Day Trippers

(Trip log part 5)

   We had returned to Brakel as a convenient layover towards returning the car to Lille. It was a fairly short drive, and we didn’t have to be back until the evening, so we decided to spend the day in Brussels. However, we didn’t really want to contend with the parking and traffic getting out of the city, so the plan was to take the local train from Geraardsbergen.

   Brussels hosts the headquarters of the European Union, and coming through Zuid (south station), the bustle of business is obvious as you view the high-speed trains that connect to other countries. City planners have been criticized for tearing down some historical buildings to make way for modern structures, and when you first walk out of Central Station, the strange blend of architectural eras is quite evident.

   Sue and I visited the older section (14th century) of town and the Grand Place, which contained – surprise, surprise – a large open square with a tall bell tower and guild halls!

   One strange landmark of Brussels is the Mannekin Pis, translated “Little man pee”, which one would think was some colossal statue, by the way every store has postcards, t-shirts, posters and pretty much anything you can imagine to sell with its likeness. It ended up being somewhat of a disappointment to see the two-foot-tall statue, which the town dresses in little costumes – apparently now over the 900 mark in number! There are many legends about the statue’s origin, and I’ll leave it to you to investigate, if interested.

   We headed uphill to the Royal Palace (photo above) and strolled through the wooded grounds of the Parq de Bruxelles. We continued in the same direction along the Rue Royale towards the Cultural Center and had a picnic lunch in the Jardin Botanique (below).

   Our walk to the Nord station ended up being out through an interesting Turkish market, then we looped back through one of the seedier parts of town, which included scantily dressed women in shop windows “displaying their wares”, as my wife so effectively describes the scene.

   The stay in Lille that night was just a stopover for the early morning train ride, as we were heading to Bruges for a few days. The short walk from hotel room to train station, another quick transfer to bus, then a brief stroll from bus stop to our next accommodations got this segment off to a great start, even if there was a bit of light rain moving in.

   We met Sabine and her husband at their building, and they showed us the beautiful guest room, which included a fantastic rooftop view with the famous bell tower:

   Sabine had also left us a sample of artisan chocolate made at a shop belonging to one of her friends. I would guess this was an effective partnership, as this was the best chocolate I have ever tasted – I’m sure many of Sabine’s guests made their way to the shop for more! Sue and I thought the three-portion package was strategic, since sharing the remaining piece was going to be difficult.

   We received another treat the first evening of our stay, as Saint Savior’s Cathedral was having a free soprano and organ performance. Most of the program featured both performers with selections by expected composers such as Bach, Puccini and Saint-Saens that sounded wonderful in the church’s cavernous space, but there was one catawampus (again, Sue’s excellent word) modern solo arrangement that left the audience stunned, probably in shock. Thankfully the program returned to something more appropriate to wind things down, and helped remind the audience of the overall quality of the concert, despite that one blip.

   Bruges really had the feel of Venice, with its own version of St. Mark’s Square and canals everywhere. The biggest differences were the significantly cooler climate, more northern style of architecture and cobbled roads with traffic.

   We rented the upright, utility-style bikes or fiets (pronounced “feets”) to do a nice amount of riding in/around the city. Bruges has a relatively small amount of car traffic, and that is probably due to the frustration of moving through the obstacle course of pedestrians, particularly in the main arteries of shops radiating from the market square. Avoiding these areas when on a bike was also a good idea!

   The old city is surrounded by a moat-like circular canal with a few windmills around the perimeter and a gatehouse/drawbridge at every exit point. Damme was a pleasant destination towards the northeast on a three-mile ride along the Damse Vaart (canal). There was a small pocket of residences, some interesting church ruins with a pretty courtyard, but really not too much else. We crossed the canal and looped back to explore the northern parts of Bruges.

Heading back to Bruges along the Damse Vaart

   We were a bit sad having to leave Bruges and decided to spend the day in Ghent on the way to our next stop in Antwerp. Our first impression of the city was that it was Bruges x10 in size, with the proportionately increased crowds and a discouragingly ragged appearance around the edges. In addition, because of the music festival going on, the pielen (plazas) were filthy with trash, and nasty port-o-pissers (men-only versions with less privacy/screening) were everywhere.

   There were a few wonderful architectural sites, including St. Bavo's Cathedral, home of Jan van Eyck's famous Ghent Altarpiece. We knew that there was a choral event going on there early in the afternoon, so we did the rest of our walking tour first and had some lunch, including our trip's fourth order of pomme frites. Mmmmm...

Ghent's train station

One of the few vistas that weren't blocked by a stage

Someone was watching us eat our frites!

   The large audience from the choral performance was exiting the cathedral when we returned, and we squeezed in to take a look around. Yes, the art and architecture was astounding, but the truly unforgettable moment occurred afterward.

   We had a couple of hours before our train, and as the workers were moving around chairs and setting up music stands, we sat about halfway back in the rows of seats that had been set up for the previous performance. Through some event posters and some overheard English conversation, we learned that a high school string orchestra from Saratoga, CA, was going to be practicing for a concert there later in the evening, and we decided to hang around for a while. The funny thing was, as more rows of chairs were rearranged for the band and the grand piano that was eventually rolled in, Sue and I ended up being in the front row! I suppose most folks thought we even belonged there, along with the American chaperones and small group of parents who had made the trip to proudly witness their children play.

   A wonderful moment occurred after the first warmup piece, which ended in a long-sustained note. You could begin to see smiles appear on the faces of the violinists, cellists, etc. as they were receiving auditory feedback from the cathedral space's perfect acoustics. When the note finally softened, the kids let out a collective "Whoa!" that brought a good laugh from the growing crowd of onlookers.

   Well this was no ordinary high school band - they were astounding! We picked out a couple familiar compositions, including pieces by Rachmaninov and Mendelssohn. I always find string music emotionally stirring, but there was no doubt Copeland's "Hoedown" was the highlight and probably would be during the evening performance. Most of the folks that had simply wandered in to tour the cathedral had stopped to listen, and the small group eventually swelled into an audience of a few hundred. There was a well-deserved eruption of applause when the session was over.

   Because we were so close to the conductor, I leaned over to say thank you and tell him how lucky were to have stumbled upon their mini concert during our little side trip. He was a very nice gentleman, asked where we were from and if we would be able to make it to the complete program later. I explained that we had to meet up with our apartment owner in Antwerp, and he seemed genuinely disappointed, but thanked us for watching and for taking the time to say hello!

On to Antwerp...