I can’t believe it… my last day in the Netherlands.

I’ve been here for 6 days and it seems like a lifetime.   Honestly, I feel like I’m coming home every time I walk up to my hostel in Haarlem at the end of the day.

Well, all good things must come to an end.

I’ll miss you Netherlands, but Belgium awaits…

A long train ride

It was another day of setting the alarm and waking up on my own early.   Guess the jet lag isn’t gonna hit me.   Very strange.

My next stop was Bruges in Belgium which is 4 hours away by train.

I had booked this train ticket a month or so ago.   The train ride is actually 5 rail tickets put together which meant I had 4 transfers between trains.

That’s alot of walking between platforms and alot of lugging my bag again.

It was a long journey.

I did have time to finish up yesterday’s blog while on the train so that was a bonus.   However, the minute we crossed over the Belgium border, my Vodafone sim card I bought in the Netherlands stopped working which meant I stopped working.

I was under the understanding that the sim card was good for all of Europe so this was a surprise to me.   I figured I would just pop by a Vodafone store in Bruges when I arrived and see what’s up.

Turns out, as I found out later, Vodafone isn’t a thing in Belgium.   It would be like if I asked where the AT&T or Verizon store was in Canada.

Anyway, obviously yesterday’s blog did finally come out and it’s not the end of the world if I don’t have data on my phone as there’s still free wifi at the hostels.

Anyway, let’s get back on track (see what I did there?).   Where was I?   Ah yes, the train ride.

Okay, well, I needed breakfast.   I had stupidly not planned ahead and bought/made a sandwich the night before to take with me on the train.

It’s not as easy to grab breakfast on the go anymore ever since I became celiac 3 years ago.   I can’t just pop in a mini-mart, café, or even McDonalds to grab a sandwich to go.

Anyway, this was definitely a lesson learned and I won’t let it happen again.

I ended up just grabbing a pack of salami and ate that with a bag of chips on the train.

How far have I come from eating fancy 4 course meals to eating coldcuts from a bag.

Ah, the backpack life.   You never know what adventure awaits you…

Hello Bruges!

At noon I had arrived in Bruges and was hopping a bus to my hostel.

The plan today was to checkin, relax for a bit, go on a walking tour at 2pm, and then find some dinner.

I hung out in the huge hostel lobby on a nice comfy couch finishing up yesterday’s blog (thanks for nothing Vodafone) and before I knew it, it was time to head into town to start the walking tour.

The town of Bruges is beautiful.   It definitely has a medieval feel to it with amazing architecture and cobble stoned streets and while tourism is their number one industry, it’s not overrun by it (at least in May, anyway).

Walking tour tidbits

You know if I have a separate section about the walking tour, it was a good one.

Our guide Miko was funny and had a great way of talking to the group.

Here’s cool little tidbits I learned along the way…

There is a Belgium phrase to describe the people – “who’s not strong, has to be clever”.   It refers to the fact that they’ve never had a big army to defend themselves so they had to use their intellect to defeat their enemies.

Such as when the Romans were marching their 8000 troops into the city ages ago.   They were dramatically outnumbered so they swamped all the land making it so the horses and their riders were stuck in the mud.   A few thousand decapitations later and victory was theirs.

Also found out that winding staircases up a tower are so narrow and go clockwise to be better able to defend against invaders.

Narrow to ensure only one knight could approach at once and clockwise so that their sword in their right hand couldn’t attack while defenders coming down the stairs could.

Oh, yeah, but what about left handed attackers you may ask?   Well, back then, being left handed was a sign of witchcraft and we all know what they did with witches back then.

We also visited the old St John’s Hospital, one of the first.

Originally hospitals weren’t what they are nowadays.   Instead, they were just a place for weary travelers to lie their head for the night.   The innkeeper would look after you and send you on your way.

They were literally the original hostel and also where the word hospitality originates from.

Finally, I learned about the origins of IPA or Indian Pale Ale beer.

The use of hops in beer is to ferment it so it didn’t spoil or make you sick like drinking water did back then.   Yeah, beer was much safer to drink than water.

Anyway, when the British soldiers were in India they wanted a taste of their beloved ales from back home.   Problem was that by the time the beer made its’ long voyage overseas it had spoiled.   They were not deterred though as they figured out if you put triple the amount of hops in it that it would be just fine when it arrived to them in India.

Hence, that’s why Indian Pale Ale is very hoppy.

Beer lesson complete.

An early night

After the tour I went back to the hostel to finally checkin after storing my back there for the afternoon.   I entered my four bed dorm and, to my delight, not a soul in site.

What?   Did I have the whole room to myself again after a long travel day?

Turns out, no.   But it so was exciting for a few hours…

Anyway, after settling in, I headed straight out to grab some much needed dinner.   I needed fuel for my system as I was slowly fading throughout the day.

I walked back into town and went from menu board to menu board looking for something to catch my eye.

I ended up having a mixed grill dinner which is basically 5 different kinds of grilled meats (pork, chicken, sausage, lamb, and steak) and a glass of wine for 35€ ($52).   It reminded me of the mixed grilled meals I had while I was in Slovenia.

At 7pm I returned to my room finding a roommate.   Oh well, the dream was nice while it lasted.   Turns out he’s from Vancouver too.   Crazy!

Soon after a girl from Boston checked in and, then, as we all settled into bed, a fourth person skulked in to join us.

Since we all had to get up early in the morning, all 3 of us just hung out in the room for a bit before we turned out the lights and went to bed at 9:30pm.

Early night but it’s also an early morning tomorrow.

My tour bus into Flanders Field picks me up just before 9am so I have to get up, get packed, check out and most importantly GET BREAKFAST before I go.

Tomorrow should be an easy day.   No decisions to be made with people just pointing me in the direction to go.

Until then…