Busy Brugge

Our first trip to Brugge left us wanting more. So we went back on Tuesday. Which left me wanting out. If the city was busy with tourists on our last visit, this was ridiculous. Monday was a national holiday in Belgium, and I think all of Europe celebrated by coming to Brugge. And the Japanese came, too.

Not a square to spare

We got there around 11 am and I took the boys into the Historium exhibit while Moira went off on her own for a much needed break, mostly from me. First-class exhibit that told a story so well that it held my boys' interest for the 30-minute duration.

We met up an hour later and had our lunch in the Markt, the main square. After, she took the boys to a park while I did more exploring. She got lost, I went into an old building which cost me 6 euros to say, "yup, old building," and we met up again. Took a few photos, grabbed the boys a nice cream to cool down, then hopped the bus back to our car to drive back home. I'm sure it would be a nice place to visit in the spring, or if you were staying right in the city for a couple of days, but the mass of humanity was a bit of a turn-off this time around.



Eating ice cream in the alley as the sidewalk was too buy

 

 

Polish tourist

Birthday Boys

Monday was the boys' 7th birthday, so we treated them to a day at PlopsaLand. It's a nice theme park about 25 km from where we're staying. I'm assuming the place is based on TV or literary characters here in Belgium, but didn't really care enough to find out.

Having taken the boys to Disneyland last year, I was a bit skeptical about the place. It cost me 70 euros, or about $100 to get in - and that was with the boys getting in free for their birthday. Quite expensive, but we packed some food to keep the overall cost down.

It was clean, there were plenty of quality rides, mostly rollercoasters, and while Moi and the boys were doing the scariest ride, I enjoyed a beer and some fries - very civilized. One ride was a Viking ship water gun battle, and the park had a giant dryer we used to dry off after. So far, it has been the boys' favourite day here in Belgium and they say they liked the park better than Disneyland.

In the dryer following our water gun Viking ship battle

 

The day before, on Sunday, we stayed closer to home. In the morning, we went grocery shopping. No grocery stores open in the evenings here, or on Sunday afternoons. In the afternoon, we went to the medieval fishing village of Walraversijde, partially recreated after an archeological dig, followed by a trip to the beach.

Buildings recreated on original footprints with bricks unearthed from the site

 

 

On a beautiful Belgian beach near Middlekerke

Queue U2 - they still haven't found what they're looking for

Saturday Travels

Saturday was another cooker. 29 degrees and really humid. Which meant it would be a nice warm evening to attend the Last Post ceremony at the Menin Gate in Eiper. More on that in a bit.

In the morning, I went to do a bit of shopping. The tap water here is fine to drink but it tastes quite a bit different than ours and the kids don't like it. And yesterday was so hot we went through all our bottled, so I went to restock. Of course, not knowing Dutch, I ended up with 12 big 1.5-litre bottles of fizzy mineral water, not flat. Which we are now leaving for our exchange family as I can't imagine trying to do a return with the language difference.

We set out early afternoon, stopping first in Diksmuide to see the Dodengang,  or 'trench of death,' the only preserved section of First World War Belgian trenches.

 

Then, we hit the road again. We remembered seeing a pub/restaurant with a playground on our last trip on this road, so we decided to stop for frites, a waffle and a beer.

We reached Eiper (Ypres) around 4. We walked about for a bit until a restaurant opened so we could treat the boys to a pizza dinner before the ceremony at Menin Gate. The ceremony is at 8 every night. Traffic through the gate is stopped as crowds gather to pay respects to those soldiers who fought and died on the Ypres Salient and who have no known grave.

 

 

The list of Canadians is staggering. I got my spot at the gate at 7 while the boys and Moira played in the shade at the park. Between then and 8, so many people filled the gate that they couldn't join me in the front for the ceremony.

 

Short service but very moving and worth the wait. Stood next to people from Vancouver and Sussex as we paid our respects to the 54,000+ Commonwealth lads who, through the circumstances of war, weren't afforded the honour of a proper burial.

Beach Day

Friday was the hottest day so far. So it was the perfect day to go to the beach. And there's about 60+ km of coastline here, so it was pretty easy to find. Parking, however, was not. Seems everyone had the same idea as us. We did eventually find a spot close to beach access just north of De Haan, about 25 km from where we are staying. And the beach was fabulous. Complete with lifeguards both on their towers and in boats offshore. Sharing a few pictures from our beach day.

 

Friday evening, we were invited to the neighbours for drinks. They have a pool, too, so the boys had a great time cooling down with a splash while we cooled down with some drinks. Gunther treated us to a few of his favourite Belgian beers and we enjoyed some great conversation.

 

Sean with Mopsie, the neighbour's guinea pig

Chimay, a 9% Trappist Ale. Yummy.

The night was warm - still 28 degrees well past 10, and the evening wrapped up with a spectacular sunset.

Footnote: If you look at the house in the background in the last picture, you will see solar panels. They are everywhere here. 300-year-old barns have solar panels. And there are many wind farms scattered about the countryside, as well. Wind turbines line the highways. And yet - you can't recycle a plastic yogurt container.

In Brugge

Well, the weather has dramatically improved and now we're complaining of the heat instead of the cold. As I type this, at 6:30 p.m. on Friday, it's 34 degrees at the house We're about to head to the neighbours for drinks while the boys have a swim. 

Thursday, we did the 30-minute drive to Brugge  (pronounced BROO-geh in Flemish and r-r-roll the 'r').

We'd heard it was beautiful, but it surpassed any expectation. Truly a spectacular city. Because we're so close, we're going to make another trip or two, so Thursday was more of a recon mission. We decided to start with a tour of the city by boat.

Buildings lining Brugge's famous Markt

A postcard view around every corner

 

We followed the canal tour with a patio beverage while the kids played their Nintendo DS games.

After a cold drink, we split up. Moi took the boys to a chocolate factory while I went on a tour of the Half Moon Brewery. Moi claims her tour was sweltering but being inside a brewery on the hottest day of the year sure worked up a thirst. Good tour, but it could have been 20 minutes instead of 45. Hardly had time to throw back the complimentary beer before rushing back to meet the family. It was a fun day and we look forward to exploring Brugge further next week.

Eric in front of the Stadhuis

Humbled

We got up reasonably early on Wednesday for the 90-minute drive to northern France. This was the day we were visiting the Canadian memorial at Vimy Ridge. Roads were a little busier on this trip, particularly around Lille, but the GPS got us there okay.

We arrived about 10:30 and were told that the next available guided tour of the trenches and tunnels was 2 p.m. In French. They could not fit us in earlier. Seems busloads of British school kids take precedence over Canadians. At least it does to Parks Canada. We took the 2 p.m. tickets, then did a self-guided tour of the trenches, listening in on another tour. We were told to check back at noon in case the 12 p.m. tour cancelled, so we went up the hill to view the monument. Stunning.

 

We hitched a ride on a golf cart with a Parks Canada guide named Renée from Peterborough. She took us around to the front of the monument, saving us about a 15-minute walk. She also took the time to shoo a British tour group off the lawn, which seemed rather silly and oh-so-Government of Canada-like.

We were able to get a few pictures at the monument before the Brits swept in, all pimply and not giving a rats' ass about the significance of the monument or who else was there out of genuine interest and respect.

Back down the hill we went, on a road lined with maple trees, passing alongside a landscaped still pockmarked with the ravages of that battle 97 years ago. We ate our packed lunch while Moi went to check the status of the noon tour. Seems it got stuck in traffic so we scored tickets to the noon tunnel tour - in English, fittingly with some English folks and a couple from Ottawa.

Again, as we were about to enter the tunnels, more Parks Canada silliness, asking some school kids to stop playing ball. Sure, the ball could by chance go under the wire and a teenager could by chance chase it and by chance suddenly go boom by stepping on a long-lost shell, but c'mon - I think the boys who died there 97 years ago would appreciate our generation of kids having some fun.

After the tour, we stopped by two Canadian cemeteries in the park. I was surprised at the ages of the fallen. Sure, a couple 19 and 20-somethings, but a lot of the graves I saw were men in their late 20's and early 30's. Thought they'd be younger, for some reason.

Looking back up that now-peaceful hill, it's hard to imagine the noise, the chaos and the carnage on that Easter Monday morning 97 years ago as 100,000 Canadians went over the top. God bless them all. 

Sunday and Monday Adventures

As I type this, it is Tuesday afternoon. Time to get caught up. Sunday, we planned to visit Brugge, but as we arrived, the weather decided not to co-operate. It's only about 30 minutes away by car, but instead of coming back here, we decided to visit a marine-themed tourist attraction. Very expensive to get in, but really, there wasn't anything else to do in the rain. After a pretty good show featuring six dolphins, we entered BoboLand - an indoor amusement park for kids. We were trapped there for about three hours. Fortunately, the concession sold the booze.

Bumpers at BoboLand

Cheesier than it looks

Sunday evening, the weather finally improved so we went to the seaside town of Oostende, about 15 minutes away, for their evening market. It was our first chance to check out the beach, too - pretty spectacular.

Checking out the beach at Oostende

In line for fresh apple donuts

Eric liked the donut but not the apple

Monday, we traveled 40 minutes to the Belgian town of Eiper, or 'Ypres' in French. Beautiful village completely rebuilt after being destroyed in the First World War. The amazing "In Flanders Fields" museum is in the old cloth hall. I wish I had more time to go through it, but alas, kids. The rebuilt cloth hall speaks to how important this town once was - it is massive. We, meaning Moi and the boys, did the 261 steps to the bell tower for a great view of the city. I did about 200 steps and chickened out.

Side of cloth hall - it's four times as long!

Random Eiper street

That day, we also visited the grave of my great-uncle Louis Chambers, killed in 1916. We were shown his grave by the cemetery's groundskeeper, a nice lad from Leistershire in England. He's been at "his" cemetery, Railway Dugouts Burial Ground, for four years and keeps it pristine. Says he does it for "the boys." And on the way back,we stopped at the place where the poem "In Flanders Fields" was penned, now Essex Farm Cemetery. Seems on each road in and out of Eiper, there's a cemetery.

Putting flags on Louis' grave

We will remember them

The lane to the Lt. Col. John McCrae memorial

The cemetery, once a field hospital, where the famous poem was penned