Day 25-27 Leaving Belgium for France

Our last day with Anne and family was very special. We toured Brussels in the morning, gathered our TGV tickets for Nantes and had a delicious supper spiced with splendid conversation.
Some pictures of the beautiful city of Brussels.

 

There are just a few spectacular differences travelling on European trains compared to VIA rail in Canada. They leave on time, arrive on time and don’t wait for freight trains. However they do not have lovely bunk beds, dining cars with linen table clothes, silver service and delicious meals and hours and hours of sitting at a crossing with nothing to do but chat with other travelers or read a book.

The TGV at a slightly faster speed than VIA rail.

 

Our train arrived in Nantes (Western France) without incident and poured us onto the platform. Armed with explicit instructions from our apartment rental host we made our way to 19 Rue des Carmes, about 1.5 km away. We arrived with instructions to use an access code to enter the building.  Much to our wondering eyes should appear but a properly marked door with no keypad to let us in.

You try entering 74852A on this keypad.

Somewhat confounded we sought help by calling a phone number given to us in case of emergency.  The rapid fire French language spewing out of the IPhone speaker was not one bit helpful.  We resorted to plan B and accosted a women coming out of the building from the very door we were supposed to enter.  After numerous attempts to charade our way to an understanding she called Lucy, her English speaking daughter, to come from the apartment above and help us.  Lucy was born under the star labeled “Angel of Helpfulness” and she proceeded to extricate us from our dilemma.  We found an apartment and entered using the key code given to us via email.  Immediately it became obvious that this domicile was intended for another couple as a welcome message was on the board for them, a bottle of wine was waiting and it did not look at all like the pictures of the place we had rented.

Lucy, once again came to our rescue and was able to telephone Patricia, the property manger, who soon was groveling for forgiveness with apology after apology for mixing up the address.  It turns out we were supposed to be given the address 9 rue de l'hôtel de ville with the identical access codes.  Pondering upon this series of events later we were grateful that none of this occurred at 10:00 in the evening.

Today was a bit rainy so we donned out rain gear and headed out for bike rental, exploration and food provisioning.  We found a superb market with all the goods one could desire and loaded up with food for the next few days.

Day 24 Bike ride around Belgium

Fortune smiled on us again today as Anne arranged bicycles and a 50 km. route for us to experience cycling to a local castle through a tangle of trails that tested the acuity of any GPS unit.

Our route is outlined in red.

Cathy waiting for the cycling to start.

It was intriguing to see the European concept of public trails in private spaces truly in action. Every few kilometers Anne would lead us through what appeared to be a farmer’s field with crop on each side and a public right of way through the middle. It was a delightful way to experience local locomotion for non-vehicular traffic.

A right-of-way trail between two houses, leading to a farmer's field.

Barley getting ready for one of the 400 types of Belgium Beer.

It was quite wonderful traveling along this paved road with fields of barley, wheat and beets so close to the road.

Here is a short video of this area. Click here.
 
Our first stop was a castle with all the trimmings of turrets, beautiful gardens and grounds and even a moat.

The vagaries of Belgium road signs can be challenging to learn.  Here are some we mastered.

Straight forward---speed limit sign.

 

This one means:"watch out for crazy cyclists taking pictures."

OK to ride a horse straight up.

If you have consumed more than 5 tonnes of Belgium Chocolates do not ride on this road.

Avoid more than 5 tonnes at a time.

Day 22-23

Yesterday was a train and plane day. Our friend Anne picked us up at the Brussels airport and brought us to her home in Dworp, a small village about 20 km. from Brussels. It was so delightful to see her again and meet her family. Seeing a country through the eyes of locals adds many layers of appreciation. We settled in and then went for a long walk to explore the neighborhood, had a delicious supper and stimulating conversation, then off to bed.

Anne's house from the back.

 The country around Dworp.

 Perhaps the warmest day of our trip so far greeted us with a brilliant sun, rain free skies and no wind. Cathy had arranged to spend the day in Leuven with a third cousin, Scott who lives in Belgium. We had a most interesting day as tourists with Scott acting as a tour guide par excellence. His knowledge of local history was exceptional and his gift of time and interest in showing us the ancient sights of Leuven was really appreciated.

Third cousin "Scott" and Cathy

 Leuven is home to a world class university started in the 1400's so full of students and university buildings. This statue was a tongue in cheek nod to the notion of where knowledge comes from.  Is it the book or the beer that pours knowledge into your head?

Churches are everywhere and generate awe and wonder at the skill and patience of the craftsmen from centuries ago.

Scott pointing out various carvings.

The detail in the stone carvings is truly awe inspiring.

This bronze statue represented the women who looked after students leaving home and learning about life. I could not resist a picture of two house mothers sharing a bench. 

Scott knew about access to viewing decks and libraries and other venues that we would never have discovered on our own. It was a treat to see everything from his perspective.

We ended the tour with the luxury of a Liège Waffle, one of the treats of Belgium. 

Dary 21..Last day in Copenhagen

My view out of our Air B&B bedroom confirmed cloudy skies with drizzle.

 Upon closer examination of the scene I noticed a Wood Pigeon was puffing up it’s feathers and preening. Just in case it was cold as well as wet I checked the temperature for the day and sure enough it was a cool 7-10 degree C. We figured if feathers were good enough for a pigeon we would follow suit so donned our ‘feathers’ and rain gear and headed out.

 

Our exploration the neighborhood yielded a bumper crop of people encounters.  While walking past a community park we noticed 2 to 5 year old children tearing around on scooter bikes with parents chatting to each other. 

 

  Click here for a video.

 (This will open a new window so go back to the first window for the blog.)

 

The whole park was fenced in and fitted out with a plethora of features for kids to practice balance and learn how to stay inside defined lines. We had a delightfully informative chat with the father of one of the two year olds.

He and his wife have three boys, a number of bikes and no car. Copenhagen is completely designed for such a family with safe infrastructure, a density of population and lots of stores and services easily attainable on bike.

As we were chatting a coffee truck pulled into the park opened up the back and was ready for business.  I gleaned enough information from the owner to start the wheels rolling in my head for a retirement project in Saskatoon!!

 Leaving the park we noticed people snuggled up in blankets chatting and drinking coffee in the cool and damp.

 

We then picked up our bikes from the B&B and head out to explore Ørestad, a newer area of Copenhagen about 10 km. away. It was billed on our map as: ‘Nature and water blend perfectly with award-winning architecture designed by Danish architect Bjarke Ingles”. It seemed an odd mix of this very modern, massive hotel, buildings with high tech company logos and new apartments being build. It certainly did not have the elements of community that exist in the older part of Copenhagen.

 

We found Lucas Cycle where we had rented our bikes, locked them up and popped the key into the slot and walked home to a glass of wine and some cheese. Tomorrow we fly to Brussels for a visit with our friend Anne Vandenbroeke.

Day 20 - Exploring Copenhagen

Today’s traveling prescription included the elixir of exploring a new city on bike and foot.  Our first destination was across from the famous Tivoli Gardens where we met a ‘Red Badge’ guide for an informative 2.5 hour tour of the oldest part of Copenhagen.

 

The intended tour route was constantly thwarted due to the running of the Copenhagen Marathon. The guide said about 20,000 people take part so it was impossible to cross some of the streets she intended. Her ability to improvise a new equally interesting route was impressive.

 

One interesting stop featured the weather forecasting center where a kinetic sculpture atop the building moved according to the weather.  When fair weather was forecast a golden girl on a golden bicycle rolled out and when rain was predicted a golden girl with a golden umbrella swung into view.

 

The tour included some iconic views of Copenhagen canals and the buildings watching over them.

After the tour Cathy and I embarked on an exploration to generate an authentic feeling of what cycling in paradise entails.  So much could be said about how cars, people, bikes and buildings can co-exist in creative ways where everyone has a place and all elements feel safe.  I will leave that discussion to the next time you encounter Cathy, who by her own admission will be ‘even more of a raving lunatic than she was before this trip.’

A smiling cycle track disciple.