Bruges was our plan today and we were flawless with our execution. Unfortunately, the normally reliable European trains were not. But more about that later. Ah Bruges, you are a city of canals and little brick houses, and quaint shops and large crowds. Mom and I arrived around 11 AM and began our adventure with a boat cruise on the canals. It was really a great way to see all of the old buildings and also to photograph without crowds getting in the way (except for the ones on the boat, like red shirt guy who always seemed to be in my lens and pointy lady who, as her name suggests, pointed at everything we motored by). Post boat, we had enough time to grab lunch before meeting up with long-time friends Ute and Walter from Germany. Mom has known them for many years, since staying with them during a teaching exchange experience in the 90s. Over the years, we’ve visited with them, either in the US or Europe, and watched each other's children (and their children) grow up. Much to our surprise, we rounded a corner on our way to lunch and there they were! The plan was to meet at 2:30 but heck, running into longtime friends in a relatively empty Bruges street meant that we would lunch together as well. Regarding lunch - Belgian waffles, both savory and sweet were consumed. And they did not disappoint.
After lunch, we went to Bruges’ city hall with our friends. Mom's knee was acting up, so much of our time was spent sitting in the large main room (which is the wonderment that folks come to the place for) and catching up. The talk was lighthearted (their son Soren is running a tour business on a railroad bridge that people pay to climb - even with trains running above!) as well as somber (why, Putin, why? and how is the US destroying its democracy so quickly?). Almost our entire visit to Bruges was spent in this glorious room (see pics below) with folks who are like family, even though we live thousands of miles apart. Mom was given a late birthday present from them, a beautiful scarf that is adorned with leaves and the names of the trees they come from. I know what she'll be wearing on the QM2 on the way home! It was hard to say goodbye, but we had a train to catch. Auf Wiedersehen, friends.
Let's talk about trains in Europe. There are some pleasures that I think about on nights when insomnia keeps me up, and the trains of Europe are one of them. Most are very clean and well-appointed. Their peaceful rhythm makes many a passenger drowsy. And they are reliable and on-time, running so frequently that traveling to a different country for a day is easy-peasy. Today, we struggled, or I should say, Belgian trains struggled. When we got to the station after a long Bruges-y day, we were surprised to find stanchions in front of our platform number. The security guard said that no one was allowed up because the trains were full and we'd have to wait. Full? How? Why? Turns out that a lot of folks return home after a weekend at the seashore on Sunday afternoons. For those in Minnesota, think of the traffic coming back from cabins as a comparison. We did not want to wait an hour for another train, and we noticed that the guard was letting many folks through. We inquired and found out, after a very stressful 5 minutes, that weekenders were all trying to go to Brussels, and we, migrating to and from France, were not. Problem sorted, we boarded our very empty train car.
Then, about 15 minutes into our trip, the train stopped in a rather bucolic place, with pastureland and grazing cows. This is common in the US, where Amtrak shares the rails with freight trains, but not so much in the EU. After 10 minutes of admiring the view, someone notified the passengers about what was happening. In Dutch. So we remained puzzled. Only after a friendly Belgian stopped by our seats did we hear what the trouble was. It turned out that our conductor ran a red light. Apparently this is a really big deal and it sets off the train's emergency brake automatically. We were told that the conductor may have to be replaced (??) and/or all trains must be notified of the mistake before we could proceed. After Googling we discovered that it's a big deal when a red light is missed. This is how trains collide. And conductors have a 3 strikes rule - miss three of them in your career and you're demoted. The delay was significant enough that when we did finally arrive at our stop (after missing our connection) the train crew handed out what I like to refer to as "apology water" (picture below) to all the passengers as we disembarked. It was sorry-about-almost-killing-you-and-leaving-you-in-a-field water. Mom and I accepted our apology water (it was rather good - had a certain zing to it) and waited for the much later train back to Lille. And, again, that's where I sit, safe and sound, if not a little more wary of train traffic signals and definitely more educated about the trains in Belgium.
No comments:
Post a Comment