A log about those Silly Folks and their Escapades

Today was an orientation day and after breakfast we headed off to find the Cityrama Tour Office. We are taking a 3 day tour of the Loire Valley starting tomorrow so we wanted to get ourselves straightened around on buses, the stops and the tour office. It’s an early departure so we want to make sure we know our way rather than scrambling in the morning.

After that we walked down the Seine and across one of the many bridges. The one we chose to cross is called Pont Des Arts and the real neat thing is the number of locks that have been left by couples/lovers over the years. The thing you do is purchase a lock, write both your names on it, lock it to the bridge fence and then throw the key into the river. A symbolic gesture that you are locked together as a couple forever since the key will be impossible to find.

After a bit of a break we headed to Luxembourg Gardens which is a large park in the middle of the city where we had a nice picnic lunch, there were hundreds of people out enjoying the day.

This morning we woke up early had a quick breakfast and headed off to Brussels and the Main Train Station.

Finally we drove up on the sidewalk at the Avis Office and I found a security officer that gave pretty good direction and we found the Avis car drop off location. Once there the Avis guy went over the car looking for new scratches and dents like it was a crime scene; the only thing he was missing was the finger print powder they use. Anyway, no extra charges and before we left he said “Make sure to keep a very close eye on your luggage”.

Monday morning we headed towards Arras France. Arras is the closest town to the Canadian War Memorial at Vimy Ridge.

On the way there as we left the area around Leper we stopped off at Tyne Cot Cemetery. Tyne Cot is the largest cemetery in this region and has almost 12,000 soldiers buried here. Many are unknown soldiers and they have a simple headstone where they are buried and if it is known their Regiment and/or their Country. The real sad and touching part is the headstones that say “Known Unto God”.

After a bit we arrived into Arras and got to our hotel and then we were off to explore the town.

Saturday morning was all about packing up and moving off the barge as they have a whole new set of people coming on and have to clean the boat in between.  So, it was a sad goodbye to all our new friends from Brazil, England, the Eastern USA and the wonderful staff of the barge.

After settling into our hotel we headed off to the Flanders Field Museum, it was amazing and the 2 1/2 hours flew by.

During the WWI  Leper was totally destroyed by bombing and the battles. At the time Winston Churchill said they should leave Leper as it was to remind people about the horrors of war and battles, however the people of the town wanted it returned to it’s original condition; they wanted their town back. It is quite shocking when you see pictures of what it was back in 1918 at the end of the war and what it is today.

After dinner we attended the Menin Gate Ceremony which is held each evening at precisely 8:00 p.m.

The Menin Gate was constructed to remember the soldiers who died in battles around the area of Leper (Ypres/Leper Salient area) and who had not been given a proper burial and remembrance. On the panels are the names of 54,389 Officers and Men of the British Empire and Commonwealth Forces. This ceremony has been going on every night since November 11th, 1929; except for the four years of German occupation from May 20th, 1940 to September 6th, 1944.

At 7:55 p.m. The local police block the main road into Leper that goes through Menin Gate and immediately after the Buglers who are members of the local fire brigade arrive. At precisely 8:00 p.m. the Last Post is played followed by a minute of silence. Then depending on the evening their may be a coloured party, choir, band and other dignitaries laying wreaths.

However the restaurants that face the main square are all filled to capacity, especially since it was such a beautiful sunny day.

This morning the barge stayed in Brugge while we headed off to the seaside town of Zeebrugge on the North Sea.

The start of the ride was pretty “hairy” as we were riding through the business district of Brugge and it is a very busy city. There are still lots of bicycle lanes however with such a large group (29 riders today) it made it tricky getting through the lights, intersections, across crosswalks, and general maneuvering  through, around and with traffic.

We fought a head wind off of the North Sea almost all the way there, except for the odd ride behind buildings, trees, etc. The last climb to the seaside was steep and the wind was right in our face……….. but we made it.

Once at Zeebrugge we were quite shocked with this seaside town. There is a very large and wide beach, then a fairly wide beach walk, a single lane one-way road, some shops and stores and then apartment building after apartment building all rising up 10 to 20 stories and all facing the sea.

On the beach there are some businesses selling food, drinks, renting chairs, etc and then oddly there is about 3 to 4 rows of garden shed sized buildings that are privately owned. This is where the regular visitors to the sea store their belongings and set up their own little space for a day at the beach. All the spaces are leased or privately owned and we understand they can be quite expensive, especially if your spot is in the front row facing the water.

After about a 2 hr stop we head back to the barge which was still tied up in Brugge. The wind was at our back and except for a short detour because of road construction we made it back in good time. However, we once again had to ride through a busy area of traffic, which is very tricky, but we made it safe and sound.

Tonight was our last  dinner on the barge and our American friends are hosting a “Cosmo Party”. What a night, a Cosmo Party includes lots of drinking “Cosmopolitans” Which are made with Vodka, cranberry juice, Cointreau, lime and lime juice. Of course the required dancing and singing and laughing 🙂

After dinner our Brazilian friends held a raffle of their cycling shirts. A husband and wife each gave up their shirt and Brenda was lucky enough to win.  So, I put my Canada shirt up for raffle and one of the Brazilians won the shirt and was proudly wearing it for the rest of the evening. The Captain of the boat added a “Magnifique” golf shirt and one American lady won that. It was a great last night on the barge.

Today started out with a 1 hr cruise down the river while we had breakfast to where we were dropped off with our bikes for today’s ride.

Some stayed on board today as the weather was cool and rainy at the start and so we only had 18 riders leave the boat. With 18 riders it was a nicer size group for cycling and we kept a good pace and good spacing from front to back.

For lunch we stopped at a small cafe/pub and the locals made us feel welcome.

Along the canal were a number of bunkers built by the Germans during WWII. It was part of a master plan to load up barge from these bunkers and then sail them across the North Sea to England. However the problem was that the Barges that could traverse the canals could not handle the winds and seas of the North Sea.

We arrived in Brugge early and had about 3 hrs to explore, shop anad enjoy the beautiful city of Brugge. It is unbelievable the number of tourists in the city and most arrive via tour buses, so there are buses of every shape, size and configuration. Once you cross the canal and go into the old town centre of Brugge the streets get very narrow, it’s hard to tell which are one-way and so you have to have your head on a swivel. There are horse drawn carts carrying tourists and they travel the same roads as the people and then the cars are trying to get around as well, its very busy. Brugge is also very famous for Belgian Chocolate. So there are chocolate shops on every corner, down every street and the displays, designs, shapes and colours are as much as the mind can imagine.

Tonight after dinner we went on a city walk and explored the old town centre of Brugge. It’s very beautiful and very historic; it is referred to as “The Venice of the North”.

This morning we got to sleep in a little and then while we had breakfast we sailed from Baasrode (where we rode to when we left Sint Amands) to Dendermonde.

Once we got off the barge we rode into the centre of Dendsermonde to the town square. Another gorgeous city centre and city square.

From there we rode out into the countryside and through the small villages in Belgium. This included across the top of a set of canal locks and a bike/passenger ferry to the other side of the river. About 2 hrs into our ride it started to rain a little so we stopped at a local pub/bar for a coffee/beer and lunch. Another interesting thing about this small village was the Automatic Bread Dispenser set up outside the local corner store. After this stop we got back on our bikes and then the rain really started. It went from a slight drizzle to a full fledged down pour. By the time we got to the city centre of Gent we were wet and cold.

For dinner we had a delicious, warm and a bit spicy tomato soup, followed by breaded pork cutlets and a vegetable casserole which included tomatoes, eggplant, mushrooms, zucchini and a top of layered thinly sliced baby potatoes with a bit of sprinkled cheese. Dessert was 2 different types of ice cream with a drizzled cherry sauce and a chocolate filled with a jellied cherry centre.

We started out this morning by riding to the centre market area of Antwerpen. Antwerpen gots its name from ancient folklore that at one time a giant defended the city and he would charge people to enter. If they did not pay he would cut off their hand. Story goes that a brave Roman Solider fought the giant and cut off his hand and threw it into the river. Antwerpen is translated to “throw the hand”.

From here we rode to an elevator designed for bikes and walkers that holds up to 40 people and it goes down 31 metres and takes you under the river Scheldt. Once you exit the elevator you ride through a tunnel that is 500 metres to the other side of the river where you take another elevator back to the road.

After we rode through the countryside and ended up at a little City Recreation Courtyard designed for travellers passing through the area. We tasted a local Belgian Beer which had about 8% alcohol and this was our lunch stop.

From there it was to a local artisan shop run by a fellow and his wife. They travel to the Sahara Desert to gather rocks, wood, fossils, etc. that they then turn into artwork and he has designed their home with their collection. It was a very unique place.

This morning we got to sleep in a little and after breakfast we sailed/cruised for about 5 hrs before starting the days bike tour. During the morning cruise from Dordrecht to Tholen we went through some large locks to get us from a canal we were traveling on to the river delta.

A real bonus was that it started out sunny and it got sunnier and warmer as the day went on, certainly a nice treat.Once arriving in Tholen we cycled through the countryside and villages to the town of Bergen Op Zoom and had a nice afternoon coffee and rest in the town market square. From there we headed to the barge which was waiting for us the other side of some large locks around the area of Mosselkreek for about a total of about 40 km.

After dinner we took a guided train tour of the city of Antwerpen. It was an extra tour that was organized by Jack our tour leader and cost us 10 euro each.We visited the town centre, the diamond merchant area, the main train station (which is four levels of trains that enter into the station), the main market square area and then to a walkway along the river where our tour leader Jack and the Captain of the ship hosted a small drinking party 🙂 complete with red, white and/or rose wine.

We started out on Sunday morning and it was cool and windy; a bit of what was to come for the rest of our day on the bike.

In the morning we road about 22 km and ended up just before lunch in the town of Schoonhoven which is renowned for it’s silver and silver smiths. Lucky for me the stores were all closed…….. Not so lucky for Brenda 🙂 We were able to get a wonderful coffee and enjoy our lunch in the town square while listening to the 2 churches in town have a bell competition. They were not just signalling the time they were playing melodies of some sort……. It was beautiful.

From here we headed towards Kinderdijk which is a UNESCO World Heritage site.   We fought a pretty stiff head wind all the way to Kinderijk and some of our group really were struggling; we are sure happy we did a lot of road miles and head winds back home. At Kinderdijk there are 19 windmills standing in a row in the immediate area, however at one time there were over 400. Unfortunately it was Sunday and the everything was closed. Fortunately for Brenda and I we visited Kinderijk on our last trip to Holland.

The barge was awaiting for us and once we got on board we headed down the river to Dordrecht for the evening.  Evening dinner started with a salad with salmon lox on top and a very light type dressing.   Then we had a white fish with tiny, tiny shrimp on top, rice with julienne carrots on top.   Dessert was a very rich chocolate mousse with chocolate chunks in it……too yummy.

The village tour of Dordrecht this evening included a walk past the city gates from the 15th century and it is the oldest city in the present province of South Holland. The city at one time was occupied by the Spanish and after the 80 year war the Spanish departed and they made William of Orange their leader. That is why today Holland Colours are Orange.