BELGIUM
MONDAY, 6 MAY 2013
ON THE MOVE
We slept in this morning, ate breakfast, and schlepped our luggage to the train station for our trip to Brugge, Belgium. Eurail info said we would have to make a reservation (which involves an additional fee from to our Eurail pass), but when we inquired at the ticket office we were told if we made an extra train change we could avoid the reservation and fee. The plan was to go from Haarlem to Amsterdam to Roosendaal to Antwerp to Brugge. Everything went fine with the first two legs--then came Antwerp. It has a huge multi level station, and by the time we figured out which track our train to Brugge was on and went up two levels to get to it, we arrived just in time to see it pulling out. Back down to information--next train to Brugge would leave in an hour. So we sat and enjoyed the beauty of the Antwerp station.
After about half an hour Jim decided to consult with a conductor about our train. He told Jim it had been cancelled due to "...an incident on the track," and said we needed to go to Brussels to catch a train to Brugge! Off to Brussels! Once there we inquired as to the next train to Brugge--"In 6 minutes!" Off we ran to the track where there was a train getting ready to leave..."Is this the train we should get on? Yes, no, yes, no" We weren't sure because all the signs are in Dutch, we didn't see "Brugge" but maybe they spell it differently. Jim said yes, I said no. We waited until we heard the conductor blow the whistle, then I ran to him and asked--NO! The train left, ours pulled in, and off we went. Five and a half hours after leaving Haarlem we finally arrived! Our hotel is right next to the train station, so after checking in, we set off to see Brugge in the evening.
 |
| favorite chocolate shop |
 |
| Belgium lace |
 |
| Waffles! |
 |
| See the swan? |
No comments:
Post a Comment