This trip is work-related, and my boss said I could go (without taking him along) because Belgium is boring, and I would find that out for myself soon enough. I don’t buy that Belgium is boring. Certainly it is far more interesting than Baltimore and San Jose are. It has museums and Gothic architecture and history and chocolate and beer and a quaint, European feel to it, unlike anything we have here in the US. As a neither-here-nor-there tidbit, I did attend a War of 1812 reenactment recently, and we were commenting on how Americana that sort of thing was. It’s nice to be able to experience all sorts of cultural oddities, and I am sure I will find some in Belgium.
I picked up the Rick Steves book last night and did a lot of reading about Brussels and Brugge. Well, maybe it wasn’t a lot. The book was shared with Amsterdam which took up half of the ~400 pages. In the ~200 Belgian pages, though, there seemed to be plenty to do to accomodate my free time out of work. I’m working M-F and vacationing S/Su, flying out M. Also, since my stay in Brussels (actually in Leuven, about 15 miles east of Brussels by metro) is pretty much set, I really only have to worry about accomodation in Brugge. I was going to go to Ieper to see the WWI museum, but it is kind of out of the way, and I think there won’t be time; I really only have the weekend, and there should be enough in Brugge for a weekend with a very brief pass through Gent if possible.
There is a special ticket on the Belgium train system called a VIA ticket. VIA tickets will get you from point A to B via C for cheaper than buying two separate tickets. I may stop over in Gent for the morning on my way to Brugge. Or I may try to hit Gent on the way back to Brussels depending on how busy Brugge is. This is not a concern and will be very much played by ear. In Brugge at this time of year (and all over Belgium and Germany) there are the open air Christmas markets. In Brugge, in particular, I am told there are also ice sculptures. All of that combined with the cathedrals, museums, architecture, and walking tour should be plenty to do!
This is one trip that I will probably not overplan; it helps that it is a practically free trip and some of it is already planned, for work. I am going to play it by ear and hit the main sights, but probably just spend time relaxing and absorbing the culture. My Germany trip, though, will be a different story: there will be a lot of taking trains, and scheduling will have to happen prior to our November departure date. There should be more about that here soon.
