WHERE IN THE WORLD ARE D2? PT 12: IN BRUGES

originally posted May 21/11
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WHERE IN THE WORLD ARE D2? PT 12: IN BRUGES

another long email, friends...

BRUGES: JOS' ALLERGY HELLTOWN

Bruges is a lovely city, however it is Jos' allergy helltown. They
specialize in beer and chocolate (many with nuts) and Jos is allergic
to them. Cherries are all over the place and that ragweed is
everywhere!!

Poor Jos! In the morning, she wasn't feeling too well. Patrick's
breakfast was a wonderful spread, yet again. Jos could barely eat. She
ate a few things and then politely excused herself from the table we
shared with the French guests. I was worried about her. Jos doesn't
usually give up on a good meal like that. I hurried eating and went to
check on her. She was back in bed with the lights off, sleeping. I
took a few things and left the room. I sat outside doing stuff for a
while to give her some time to relax before we checked out.

FROM BRUGGEMAN TO TINE'S GUESTHOUSE

Patrick is so kind. He offered to drive us to Tine's Guesthouse. Tine
had offered to pick us up at the stn and Patrick had initially offered
to drop us off there, but then said he'd drive us there himself. He's
so nice. Jos was still feeling ill and he picked up on it too. Patrick
dropped us off and then quickly left. We are very thankful to him and
Magda for their great hospitality and will have to write a review for
them on tripadvisor!

JOS STAYS IN

Tine showed us around and was very friendly and welcoming. Jos told me
she'd stay at the B&B for bit and try to sleep off the sickness. In
the meantime, I asked Tine if she could translate the name of the
medicine I should buy for Jos. Instead, she gave me over the counter
medicine to give to Jos. Gave it to her and said I would come back
around 1pm to check on her. I navigated my way back downtown.

TINTIN TINS

I went to Neuhaus and contemplated buying the TINTIN tin boxes of
chocolate. The lady told me that if I bought three, I would also get
one of the TINTIN books free b/c TINTIN's 100 year anniversary was
coming up. She only had 1 english copy left. I checked my pockets and
saw that I didn't have enough. I left thinking I would have to go
back. On the way back to the B&B, I picked up a toy for the cats.

SPEGEL OS GETS WORSE

Jos came out with me and I told her to go ahead to the other chocolate
store nearby while I withdrew money. I met her at the store and she
had purchased these marzipan grapes dipped in chocolate which was
their specialty. I wanted to buy them too but on a smaller scale. I
ended up buying the marzipan filling dipped in chocolate and it was
divine. After we left the shop, Jos took a few steps and then had to
lean on something. She immediately asked me if I could get her some
water. I hurried to the store next door and got her some water. She
drank a bit and then told me she should go back to the B&B. I took her
back and then asked her what she wanted me to get for her. She was
going to try to sleep it off again. I was worried about her, but she
was determined to have me go out. I finally agreed to go for a few
hours but come back as soon as possible.

YOU KNOW THAT FEELING?

You know that feeling where you're excited, but you're a bit scared?
Think of a bird who knows how to take off into flight, but doesn't
know how to land. Now....think of me on a bike. That's what biking
here is like for me. The seats are too high!! That, or I was made too
vertically challenged! Once I'm on the bike, I'm fine. Its just the
mounting and dismounted part that gives me the trouble. When I went to
look for the bikes, I was like Goldilocks and the Three Bears...kind
of, sort of, not really. I looked at one bike and knew immediately
that it wouldn't work out. I looked at the second bike and I tried it
out. I couldn't even get on the seat and almost toppled. Then I tried
the bike that was supposed to have the lowest seat.

You see, two ppl just returned their bikes to the B&B before leaving.
Tine, the owner of the B&B even adjusted the seat to the lowest. I
tried to get onto it and almost fell. The three of them looked at me
skeptically. The guy says to me, "it's easy....as easy as riding a
bike...hahahaa" Tine asked me if I was going to be okay. You know
Dizons...stubborn and full of pride...I said I'd be okay, then
promptly just avoided falling backward down someone's driveway. She
asked again if I'd be okay and I gave her a hopeful smile. As soon as
she went inside, I put the bike on the street and used the sidewalk to
get on...then I missed the pedal and wiped out on the sidewalk.
Luckily, no one saw me...

I was determined not to lose face, so I reasoned with myself. As long
as I could find a ledge to hold onto, or sidewalk ledge to help get on
the bike or put my foot on, I should be ok. I had a list of things to
do: pick up the chocolate that I had wanted to buy yesterday, buy Jos'
chocolate, hit the Chocolate Museum, take the canal tour and get back
to North Face to pick up a duffel for us to use as our extra luggage.
It was already 2:30pm when I left and the stores closed at 6pm. If I
wanted to get everything done, I'd have to bike to the city centre. I
also know my limits. If I was already unsteady on the bike, there's no
way I could carry the shopping, so I emptied my knapsack and took it
with me. I am fine biking at home, as long as I can at least tippy toe
when I stop the bike. It was exhilarating while I was biking, riding
the bike on the wide road. It was when the street got more narrow, the
cars and trucks closer, the sidewalks more densely packed with people
that I started to worry. At one point I had to bike so slowly in order
to avoid running over an old lady or being hit by a car. I made the
call to bike to the main street, lock the bike and go around by foot.
No sense in me crashing into who knows what... I locked the bike up
and took Cpics of the location, so I'd remember where it was and
rushed to do the errands.

Biking here is the most popular type of transportation it seems...I
would have regretted not biking, so I'm glad I did it even though it
made me so nervous!!

CHOCOLATES....DONE DONE AND DONE

One last stop at the Chocolate Line on behalf of Jos. The chocolatier
was there again and he gave me three commemorative chocolates for
free. What a nice guy! It helps that Jos spent a buttload there
kekeke.

The TINTIN boxes were calling out to me. I knew I'd regret it if I
didn't buy it. Go big or go home, should be go big and go home broke.
Oh well! I am happy with the chocolates and tins.

CHOCOLATE MUSEUM

In short, it was nice and very informative. I especially liked the
free chocolate in the beginning and at the end of the demonstration. I
literally took pics of everything for Jos and myself b/c I didn't have
time to roam around. I had to do everything before 6pm.

CANAL TOUR

The canal tour wasn't as bad as I had expected. It looked kind of
cheesy and there were parts of the canal that didn't look so great. I
later found out those parts were not on the tour! A bit of history
learned was that the houses with lots of windows meant rich people.
There was tax on every window a house had. People used to use carrier
pigeons and some of the houses have pigeon windows. Some houses are
painted with a combination of ingredients, including cow's blood for
the reddish colour. I'll add the rest of the history onto the picture
notes when I upload them~

RACE TO NORTH FACE

The race to North Face started with a race to find where I parked the
bike. LOL. Luckily I found it fairly quickly. I used a stair to get on
the bicycle on the sidewalk and pedaled my way to North Face. It was
already close to 6:15pm and it should technically be closed! WHew. I
made it in time before they closed. Yay! New luggage for us.

JOS and the supermarket

She didn't wake up until I came back. She was really sick. I went out
to get the food at the supermarket. Got bread, cheese to try out,
smoked turkey for Jos and some random snacks. Picked up fries and
headed back. Jos ate a bit and then retreated back to the bed. I made
sure she drank lots of water. Poor Jos...

I'l tell you the swan story in the next email..this one is epic long...

-Sam & Jos ^___^

WHERE IN THE WORLD ARE D2? PT 11: IN BRUGES

originally posted May 21/11
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WHERE IN THE WORLD ARE D2? PT 11: IN BRUGES

BREAKFEAST

Well, I already sent you an email about that...'nuff said!! So yummy,
can't wait til tomorrow!

PLANS ALWAYS CHANGE

Jos and I were actually planning to go hot air ballooning here. We
talked to Patrick about it and his expression kind of changed. He told
us that fairly recently there had been a ballooning accident and 1 or
2 people died. That made us think things over. Between that plan and
going to good ol' Flanders Fields, we decided to think about it one
more day. There's still tomorrow...

FOOD & WINE TOUR

We went for a food & wine tour...at the supermarket!! HAH! Patrick had
to do some shopping and we were curious...so when he offered to take
us there, we jumped at the chance. The place he took us too had wine,
fruit, yogourt and other products that customers could try. We
literally had a food and wine tour there. I kept thinking that people
can have their breakfast at the supermarket...they could get drunk at
the supermarket! We bought A LOT of chocolate...no joke!

THE ROAD TO CHOCOLATE IS PAVED WITH...TAKE A GUESS?

If you said chocolate, DING DING DING! I know...it doesn't make
sense...just like the amount of chocolate we bought doesn't make
sense...LOL. Jos and I both dropped more than 100 euros on chocolate.
I kid you not. It becomes an addiction...every other window is of
chocolate...90+ chocolate shops...

Think about it. If you spent 5 euros in 20 shops, you'd hit the 100
euro mark. Its not even hard. The thing is, we went to almost every
shop and we dropped the biggest amount of money in one shop...THE
CHOCOLATE LINE. Yes, friends, this infamous store sells the wackiest
kind of chocolates and somehow pulls it off. The Chocolatier serving
us secretly gave us two free chocolates to taste - bacon and the other
was sun dried tomato with basil and peppers, i think. They weren't as
bad as I expected, in fact...

On top of that, we each ate a small box of chocolates worth of free
chocolate given to us by various Chocolatiers. They don't really sell
single pieces of chocolate, they do it by weight and box sizes. So
apart from the Chocolate Line, we were at another shop and Jos wanted
to buy one chocolate florentine (chocolate, almonds & caramel) and she
just gave it to her for free and she shared it with me. Jos tipped her
anyway saying that this was her living. We stopped by later and bought
a bunch more.

We honestly have to buy another luggage because of the chocolate we
purchased!! Makes me think I should have a chocolate party, but how
could I do that so that everyone gets the same amount?!! I could talk
about the chocolate experience in great length, but this email will be
too long, so we'll chat about it next time I see you...

FLEMISH POT...and down Jos goes...

As usual, we asked for recommendations for local food. Jos made a
reservation for us at Flemish Pot. We went for the fixed menu...we
figured, why not? We must have forgotten Patrick's warning about large
portions....the farmer's pate was rather filling...then came the
Flemish Stew and we were done. A black pot is always deceiving in low
light...we had cava and beer as well. It ended with us barely
finishing half the pot, Jos' facial expression was priceless...and her
face was actually red...we laughed about how full we were and walked
home.

That night, Jos was not doing so well. She was feeling really sick. It
could have been a lot of things...but we suspected it was the Flemish
Stew with beer and drinking beer, as well as consuming chocolate
(which is allergic to, even though she took meds), oh and all the
ragweed that seems to blow in the wind like a light snowfall.

I hope she's feeling better tomorrow. She hopes so too. *fingers crossed*

-Sam & Jos

WHERE IN THE WORLD ARE D2? PT 10: IN BRUGES

originally posted May 19/11
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WHERE IN THE WORLD ARE D2? PT 10: IN BRUGES

I lied...here is the journal now, instead of tonight!

And the winner of Destination Contest 3 is...Tony P! Well friends,
since the last contest seemed like a piece of cake, the pictures I
chose this time were meant to be tricky, but with a chance that a keen
observer could guess. I even googled that street sign to make sure it
wasn't only used in the place we are in! Mussels indicated Belgium (I
suppose if I added the frites in the picture, you might have guessed
right away). The swans are swimming on one of the many canals - so I
made sure some of the picture revealed that.

I left out the picture of the belfry, which was a key part in the
Colin Farrell movie, "In Bruges" and an obvious picture of one of the
canals which gives Bruges its status as the "Venice of the North."

B-E-L-G-I-U-M

Jos and I arrived in Belgium around 2:30pmish...our plane had been
delayed 30 mins on the tarmac. Don't know why though, since Jos and I
both passed out on the plane! Anyway, we flew with Ryanair and since
we had chosen priority seating, we got first dibs on seats which is
pretty sweet! Jos has long legs so she was able to get seats with more
leg room.

Ryanair flies to Charleroi airport, the smaller Belgian airport. We
took the shuttle bus (13 euros/each) to Brussels midi train station.
Then we had to find the ticket counter to purchase train tickets for
Bruges. It is not very easy to find the ticket counter. The station is
under some construction, but could definitely use some better signage!

We got on the 15:05 train to Bruges and arrived at 16:02. I followed
the directions given to me by the B&B owners. It took us a bit to get
there and it felt like we were going in a giant circle. We finally
arrived and Patrick greeted us. He said he would have picked us up at
the station if we called. Oh well, we need to walk off all the food
we've been eating! kekeke

The house is beautiful and Patrick served us fresh sangria while he
explained the map. He also recommended a few things and told us he is
a retired chef. I read this on the site and all the reviews about the
superawesome breakfast here. Could Jos and I really resist this
opportunity? Good location, great breakfast, comfortable beds at 64
euros....heck yeah!!

We wandered around Bruges taking pics and getting lost. We salivated,
looking through windows of closed chocolate shops. Jos and I now are
using English, French and German to go around...fun times with our bad
pronunciation...oh well! We ate a 15 euro dinner (each). Jos had
mussels and frites with jupiler to drink. I had broccoli and cheese
soup, steak and ice cream with a waffle wedge. So delicious! We went
for another drink. I had a vuvel and Jos had a tripel karmeleit.
Headed back to the B&B and had a nice sleep.

'til the next journal!

-Sam