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This morning dawned clear and crisp, bright blue sky with
only a few wispy clouds around. We had
to be at St Pancras at around 8:30am and I had intended that we should walk
there but I was not sure of the route so we took a train and with a reduced service it meant we got there a
little late. However, we made the train
in time.
The trip on the train went quickly and before we knew it we were
in Lille. It was time to start using my
French.
I thought the Avis office was in the Parking Building and so
we took our bags and went in search of it.
I was getting a little worried after a few minutes of not finding
it. Then I saw a man and I told him that
“Je cherche pour le bureau de Avis” and
he replied “vous trouvez le bureau à niveau moins un”. So we took the
ascenseur to level -1 and again could not find it until another helpful man
pointed out that it was in the gare at the very end. It was easy to find. There were no helpful signs to show one where
the offices were.
The car that we were provided with is a Opel Astra 1.7 CDi,
diesel of course.
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| The B&B |
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| Late afternoon in Bruges |
It took a few minutes to get out of the parking
building. Once I had a bit of space I
rearranged myself and set up the Navman to get us to Bruges and the B&B
Walleke. I timidly followed the
instructions of Veronica to get out of the Lille and on the road to
Bruges. All was going well until
following the literal instructions of her to keep left I managed to drive on
the wrong side of the road much to the consternation of Bev and of some poor
man who saw me driving toward a car. I
managed to self correct and we were on our way.
The directions by Veronica were good and soon we were speeding along the
road to Bruges. The only hiccup being
that a bit of road had changed from what was in the database and I did not exit
the main road into Bruges when I should have.
However we were successfully rerouted and soon we were parking outside
Walleke which we discovered is very
distinctive (Andrew and Morwen will know that, and thanks for a wonderful place
to stay). Trees, the hostess, was very
nice and business like. More Dutch than
French (not surprising since she is Flemish).
Our room was two rooms and very nice they were.
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| The places where people live |
After doing the business of booking in we were ready to
wander. The day for travel and walking
was perfect given the time of year. The
sun was out, it was clear and calm but cold.
The medieval city is stunning, somewhat like Amsterdam on a small
scale. The belfry which (if you have
watched In Bruges) is stunning. The square which was empty apart from people for
the film was filled with little huts from where people sold their wares. There was also a skating rink.
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| One of the sights |
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| The evening Bruges |
We wandered slowly around the place following a path mapped
out by Trees. It is a place where the
sights make you want to take lots of photographs which we, of course, did. We found the place of a famous chocolatier,
had a late lunch and then after lots of wandering we returned to the B&B
for a bit of rest and a Belgian beer that we
had bought.
We then found a pub come restaurant at which to eat. I had moules frites and Bev had a Flemish
stew, a carbonnade de boeuf. The food
was OK but service was appalling with the wrong wine almost being served and no
water being provided despite asking.
The bed was very comfortable, but like it was in London they
have the rooms heated to 21 degrees and provide a duvet that is suitable for
arctic conditions. Needless to say by
halfway through the night the covers were being thrown off.
I was very tired by the end of the day and it was a relief
to shut my eyes and I immediately fell asleep.
Our intention was to get to Rouen the next day but that is the subject
of the next post.
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