Day 75 – back on land, London for a minute
- Debarking the ship was smooth and easy. We had picked a late option and without any luggage to claim, we were among the last off the ship (nearly dead last), but walked ahead of the rest of our group while they veered off to get giant luggage.
- The bus we wanted didn’t start running until 10am, and we didn’t want to wait an hour for it, so we grabbed a quick rideshare to the London-bound side of the train station (Kudos to that driver for confirming which side we needed! He saved us many stairs.) On the train to London, we passed Limehouse. An hour later, we were in London and switching to the Underground. We popped up in a familiar area (near the Gherkin), found a little cafe for a drinks break, and took the short walk to our hotel. We walked at a comfortable pace; we love Relaxed Travel. At every platform, we had stepped to the side to let everyone else rush off before we started walking. We avoided the crowds and the chaos and just enjoyed the walk.
- We weren’t able to check in at the Hotel California, so we stowed our bags and headed to a nearby pub for lunch. It’s funny that they let us leave.
- The pub was a nice place to hang out for a while, catch up a little on stuff we missed out on, and just rest. We thought about going to the canal boat museum, but it was half a mile away and our backpacks were pretty heavy with gear. Plus, the pub had a giant urn of ice water, so we were able to stay hydrated.
- Our hotel was wonky. You know it’s bad when they say, “Take the third staircase….” The hallways are crazy skinny and our only window was on the ceiling. It’s so weird that they deliver your luggage for you. We had to ask our guy how to open the window because of course there was no AirCon. At least it was a lot cooler this go ‘round.
- Rosa’s Thai was right around the corner. Sometimes you have to go with what you know.
- After dinner, we just went back to our hotel room. We rerouted some of our trip (again; they’ve all be pretty minor tweaks). Our wifi was awful and kept cutting out. It was even worse than the ship’s wifi. This was very very annoying. But it was only for one night.
- On the way back to hotel, we stopped for drinks and breakfast stuff and then spent the evening gaming/resting/YouTubing.
Day 76 – to Brussels
- After packing up, we headed to The Breakfast Club (no movie references at all 😭), wandered through the station a bit, found some drinks and eventually found some seats. Security at this one was more intense than others we’ve been to, probably because of the terrorism in 2005.
- While we waited, we saw a Cher lookalike. She had crazy long, dark hair and was wearing a skin tight “disco” outfit in black with silver bell bottoms and silver bell sleeves. She must have been headed to a hen party. We also saw some 50s “sock hop” ladies, so I guess they were doing the same thing. There were also several people dressed in green and orange, but not Miami stuff, just happened to be those colors. It was odd.
- I’m always shocked by people who seem to forget how numbers work. Like if you have seat number 40 and you are at 12-15, keep walking. How is this difficult? And for a pretty quiet train, we were surrounded by some pretty annoying people. Must. Remember. Good. Earbuds. (By the time I was ready to mute the noisy ones, we were nearly there.) At the train station, one jackass didn’t want to go all the way into the elevator. And tried to keep people from getting on. I’m glad we all pushed through (literally people who got on after us could see the gaping hole he left and pushed) that bullshit.
- Our hotel was super nice, but was somehow really far from food. So our first excursion was to the city center. We, of course, were headed to an Irish pub.
- We happened upon a beer festival. 🖤💛♥ – And it was a style I don’t like. 😭- But the brass band played the muppets theme song 💚🩷 and Sway. At the Irish pub, I had Fish & Chips, so I was happy with the whole evening. We even happened up a tiny fun parade. We (both!) were just stopping recording when they began to play The Beatles. Honestly, I didn’t even notice until a woman walked by us singing “We All Live in a Yellow Submarine.”
- Our night was mostly filled with me giving him the play-by-play of a Van Wives video while he gamed. (And if you need more entertainment, their YouTube channel is great. Right now, they are building a massive natural swimming pool. It’s incredibly interesting. It uses a giant version of bio balls to filter the water….just like Turtleor’s filter system had for his tank.)
Day 77 – Brussels in the rain, Banksy
- We slept in and had our DIY room service. Then, we researched the area more, caught up using their good Wifi, and lazed about some more. The rain just conjures slow.
- When the rain lightened up, we walked through the weekly “market” that was more flea and not at all farmers. It was full of cheap purses/shoes, ultra conservative (Muslim), fast-fashion clothing, and other “new junk”.
- After taking the train to city center “east”, we almost got hit by a bus gunning through a red light, and through a crosswalk. And the asshole had the nerve to honk at us. We saw the lights on both sides; he blew through his red light.
- The Banksy museum was amazing. Several of his pieces are ultra powerful works. It was also amazingly ironic since it had a gift shop.
- Grimbergen made a great lunch stop. Our server’s partner is from Steamboat, Colorado. We had a nice chat about the good things from both places.
- But to all European restaurants, I want to call a point of order: Why does scampi in Europe come with tomato sauce when the components are listed and tomato isn’t one of them? I just keep expecting it to be as described (which sounds so good) and then I’m disappointed. This was two; I won’t order it again.
- Since it was only a block away, we walked over to their main cathedral, St Katherine’s. It was alright. The dreary weather on emphasized how I feel. Oh look, another church, yawn.
- We then “hiked” uphill over to the iconic city plaza to find oh-look-another church and not the plaza the map said was there. I really hate Google maps, but all of our marks are saved in “the gaggle” and MapQuest doesn’t have transit directions. I’ve been saying for years, that Google needs to hire me to fix their maps. I’d add so much info and layers that you can toggle on/off. We then gave up on seeing the plaza. Pics weren’t going to be good since it was dreary, anyway.
- Beside our Metro entrance, we stopped at Brussels Grill for a drink and a sitting break. By then, the humidity had worn us down, so went back to the hotel to rest/game/YouTube. (Yay for real wifi again! I missed my shows.)
- For dinner, we walked to BarBQ, a Brasserie. I had a Battin Pils that was so smooth it was almost sweet. Yay for less hops. It’s from Luxembourg. I also had vol-au-vent, which I love. I know it’s really just a chicken pot pie, but the French version is so good. Mushrooms make a far better filler than peas/carrots/potatoes. Plus, that puff pastry is far superior to any American crust.
- Back at our hotel, we cashed in our two free drinks (for being repeat customers to this brand). Both were lovely beers I don’t remember the names of.
Day 78 – Gent
- After another good night’s rest, and our DIY room service breakfast, we headed out for a small adventure to Gent, a 30-minute train ride away.
- Coming down off the platform, we saw several areas of massive bike storage (thousands of them) in and at the train station. There was also a lot of construction. We suspect they are building more bicycle garages.
- Our bus arrived in time for the driver’s break, so the sign read “Pauze ☕” which was just too cute.
- After a bus ride into town, we walked to the Castle. We couldn’t take in his backpack and they don’t have any lockers, so we just looked at the outside. That was enough for me. The castle had a canal, but not a moat. And it didn’t even have a dragon unless they were hiding it in the dungeon. What lame-ass kind of castle is this? j.k. It’s a cool castle.
- We also walked their graffiti alley. It was cool and had some funny images.
- After more walking, we stopped at a cute little bar to have a lemon spritz and Pepsi. And then went across the way to have lunch at a chicken place. He had a super oily messy chicken and I had another vol-au-vent that tasted just as good as the previous one, but was a completely different presentation.
- We were ready to go back, so we did the “travel gauntlet” and: walked to one bus, rode it and transferred to another bus, and then transferred to a train to get back to Brussels.
- At the station, we were able to do our daily provisioning at the small grocery.
- After a small rest, we did some chores. While I did some laundry, he took my wine down to the bar and asked them to open it. They even gave us a glass.
