Charleroi Airport Hotel

... the next day we tried to hire a car...with no luck...so we jumped on a train out to Bruges and spent the day there, going on a boat cruise and wandering the streets, and eating a really yummy warm lunch alongside a raspberry beer! Bruges is a very cool place, and looks a bit like what I think Amsterdam would be like...? Then we set off back for Brussels as Grace and Milly had to fly back to Dublin that night, whereas I was staying ...

... in Belgium in time for dinner with Rees and Fanny Ellis. I decided to drive east first and then turn north, rather than the reverse, so that I could have a fresh look at a place I have put on the itinerary for this year's pre-Feast historical tour through northern France and southern Belgium. After about a 90-minute drive I left the autoroute at Chateau Thierry. This was the front line during the last part of WW I, in the spring and ...

... train) ticket to Paris for tomorrow morning. Around noon we got into our rooms, I called Rees Ellis with whom we were to visit later on and let him know we had arrived. We agreed to meet around 4:00, and Bernard and I showed and caught a few more hours sleep. Rees came by late in the afternoon. He is the pastor of a Church of God congregation that meets near Charleroi. We have been ...

... forested region through which the Germans attacked in WW II and in which the Battle of the Bulge took place farther north in Belgium. I drove through Metz where I used to be pastor of a congregation. General Patton took this area in 1944, fighting several battles in the area. He was in Metz with his 3rd army when news came of the German breakthrough at the beginning of the Battle of the Bulge around Christmas 1944. He wheeled his tanks north to relieve the Americans ...

... tonight! We all chatted and drank all of Heinrich's wine. I stayed in to catch up on sleep but they all went out at midnight - they all went to a techno club but some didn't like it so they split off from the group and went to a pub instead. Some of them returned at 5:00 and some at 6:00. I should've gone anyway because I barely slept between 1:00-5:00, and then was up until 8:30 before managing to fall asleep for an hour.

... It was just very surreal. So, at this point I become more interested in watching the dynamics of the picture-takers at the tourist hotspots, rather than the tourist attraction itself. I spent much of the rest of the afternoon going to a tourist spot, admiring it for a minute, then seeing if I can get the most interesting cluster of picture-takers. I havent looked through them yet, but I'm sure there are some good ones ...

... finally showed up late way to late and didnt really help me much with my things has he went to wait in the car waaaaaaah damn. I took my thing down and pack in the car while he was driving and decided not to take the tent anyway then. Of course he took the ring of Brussel in rush hour.... all these combine made me missed the check-in from 8 minutes in Charleroi airport. I was quite mad, sad and armless from all my motivation lost ...

so after attempting to sleep off the nasty "spin the bottle" hangover on the bus, we arrive in amsterdam around one. matt our tour guy was talking about amsterdam on the way in and he goes "and the average height for men in the netherlands is about 6'6, so go crazy tally!" then everyone started cheering.it's like they know i like tall guys. i wonder how....anyway. many of the hard core potheads headed straight to a cafe for some "coffee"we went ...

... en trokken inderdaad even naar de cafetaria. Een donker biertje voor mama Ilse; een gezoon pintje voor de papa's en Toon, een wit wijntje voor ons Rie en een colaatje voor mezelf. 2 uur later voor ons vertrek kregen we alle belangerijke regels nog eens op gezegd. Zijt voorzichtig, zorg goed voor elkaar, maak ni te veel ambras, laat elkaar nooit achter, maaak genoeg foto's en als laatste en vergeet dit vooral niet STUUR EEN KAARTJE!!! Ik en Toon moesten lachen want na jaren ...

... we headed out into Brussels. Getting my LP map out we visited Stadhuis (city hall) where we saw a couple getting married. We then spied Godiva's chocolates. mmmmmmm [eyes glaze over]. Stumbled upon Everard 't seclaes, a 14th century hero, whose gleaming belly you rub for luck. Nikki rubbed him all over. Of course, we had to see the Manneken Pis. Legends has it that when ...