Dodgy streets and luminescent canals

Sitting on our WestJet flight WS18 for Heathrow I extract our SIM cards from our cellphones and gather up all our Canadian currency and place it in a ziplock bag along with our housekeys. I then pull out another ziplock bag and distribute some British pounds and our newly minted Oyster cards between Myra and I. Oyster cards are an all-in-one transportation ticket for travelling in and around London. Upon arrival we once again bypass the crowds standing around the luggage carousals as we have only carry on and stop at Sim Local, the first of many kiosks selling SIM cards. Once installed we check our phone numbers and text each other a hello. 

Myra shows me the instructions on how to get to our overnight accommodations. Yikes! Like, spray painted street numbers? How rough is this neighborhood? Maybe we shouldn't have gone cheap cheap on our room.

The Oyster cards are really amazing: a single tap, gates open, and on we go.  My apprehension continues to mount as the our particular stop is only one after Tottenham district - which is a rough part of town according to my dear friend John Fray. 

Thankfully we had lots of daylight hours to find the place. We disembark at St Pancras International Station and use Google Maps to figure out where to go.  The rain starts with a downpour as we look outside from the train station. In a lull we manage across the street and a security/policeman type guy asks us if we need help. We were headed in the right direction.  Rain continues to come down as we struggle into our accommodations. And in spite of the tremendous expense the owner put into the street numbers, the place was better than expected. We discover that my carryon case is waterproof and that Myra's is not so much. The rain stops overnight and we find a breakfast spot around the corner. 

To our amazement they are lifting trees onto the roof of a building.

We queue up and finally get on our Eurostar bound for Brussels through the Chunnel. Pictured here is the google map screen shot. We reach speeds of 183 mph (300 km/h) along the way! I'm not sure while google maps decides to show the speed in mph?

Some strange roman-column post-industrial styled buildings under construction as we slip along the rail.

We had our tickets ready for the trainline but no one ever came to check them as we boarded the train from Brussels to Bruges.

Our accommodations for the next three nights are quite lovely and include a continental breakfast hosted by an overly enthusiastic owner. 

We find a restaurant in the main square to have dinner and the owner mentions that we should be off the street earlier than later tonight as the Turks are in town for a football match and depending on the outcome, "we might have some trouble." There are a number of police in the square. As we walk by I ask, "football?" He nods. "Turks?" as the crowd of men in front of us let out a yell. He smiles and nods again as his eyes never leave the mob.

As we wander back to our hotel room we are amazed at the canal and the reflections of the nearby buildings. 

Bruges central is actually quite a small area and easily navigable. We take in a Salvador Dali exhibit and enjoy the beautiful architecture.

We managed to do the "Big Five" of Bruges: Beer, Waffles, Chocolate, Fries and Flemish Stew. I love how an espresso is always served with a chocolate.

The Duval beer Myra is drinking is the main characters' choice of beer in the book we are both currently reading with the story based here in Bruges: The Square of Revenge by Pieter Aspe.