Dutch/Flemish master Jan Van Eyck. Not many Eycky things are quite so lovely. The local robber baron/noble’s castle is called the “Count’s Castle”. Currently the spiritual heirs of the Count sell tickets for a cheesy ten euro audio tour as a way to remind innocent tourists of the rapacious ways of unconstrained tyrants.

Long day coming to a close in Ghent Belgium. Our nearly on-time KLM flight opened the doors at Schipol Airport Gate F8 in Amsterdam just before nine am.

A leisurely sprint to passport control was brought to a dead stop by the non-EU passport line. After a momentary discussion of whether we would be having lunch in the passport line it really started to move. Turns out that the immigration officers were stamping passports faster than the proverbial random monkeys typing “War and Peace”. Out of passport control and onto the train platform on time for a 9:36 departure on the train to Antwerp.

We disembarked in Antwerp and rather than taking the next local to Ghent we stopped for a Croque Monsieur and a Czech Pilsner. Nothing says Belgium like a beer from an Iron Curtain Country. The sandwich and frites were so compelling I briefly entertained the notion of doing a giant European comparo test of melted cheese and ham sandwiches. It probably won’t sell a lot of advertising.

The Antwerp train station is a marvel of engineering and construction. We initially made the stop to check out the station. Well worth it. Imagine a layer cake of Victorian railings and glass conservatory walls and roof. Each level below is like a new layer in the cake of construction techniques and functionality. With really good sandwiches. I will note that we did not see Tom Shain anywhere in Antwerp.

We hopped on the 12:35 to the next change station and disembarked in Ghent at about 2pm. Tired but unwilling to give in to jet lag we did a quick pit stop and headed out to see the City.

So our flight is at 1:55 pm tomorrow. Out of an abundance of caution our airport driver showed up tonight about 6:45. So far we have fed him, plied him with wine and remarked on how handsome he is. After all he could be someone’s grandfather. Not that he would remember.

His name is Scot I think.

We are still sorting our who we are and what pseudonyms best represent our new vagabond selves.