CHAPTER 8. FRANCE-PARIS CONT.

We spend some time checking on rental cars and trains for our trip to Brussels and Brugge. Trains are much less expensive; we want to try the TGV fast train but it requires transferring and takes longer than the regular one. We take a taxi to the Gare du Nord and arrive about an hour early, so we sit on a bench and wait until our train’s track is announced. The train is long, but our 2nd class car is not nearly full. The seats are narrow but have much more leg room than air coach.

The station in Brussels is a disappointment, dark, and with not much help from the “Info” people. Then we see a sign for “Hotel Reservations” where we get a room at the Ustel Hotel; the owner drives us there in a van. The room is small, but new and nice, and has an electric heater! We have an excellent menu as the only guests in the dining room; the food is good and attractively presented. The nice and friendly owner is an American from upper N.Y.

It is a warm and sunny morning as we take a taxi downtown, but turns to rain in the afternoon. We walk around Grand Place, the old city hall, and a shopping arcade where we buy some Belgian lace. Taking a taxi back to the hotel the driver goes a roundabout way so the fare is 325 Belgian Francs. We go into the hotel without paying to get help with the language. The driver settles for 200 francs.

We gain an hour today as Europe goes back to standard time on a bright and sunny day. The hotel owner’s son takes us to the station where we catch the train for Brugge. At that station “Info” office we get a room in the small Fevery Hotel; the owner comes and picks us up at the station. After a rest we eat at the nearby Terrastje Restaurant, sitting out front in the sun. A parade of bikers flying purple balloons comes up the street on the other side of the canal, holding up traffic for a while. Later they come back on our side of the canal.

We take a bus on downtown and see the great Market Square. We walk some and eat an ice cream cone amongst many, many tourists before taking a bus back to the hotel.

The breakfast room at the Fevery is pretty full, with an international group of Japanese, Germans, Canadians and Americans. We are served hot toast with meat and cheese as well as jelly, orange juice, and coffee. There is a high fog with a few raindrops as we bus downtown, walk by the Burg and on to the canal. We take a very pretty and interesting half hour boat tour on the canal. Back at the Market Square we have a good lunch at the Central Hotel; we saw a menu posted earlier with tongue so go for that and it is very good. Back at the hotel we rest, and later go out to a nearby deli and a market for a seafood salad, apple, cheese, and wine which we snack on in the room. We find one restaurant menu a day is enough!

In the morning the Fevery owner takes us to the train station where we catch a train to Lille, France. We see nice green farm land with many cole crops and cow pastures. The Lille station is in the middle of a large city; we find a small restaurant near the station and have an OK, but not great coq-au-vin menu. We walk a couple of blocks to the Hertz office to pick up the car we reserved. We will drive it south thru France for two weeks, drop it off in Perpignon, and continue to Barcelona by train, thus avoiding a car drop off charge, which can be substantial.

Thus we leave Paris (and a bit of Belgium) sadly, because it probably is for the last time.