Benelux - Brussels to Brugge
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While on a tour of Brussels we visited an airplane museum and it was being used as the place where artists were decorating horses. Remember the cows in Chicago and sharks in San Jose? Here was a cute little rocking horse.
Here was another horse decorated like a map of the area.
We kept going back to the Grand Place in the center of Brussels.
Another view of the Grand Place with Rich on the far right. Others of our GE Elfun group are standing with him on the tour.
On the right is a statue of Vincent Van Gough and on the left a mime imitating Van Gough.
Someone is eyeing the Belgium waffles in the store. We ate them with chocolate sauce and whipped cream. Yum!
When the going got too rough we parked in an outside cafe and read. Well, we also ate and drank.
This statue was down the street from our hotel. He looks like a frogman with water coming out of his backpack.
This was the plaza outside the airplane museum.
We didn't get into the Atomium because it was being restored. The shiny "atoms" are restorations
We had to pay to use the bathrooms in Europe. Here are 2 ladies all set up to collect our 30 cents Euro from us - men on one side of them and women on the other.
The next day we decided to visit Waterloo. We took the underground to the train station, the train to Waterloo. There was a small museum there. Then we took a bus to the site of the lion monument. We climbed the steps to the top and saw the countryside. At the site was a round mural of the battle, but very little else. What a difference from Gettysburg!
Rich has climbed to the top of the Lion Monument and is looking down at me. I have blisters on both feet from climbing!
This is the view of Waterloo from atop the Lion Monument.
We went across the street from our hotel to have a steak dinner.
I couldn't resist taking a picure of the name of this street: Pontiac. We have Chief Pontiac on the wall in our house and both of us were born in Pontiac, MI.
We decided to check out the Brewery Museum. Well, don't waste your 4 euros here. Get a good beer at a local pub.
It was interesting to see the brewer cut the foam in the beer off with a knife.
Have you noticed the strap across my chest? That's my Camelback filled with water. We didn't have to carry around a bottle of water when I just strapped 2 liters of water in a refilable pouch with a wide mouth for ice cubes on my back. Of course, getting ice in Europe is a whole different story.
Rich is really tired after tracking down our luggage so we can get to the river boat. At 3:00 it wasn't in the room where we put it at 8 am, it wasn't outside waiting for the bus, and it wasn't in the luggage room. Monty, next to Rich, finally found the bags on a luggage cart in the elevator. What a panic! We did the 34 days in the 2 bags in frront of Rich and the bag at the right, which unzippped to make a carryon and a backpack. Not bad, huh?
This was Antwerp as we settled into the Viking Sun, our ship up the Rhine.
Rich took a series of pictures of the wharf at Antwerp and then "stitched them together for this panorama. Not bad for an amateur!
Swans were everywhere in Europe. Here they are in a canal in Brugge.
Interesting church architecture with red doors
Rich is trudging up a narrow street in Brugge. He's carrying the backpack with the books, I have the water in my Camelback.
This woman has been making lace outside her shop for eons. One of the ladies on the bus bought an example.
The cane has a snake twisted around it. The flowers we saw were wonderful.
We saw many open-air markets. Bicycles were parked everywhere, most without locks, but not very many good looking ones.
We climbed another tower and looked out at Brugge.
The stone steps went around and around with a length of rope to hang onto - and I certainly did!
The way back to the bus was complicated, plus it started to rain, so we waited for a public bus to take us back. The driver kept trying to take off but more of our group kept pushing on.
I'm sitting on Rich's lap with those silly fold-up raincoats on. It was so hot and humid.....
We saw nuclear power plant cooling towers all over. One tour guide was extolling the virtues of nuclear power without realizing that most of the people on the bus were connected to the nuclear industry!