Posts From Belgium

Today we just drove, with the intent/hope of getting to a camping ground within easy reach of Antwerp by the end of the day. At one point during the day the road crossed a 20 km section of the Netherlands, we joked with each other that if it is 2:00pm - it must be the Netherlands. At this rate we could drive across the whole of Europe in a coupLe of days and see nothing except motorways.

We spent yesterday preparing the truck for shipping. This mostly involved packing things away inside the vehicle out of sight and cleaning. We had been warned by the shipping agents ( Seabridge For Motorhomes) that Canadian customs will be fussy about dirt on the outside of the vehicle. So at Merex we had the outside thoroughly cleaned with steam and pressure washer but the drive since then (through the rain) had covered the vehicle with road dirt. So we both spent a few hours with broom and bucket cleaning said road dirt off.

Today we celebated Nina's birthday in a very low-key manner. From our penthouse apartment we took a long walk to find the shipping broker we have to visit tomorrow morning to get the truck. We did a lot of people watching during the walk as the area of Antwerp around our apartment has a large population of orthodox Jews. We were very keen to get some photos of the Jewish men with their long locks, funny hats, and black suits and overcoats.

Today was the big day, we were reunited with the truck. We hung out at the apartment until about 11:00 am and then headed to the office of the freight forwarding agent that was going to help us with the port formalities. At the office we did some more waiting, had some documents copied, and did some more waiting. Eventually Karl (the driver) turned up and there after things moved at a brisk pace. A drive to the port, a lightning quick visit to the customs office, a signature on some papers at the entry to the holding yard and we were at the truck all cleared for departure. From the time we got into Karl's car the whole process took less than an hour; and most of that was driving time.

After Eindhoven a short drive took us to Brugge and Camping Memling. Interestingly this is the the only campground we have ever found recommended in a Rick Steves guide book. More interestingly when we arrived there was a recording of a Rick Steve TV show playing on the TV in the campground recreation room. To extend the interest of this place it is worth noting that registration was via a computer kiosk. Finally access to the campground wifi was dispensed from another electronic kiosk which gave out tickets with a username and password good for a single hour, but since these tickets are free we eventually worked out that taking them in groups of 6 or more was the more convenient strategy. The first picture shows us parked in the campground with the local forest as a backdrop.

After dropping the truck at Zeebrugge we found our way by taxi and train to Brussels (Bruxelles to the locals) and our AirBnB apartment not far from Flagey Square in the Ixelles district. After the charms of Brugge we found Brussels a bit of a let down. But dutifully we spent a day in the sun touring the must-see sights. It will not surprise any of my fellow cynics that while much of what we saw in Brussels was somewhat time-worn and graffitied-up the area around the European Parliament Building was throbbing with activity, expensive cars and up market eating houses. Is it not amazing the way 'the political class' can justify spending other peoples money.

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After some final glimpses and photos of the coast near Calais we had a couple of days to kill and a car to return and we had decided to spend those days in the French town of Mons. Why Mons ? no particular reason other than that it was within easy driving distance of Charleroi and so the car return would be easy and we could find AirBnB accommodation there. As it turned out Mons was a really interesting little town and our accommodation was an apartment overlooking the Grand Place (main square). Further we happened to be there over a major religious holiday, Ascension Day so the place was swarming with people and noise - our apartment gave us a great vantage point for people watching.