Birthday in Bruges

To pick up where I left off... Sunday night I went to sleep in my room. (All packed and ready to go, OJ soundly sleeping on the floor.) Waiting excitedly to be 22 and go to Belgium for the day.

Then I woke up at 4 am (on my birthday, I know, gross). Got dressed, OJ crawled into my bed and I packed up my sleeping bag and headed out the door. I went to the bus station to catch my bus to the train station. (I was up so early I watched the construction crews leaving the tube station before it opened that morning.) My train was scheduled to depart London Bridge at 5:38. It was now 4:52, and there was not a bus. So I hailed a taxi, which thankfully was not as expensive as I thought it would be.

I got there in plenty of time to get to the train. I got on and was ready to fall asleep but it was freezing cold. So I did what any sensible person would do, instead of suffering like the other guys on the train, (yeah, I saw you over there shivering and trying to hide it) I got out my sleeping bag, wiggled into and fell asleep. Of course setting my alarm so I could change trains, which was very easy, and I met Robin, Nicky and Mike at the Canterbury station.

SIDETRACK: "Nicky? Mike? Robin? What is going on?" I just see the quizzical brows trying to piece things together. Robin, as I have said before is my good friend from high school who just happens to be studying in Canterbury. (We only figured this out two weeks before we were headed to the UK because we totally rock at communication) But Robin was very excited about coming to England all summer long. And this summer she was working at Camp Richardson, at the Ice Cream Parlor, in Lake Tahoe. And who, may you ask, happened to come to that exact ice cream shop? Nicky and Mike, that's who. Nicky and Mike are recent (and joyful!) retirees who are enjoying visiting family in the US and traveling, but are from England. They are current reveling in the not going to work any longer. They made instant friends with Robin (mind this is all hearsay, because I was not actually present for this serendipitous meeting) when she asked where they were from, and upon discovering that their home was a scant 10 miles from Canterbury they exchanged information, and have been acting as surrogate grandparents to Robin while she is here. They invited her to come to Bruges for the day with a friend, and Robin invited me for Monday which happened to be on my birthday, (and one of the days I have classes, but who wants to go to class on their birthday? No one.) So the chance meeting in the US led to a friendship far later on. It's amazing how these things work, isn't it?

So Nicky, Mike and Robin picked me up at the Canterbury station at 7:30am in their car and we drove south to Folkstone to catch the Chunnel to France. The way this works is that you drive your car directly on to the train. Robin and I were fascinated. Nicky and Mike were amused by our fascination, but were in fact not fascinated themselves because they used to go on it everyday for work. Thinking about going into a 22 mile long tunnel... in a car... that is on a train... under the ocean... to a different country... is kind of mind blowing. I still can't wrap my head around being on a train and thinking, "Oh! There are fishes above me!" No. It's amazing.

Then we arrive in Calais, drove right off the train (following many signs that told us to drive on the right side of the road) and went to a shopping mall close by. We actually only ended up getting cash and some croissants and coffee before hitting the road towards Bruges. Nicky however, had planned ahead and brought a candle and a birthday card. We sang 'Happy Birthday' over coffee and croissants. :)

Then back in the car for the surprisingly short drive to Bruges. (Living in the US you have a totally different perspective on space and distance. Figuring it out, it is shorter to go from Canterbury to Bruges, through three countries, than it is to go from Lake Tahoe to San Francisco.) There are no border controls between France and Belgium, Robin did manage to catch the sign that told us we were in a new country though. So instead of heading to Bruges we were headed to Brugge. (French vs. Flemish...)

After a minor detour we found our way to a car park and all unloaded. We walked towards the city centre, the newer buildings and roads quickly giving way to cobbled streets and pavements (sidewalks) and old brick and stone buildings. The whole area was picturesque. There were a few scattered droplets of rain, so to ward them off I put out my umbrella. I looked ridiculous, no one else was taking any kind of precaution, but I figured it was like that kind of thing where if you have all your rain gear it won't rain at all and if you have nothing at all it will dump buckets. So even though I looked ridiculous, it stopped raining and the sun was nice and bright. I win.

We then came to the city square where we picked up a horse and carriage ride around the old city to get our bearings. Mike decided that he didn't want come along (he also doesn't like having pictures taken... to which both Robin and Nicky being snap-happy are the bane of his existence), but we had fun driving by all the buildings, seeing the old architecture, and smelling the amazing smells coming out of the chocolate, pastry and waffle shops as we whisked by.

We stopped at the halfway point to rest the horse, and we took pictures by one of the many canals. Bruges definitely lives up to its reputation as the Venice of the North. With the sun shining and all the leaves changing colors, a slight breeze in the air, it was just fabulous.

Then we came back to the square after the half hour ride. Now normally I would be able to tell you a lot about the city, it's history, fun little facts and everything, because I am always that person in the tour that ends up right next to the tour guide asking questions. But on this day, I was so enamored with the way the city looked, it's quaintness and history, and just the day in general, I didn't actually retain very much information at all. And you know what? I am perfectly OK with that.

We met Mike and decided that we were famished. After Robin and Nicky balanced the pros and cons of several of the restaurants while Mike and I just sat back and watched them, we sat down in a lovely little place. Well outside under the heater. And got some belgian beer (yes, it is all they say it is) and ordered.

I think was laughing and giggling most of the way through the meal. I couldn't tell you what we were talking about, but I did have a couple 'food-almost-coming-out-of-my-mouth-due-to-a-fit-of-unexpected-laughter' moments. Mike had to leave for a bit in the middle of the meal to put more money on the car, but it gave me plenty of time to finish my 'Bruges-style' mussels (I got impatient waiting for her to take a picture) and watch Robin eat her giant kebab.

We decided that instead of getting dessert at the restaurant we would just buy some chocolates or some other little sweeties in one of the many shops. We stopped into the oldest church in the area, very beautiful and actually felt peaceful as opposed to domineering like many other cathedrals, and walked through some more streets, walked over some canals, and looked at a lot of lace before actually accomplishing this chocolate mission.

I love chocolate. And that might be an understatement about how I feel about it. So being in Belgium, with Belgian chocolate I had to restrain myself from going chocolate crazy. But they were so good. I would honestly go back just for the chocolate. We also got some gourmet cookies and some 'prezzies' from Mike and Nicky; a Bruges guidebook and some houses, I took the Beer one, and she took the Chocolate one. So cute!

The meter was going to run out on the car so we hightailed it (and by hightailed I mean that Mike basically had to drag us down the pavement to get back) back to the car and headed back towards Calais and home. I watched the sun go down over the countryside before going to sleep. We got back on the train through the Chunnel, then back through Kent to Robin's house where they dropped us off with fond farewells.

I can't thank Nicky and Mike enough for taking us with them on this trip. It was a way of experiencing travel that I would have had no other opportunity to do while I was here. I don't think I would have gotten to Belgium without them. And to experience it with such fun, loving people on my birthday was such a pleasure. Thank you for lunch and prezzies and a very memorable 22nd birthday Nicky and Mike!

As if all of that was not enough for one day, Robin's friend Katie was also turning 22 that night (Yeah, us Katie's are cool) and her friend Dario was also turning 22 the next day. So everyone in her flat and the surrounding ones were going out to party that night. So we refueled and got ourselves ready to go out on the town.

We pre-partied with some cake and drinks in her kitchen before we all headed out to a club. There we danced the night away, trying to avoid the awkward guys on the sidelines and the disgusting smell that kept coming back. But the DJ was awesome. Awesome. And we had a blast dancing and just being silly.

As the night kept on going, I could feel myself fading. I needed to go home and go to bed. So most everyone was ready to go, and instead of cabbing it home they decided to walk, and I didn't want to pay for a taxi by myself... I think there were several miscommunications at this point, but we ended up walking all the way back up the hill to Robin's place. I became very cranky. I had been up for about 23 hours, I think it was my right at that point. So I was very quiet all the way back, just plodding along. I don't think I have ever been so happy to get in my sleeping bag, nor fallen asleep quite as quickly.
The next morning we got up leisurely and Robin headed to class and I went to the train station to go back to London. On the train ride home I realized that it was the halfway point. (Robin had been saying this the whole time, as she is counting down the days, but it really hit me on the way back from Canterbury) Staring out the window looking at the countryside in the dappled sunlight I reflected on how amazing this experience has been this far and how privleged I am to be doing this. I am so lucky.

It was a fantastic Birthday in Belgium. And I am appreciating every minute as it comes...