Day 2 in Belgium. After I had 4 slices of toast covered with nutella chocolate, cornflakes, a hot chocolate, a slice of cheese and orange juice (the hostel routine), I headed for the central station to buy my ticket to Bruges, the so-called world heritage city.
The ticket was not too expensive, being 13,80 for a round trip. The lady at the counter told me it was 25 if it was a weekday. Guess I was lucky.
When I arrived in Bruges, I was finally able to understand what the guide book meant by "Bruges is a museum, just without a roof". Each building was like an anarchist obedient to the common dress code -
it's all different, but it matches, somehow.
If you come to Bruges, you don't need a color wheel to find which color matches with which.
It's all there. It might actually be just as helpful, if not more, than an university art text book.
Also known as the "Venice of the North", the city is a "Water City" with canals linking various parts of the city. As I am on a budget trip, I had to give up on the boat tours around the city, but it was worth the time just to stop and look at the boats gliding through the waters.
To be honest, the feeling was like taking a stroll in Disney Land. When I entered the Markt (also known as the Market Square), I was welcomed by an organ playing a Christmas tune, and some other ones I'm not too familiar with. It's an experience you can't miss.
After a good walk around the city, I dropped in at a cafe, and grabbed myself a Jupiler beer, and a stick with meat... I can't recall what the name was, but it was similar to a shish-kebab.
I was only hoping to read through a Haruki Murakami novel that I purchased in London, but it turns out that the waitress was a hopeless old lady sick of her job.
She started nagging at me (indirectly.. as I can't really understand French - "je ne comprends pas!") just for switching seats closer to the window so I got upset and just left.
Since my stomach lacked the satisfaction it needed, I dropped by at Carrefour (a supermarket chain that originated in France) to buy a baguette and dip. It was the way to go when you live the life of a backpacker. I sat on the stairs in the station and filled up my hollow and lonely stomach.
What I realized was that even though London sells the same kind of deal.. the bread dips I mean, it was nowhere as good as the ones sold in other European countries. If you go outside the UK, don't buy sandwiches, buy a bread and dip!
After heading back to Brussels, I walked around to find a cheap room that was equivalent or less than the one I stayed at last night, but wasn't fortunate enough to find any that would meet my needs.
My solution was simple -
forget the bed, go to the pub.I went to Celtica again, and drank the following:
-Orval
-Duvel
-Chimay-Bleu
-Tourtel (non alcoholic beer which I would not buy, if I had known in the first place!)
-Maes
-Blanches de Bruges
The beers at Celtica are probably the cheapest in the city, as each bottle is 2 euros during the Happy Hour, which lasts from noon to midnight. Maes and Blanche de Bruges on the other hand are only one euro... crazy.
After tasting all these beers, I came to the conclusion that Leffe is my favorite Belgian beer(this, I had in London...). Jupiler also matched my taste buds quite well and I also discovered that I like Abbey-type beer too.
After staying in the pub until 4 am in the morning, I walked around the sleeping city. I don't know why I didn't think of this earlier but March is still not a good time to sleep on a bench as the air is still freezing cold... I went to the station and slept on the bench for a while until the security told me, nicely, to get out.
With nowhere to go and nothing to eat but a pack of Belgian waffles I bought at Carrefour, I was walking aimlessly for a few hours until I saw a policeman
and a girl
lying
dead (if not sleeping)
in the
middle of the road.
I heard a cry screaming something like "help" and there were several other police cars racing to the scene, but I was in no mood to watch and stare at someone's misfortune.
It's not like there's anything I can do anyway, and most of all, I wasn't really in the mood to go to the police station to have my passport reviewed.
The night was long, and the day to follow was long as well. I stayed at a Paris-style cafe for the morning to read through "Blind Willow, Sleeping Woman", and then I went to several grocery stores to buy my breakfast and lunch. My nap time was at McDonalds, and the remaining time before my coach back to London was at the bench in the central station, drinking
Gordon Finest Gold Beer. 10% alcohol for beer was quite amazing, and it was certainly a good way to end the day and to look at my last sunset in Brussels.
It was 5am on Tuesday, when I was back in London. After a quick shower, I started work again from 9:30am like I usually would, and found myself to be not so tired as I had thought to be, despite the sleepless days in Belgium (which was kind of unavoidable).
It wasn't until
two days later my body started aching like there was no tomorrow. They say it's a sign of aging when you start to feel the pain two days after harsh activity, so yes, I guess I can't really pull off another one of these crazy travels for a while.
UNTIL I GO TO ITALY!
