Not So Successful At Sidestepping The Strike

(Originally written 12 April 2010, 10:17pm; I wrote down my blog posts for part of the time when I was in Carnac, but couldn't post them since I didn't have internet.)

Today I came to Carnac, to begin the second part of my vacation… and that sounds a lot easier than it ended up being.

I got up and finished packing, ate breakfast, and headed over to the train station in the morning. My train was supposed to leave at 11:49am to take me to Le Mans, where I had my connection which would take me to Auray (and from there they have a bus which goes around to all the various towns in the area that aren’t served by the trains). Unfortunately, when I got to the train station, my train wasn’t listed anywhere. At all. So I went up to Information to ask them, and there was already a line of about ten people. I quickly found out that I wasn’t the only one wondering what to do since the train didn’t exist. Apparently it was one of the ones cancelled because of the train strike. Instead, they gave me a schedule of transfers and TGVs that basically meant I went back and forth a lot and would finally get to Auray three hours later than I had planned, but at least I would get there.

So I got on the TGV going to Paris Montparnasse, which was leaving at 12:02pm. The thing about the way they transfer people to other trains, though, is that they don’t give you a seat or print you a new ticket unless you pay to buy a new ticket. You’re not technically guaranteed a seat, unless there are open spots. I was fortunate enough that the spot I picked happened to stay empty the whole trip, but a lot of people around me where asked to move by the actual ticket-holders, and the train was so crowded there were people standing in the entryway by the doors because they didn’t have seats.

About an hour later, I got into Paris. Fortunately I didn’t have to change stations to catch my connection, since I was going right back out west. I had about forty-five minutes, so I bought a sandwich and a drink. Then I was off on another TGV heading to Rennes. This time, I was not so fortunate in seating; in the last few minutes before the train was about to leave, a guy showed up with his two sons, and they were supposed to have the spot that I had just randomly picked. Another guy had set my suitcase in the overhead area, so I just left it there and went to stand by the doorway. There are little fold-down seats there, so I was able to sit for the two-hour ride to Rennes, but that didn’t mean it was comfortable. When we got to the station, I had the guy hand me down my suitcase (the problem for me with putting things up there is that later I can’t reach them without climbing on the seats. >.>) and I was the first off the train, heading to find my last connecting train.

The last train was heading towards Quimper, with a stop at Auray along the way. Because they had changed my ticket, I had a sticker on it that stated which trains I was allowed to go on, and I was also technically allowed to sit in 1^st class. On the other trains it had seemed like more of a hassle than it was worth, but on the way to Auray the 1^st class compartment was the first one I saw, so I figured why not? It wasn’t really all that amazing, to be fair; the seat was slightly larger, and that was pretty much it. But no-one came wanting my seat (I don’t think that train even had assigned seating), so I was comfortable on my way to little Auray.

When I finally got there, I realized that Auray really is little. It was more like the little side-of-the-road train stations of Chenonceau and Amboise than anything. I went over to information, since although I knew there was a bus, I had no idea where to go or when it would come. I was half afraid it would be a limited-time deal, and I would’ve missed it. But fortunately the next bus was coming about a half hour after I got there, and the bus stop was just outside the train station. I went out to look at the map and schedule, and try to get some sense of it myself, with little success. Another guy came up and was also looking at the schedule; we shared our confusion, and I found out that he was going to a little town just past Carnac, so wanted the same bus that I did. He double-checked with the woman, and she confirmed the departure time, so we waited.

There was actually quite a crowd collected by the time the bus came; I had a hard time fitting my suitcase in the compartment under the bus. I also had no idea where I was supposed to get off, and wasn’t sure whether she would announce it, or how it worked. I ended up being confused, but the guy from before was sitting near me and I asked him, and then had to double check with the driver because she stopped at Carnac Plage (the beach part of the town) where I wanted Carnac Ville (the slightly more inland half of the town, which is closer to the standing stones). I successfully got off the bus at Carnac Ville, got my suitcase, and looked around for a map, since I had no real idea how to get from there to my hotel. It all worked out though, because there was one right nearby, and after scrutinizing it for a while and figuring out what direction to go in- I turned around and saw that my hotel was just across the street from the bus stop anyway. :P

I’m staying at l’Hôtel des Alignements, which basically means the Hotel of the Standing Stones. When I walked in, finally, between 7 and 8 in the afternoon (I had meant to be there by 4ish), the woman who seems to run the hotel was in the restaurant part. But she quickly came over, gave me my key, and I headed upstairs. My room is really big, again; the bed, especially, is nice. The bathroom has some kind of weird thing; I’m not sure if it’s supposed to be a bidet or if it’s for washing sand or whatever off your feet after going to the beach… I feel like I should probably avoid using it for either, just in case. The nicest thing, probably, is that I have a little balcony in the back looking out over the houses and the town.

After settling in a bit, I went out to wander the town a little and possibly find a restaurant. I quickly discovered, however, that Carnac apparently closes on Monday evenings, similar to Bruges. *sigh* I only looked around a little before I decided that it would just be easier to go back to the hotel restaurant and have dinner there. The woman who runs it appears to have a big soft spot for families; there were two families with kids, and she was joking and talking with them. I think they’ve been here for a bit, since she knew their names and what they’d been up to all day (the beach; to be fair, the sunburns would’ve probably given that away anyway). The food itself was fantastic; I had crab farsi for my entrée, which was served in the crab’s shell with a little salad. My main dish was a piece of some kind of white fish, with little (potato?) cakes, and this amazingly delicious buttery sauce. Then dessert was a pear tart, with a delicious creamy sauce around it, too. I had it all with a glass of rosé wine, which was very pleasant.

The one downside to this hotel so far is that I don’t have any internet, so I’m typing this up in Word so that I have it recorded and can transfer it over when I find an internet café or figure out a way to get my computer to one of the bars that apparently have internet. Oh, well; I’m sleepy from the wine and good food anyway, so I’ll probably go to bed early, wake up early, and tomorrow is the menhirs (standing stones)!

A Weekend of Pause

This weekend I'm staying in Tours, but Monday is when I'm going out to Carnac, for the second part of my vacation.

On Saturday, I got up and showered, and then hung out until brunch, enjoying the quiet house. I found out at brunch that Anika had planned to take Mathias to the swimming pool that day just as a fun outing, and he asked if maybe someone would want to go with him. I figured it might be fun, and although Tess didn't seem at all interested (I get the feeling she doesn't interact with the family much, although a lot of that is because she doesn't really speak French) I volunteered to go. I had to find my swimming suit, which I had fortunately brought, and set off with the other two.

We ended up taking the bus, which was a first for me. When we finally got there they hadn't yet opened for the afternoon. We only waited for about five minutes before they opened; unfortunately we then had to wait in line for a really long time before we finally got through into the swimming center. One thing I thought was interesting was that they have no kind of gender-based different changing rooms. Instead they just have a big hallway with dressing-room style "cabanes" that you go into to change, and then you go out the other side to where they have machine-controlled storage lockers. We left our stuff, rinsed briefly, and went into the pool area. It was actually fairly large and complex; I was impressed. There's a large pool outside, plus another regular 4-10-foot-style pool, a children's pool that wasn't more than three or so feet deep, a bi-level waterslide (the top level goes outside, then dumps into the pool that feeds into the lower level), and a big warm pool that had a fun sort of strong current path you could follow as well as several different areas with different massaging jets. Mathias and Anika and I played around for an hour or two, and then went to change and leave.

We took the bus back, stopping at one point when Anika bought us pastries to eat on our way. Mathias and I both got these sort of sandwich-shaped ones made of pastry with a layer of melted chocolate chips in the center. When we got back, I rinsed out my suit and hung it up, then collapsed on my bed and took a nap for about an hour. I actually overslept; I had made plans to meet up with Giovanni to go to some concert he had mentioned, and had to rush to get myself ready. When I met him at his house, we still had time to talk a little and have something to drink (I've discovered I actually really like water with mint syrup; it's very fresh) before heading over to the bar where they were playing. The group was put together by a friend of his who is also from Réunion, and they apparently play typical music from the island (there's a word for the musical style, but I can never remember what it is). After a little bit, though, I decided that I would just go back; the music was good, but the whole bar thing wasn't too appealing.

That night, we had rice with shrimp (heads and all, on some of them :P) for dinner, which was really good. Grant came back later in the evening, and he and I had a fun time just talking about our trips and what we'd done and seen. I also got to call Gramma and talk a bit, and tried to call Aunt Roxy, but she was apparently out clearing brush or something, and not available.

This morning I didn't have anything planned, so I slept in a bit, and then we had brunch. Grant and I looked over our stuff for Italian a little, and I now have a sheet of most of the grammar and notes that I need to have down. There's another girl here for a couple weeks, as well. Her name is Ladina, and she's from the German-speaking part of Switzerland. We had a fun time at dinner, joking around and talking. It was fun to have Grant back. Tonight I need to pack, since I'm leaving for Carnac tomorrow! I also need to try again to get a hold of Aunt Roxy, and hopefully I'll have more luck.

Sidestepping the Strike!

On Friday morning I didn't really have time to go and see anything, so I just took my time packing all my goodies and stuff and getting ready to leave. I ate breakfast for the last time, then gathered my things and headed off to the train station. I think there had to have been some kind of miscommunication when the guy at Information told me how to get to the hotel in the first place, because I just went across two streets, and followed one street all the way down to the station; it wasn't difficult at all. I got there early, so I ended up sitting on the platform for a while.

I had been slightly worried, because I got an email that morning saying that there was a train strike in France, and so there were possible problems with the trains. When my train going to Lille didn't show up until ten minutes or so before it was scheduled to leave, I was really starting to wonder. I actually think that train was just a Belgian one, however, since all of the announcements were in Dutch, and I didn't understand a word.

When I finally got to Lille, I had a two-hour wait until my train to Paris, so I got myself a sandwich for lunch and hung out in the station. The train to Paris was a TGV, which was fun. I like riding in them, because you can tell that you're going really fast and it's just fun. Once in Paris Nord, I again had to cross the city to get to the other train station. The Métro has apparently also been undergoing strikes, so there were certain lines (especially for the RER) that were closed, and about one train in five wasn't running. The one thing that was annoying was that the automatic ticket machines don't accept paper money; only bank cards with chips inside or change. When I discovered that, I had to find the window and buy one with the bills I had. The train was also very crowded; I'm sure because of the strikes.

When I got to Paris Montparnasse, the station that serves Tours and the western area, I had another wait of about an hour before I was able to get on my train. It was very crowded, and I'm sure some of the people were on there because their other trains had been canceled or delayed because of the strikes. There was a guy in my seat, who I had to ask to move, and then the guy sitting next to me slept the whole way. I literally think he went unconscious the second we started moving. Again, it was a TGV, so I got some reading done and watched the scenery for the hour or so it took to get to Tours. I ended up getting home even before the family had started dinner, so all I had to do was join them.

There were two new people: Anika, a friend of the family who is Swedish but teaches French and lives in France now; and Tess, who is a new student from Korea, and is living in Luzé's room since Luzé left. All of the other Concordia students were off traveling still, so the house was very quiet, which was nice. I unpacked some, got myself more organised, and settled back into the house for the weekend.

In Which the City is Inundated with Some Kind of Crazy

This morning, after breakfast, I had decided to go visit the sites that are rather farther away from the center of the city; namely the old medieval gates and the windmills. I wandered through town to get to the Ghent Gate, which is in the south of the city. Along the way I passed through the old fish-market (which was being used to sell fish today, actually!) and found a beautiful park right next to another pretty church. The Gate itself is only open upon request, so I didn't go in, but I took pictures and got to see the drawbridge just beyond it open to let a canal barge through, which was cool. Then I walked kind of generally in the direction of the windmills on the East edge of the city. Along the way I met an adorable, friendly calico cat, who let me pet him and was really affectionate. He followed me for a little bit after I went to leave, before running away from somebody walking their dog.

I quickly realised, unfortunately, that I wasn't where I should've been and was very close to being lost. I wasn't worried, since it wasn't like I was on any kind of schedule, so I just wandered around and consulted the map a few times until I found the way to the mills. There are two on that end of town, right by the Kruispoort (one of the other gates around Bruges). The first one I saw was the Koeleweimolen, and then just north of it was the Sint-Janshuismolen (a molen is a mill, apparently). The wind was (as one would expect) very strong up on the hills on which the windmills stood, but the view was very pretty. After seeing them and the Kruispoort, I headed back towards the center for lunch.

I ended up eating at this little restaurant on the other side of the canal near the Burg. I had more soup for my entrée, and then Flemish Beef Stew for my main dish. It was very good; they don't serve it in a bowl like you would expect with stew. Instead it's a plate, with chunks of beef and the thick stew broth/sauce poured all over it, with fries on the side. It's supposed to be a traditional dish, and I really enjoyed it. Then my dessert ended up being crème brulée, which was also very good. The waiter and I had a pleasant little conversation about traveling in Europe and various things, and he said if I wanted I could stay and talk longer and keep him company I could, but I figured I should go do things, and I'd get restless if I just sat there.

As I was getting up, the weirdest sort of musician-thing came into the little square; he was driving a little vehicle, which was basically a full brass band all operated by just him, and he was playing and singing. It was really cool, but really random! Then when I walked around the corner, there was another guy singing "Breakfast at Tiffany's", with a little cart that had puppets and stuff. Also, the entire day as I've been going around, the whole town seems to have been overrun with old people in big groups, and there are big signs and bright green flags that say "Okra" on them. I assume it's some kind of big tour company that does programs for the elderly, but they're literally everywhere, with their name tags around their neck.

I ended up going back to a little chocolate shop in the Burg for more chocolate for souvenirs and gifts, and then went back to my hotel and took a nap for a bit. I didn't wake up for a while, and then passed some time adding pictures and stuff to facebook, and didn't realise what time it was until it was already 10pm, and all the restaurants were closed. So I fell back on room service again, and ordered something called "Shrimp Croquettes". They ended up being little corn dog-shaped breaded things, with some kind of blended shrimp/sauce thing inside. There was a salad and bread (with butter this time) to go with it, which was okay, but the croquettes themselves were very meh. I also realised that I had been in Belgium and hadn't tried any beer, so I decided to try some of the "Jupiler" that they had in the minibar (which is apparently a very popular Belgian beer; thanks, Wikipedia!) ... which turned out to be kind of gross. I'm not a beer person, so I didn't really expect to like it anyway, but after a couple swallows I switched to Coke.

Around 11pm, I decided to head out and look at Bruges by night, since I hadn't gone and wandered at night before. I wasn't really worried about safety; the concierge woman had told me that Bruges is actually very safe at night, and you shouldn't have to take any more than normal common sense precautions. The reason it's safe, of course, is that there aren't any tourists, and all the people who work in the tourism industry are mostly in bed, so all you get are the odd small group or couple walking to somewhere. After the lively nightlife in Tours, I was a little surprised.

I walked down the street I'd been normally taking to get to the Markt, and took some pictures of the Cathedral of Our Lady and the Belfry. I did have a couple of guys in a firetruck stop and say something to me in Flemish; I think they were just making fun of me for being a tourist and taking pictures, so I ignored them and they went away. Then I went around, still taking my pictures and just enjoying the quiet of everything with almost no other people around. When I got back to my room, I decided to take advantage of the fact that the hotel bathroom had a tub, and I ran myself a hot bath and just relaxed with some music for a bit, before going to bed. All in all, a good ending to my Bruges experience. :)

In Which I Get Some Use Out Of That Museum Ticket

Today I had a hard time getting out of bed, for no real reason, but once I got moving I got ready quickly and had breakfast. I decided that since today's the last day of my 3-day museum pass, I should get some use out of it. So first off, I went off to try and find the Hospitaalmuseum - Memling in Sint-Jan (that translates to the Hospital Museum - Saint John's Hospital site). It was actually pretty difficult to find. I wandered through some courtyards that I'd seen before, and backtracked, and backtracked again, before finally going around a corner and it was right there. >.>

The museum is both a museum and a preserved former hospital that used to be run by nuns (who only moved out in 2005, apparently, and now live in another convent by the swan pool). So there was a kind of weird mix of hospital-specific artifacts and general art pieces. It seemed to be about one third paintings with religious themes, one third general religious items like reliquaries (so many reliquaries...) which mostly focused on Saint Ursula, and one third items specific to the hospital, like a typical nun's habit on a mannequin and tombstones for various deceased sisters. There were also a couple of other things; including Hieronymus Bosch's depiction of Judgement Day, which obviously figures in the movie. They didn't allow pictures (again...), which sucked, but now I can say I have stood in front of the painting. It wasn't in it's original place, though; it was on loan from another of the Brugge Museums while they were setting up some new exhibit. But still cool.

I also learned about Saint Ursula, whose story I didn't know. Apparently she was a Breton princess, who was supposed to be married to a barbarian prince. She consented to the marriage, but only if he would convert to Christianity and would allow her to make a pilgrimage with 10,000 virgin girls all the way to Rome and back. He agreed, and they set off to Rome. When they got there, they feasted with the Pope, they all received blessings, and he came back with them for the wedding. But on the way they were set upon by Mongol raiders and everyone was killed. One of the reliquaries apparently contained bits of Ursula and the 10,000 virgins, which seemed like a lot of dead people's bits to put in one little jar. There was also a much larger, fancier box reliquary, which had more relics.

The upstairs of the hospital is apparently a rotating modern art gallery, which had an installation exhibit focused on the theme of foundling children- babies who are abandoned by their mothers and (hopefully) found, to be raised in orphanages or foster homes or whatever. It was a very sad exhibit, and very well-done. After I looked around up there, I left the Hospital and went to my next site of the day: The Church of Our Lady of Bruges.

The church entrance is right across the street from the Hospital, so it wasn't hard to find. I wandered in, not really knowing what to expect, and you're kind of immediately funneled towards a small shrine with a statue of the Madonna and Child. It wasn't until I got closer and read the signs that I discovered it's apparently a sculpture by Michelangelo; one of the few outside Italy! I went through and took my pictures, and then went over to the part of the church that's considered a museum. My ticket got me in, after waiting forever for some couple to figure out what they were doing and then waiting for some lady who'd barged ahead of me to quit talking. Once I went through, there were lots of frescoes and carved decorations. They have a little exhibit of tombs that they excavated from beneath the floor of the church; what makes them remarkable are the paintings on the sides, both outside and in. Apparently they had found the tomb and remains of Mary of Burgundy, which was cool. They also had a couple of gorgeous stained glass windows, depicting St. George with the dragon and the Archangel Michael defeating Satan. There was a little side tomb with an interesting tessellated floor in Belgium's colours, and then you could go up to the altar, which showed where they had found the tombs and had newer tombs on top. I wandered around a bit more, and then left. The rest of the church wasn't particularly interesting. I did see a sign that made me laugh, though; they had four translations of it, and it was all pretty and attractive-looking, and I was amused because the French translation (of the exact same text) was at least twice as long as the English version. I love French, but it is not the most simplified of languages.

After the cathedral (which you can actually recognise in most of my pictures because it's the big tower that's covered in scaffolding; they're restoring it), I decided to try and find somewhere for lunch. I wandered through a lot of cool little streets with awesome shops, and finally found a little place that offered a lunch menu for 13,50 Euro; the cheapest I've found all week! It was called Salade Folle, which means "Crazy Salad", or "Crazy Lettuce". I got potage soup again for the entrée, which was decent. But what was awesome was that they gave me little dishes of cheese with my bread; I felt almost like I was back in France again! It was really delicious cheese, too. One was really spicy and the other was smooth and creamy. For my main dish I got Macaroni Carbonara, which is a pasta dish where the sauce is cooked mostly by pouring it over the hot noodles; it's a wonderfully creamy, thick, delicious white sauce. It had bacon pieces, mushrooms, and Parmesan on top, and was absolutely fantastic. I was a little sad because the plate they gave me could have easily fed two, and I couldn't finish it. But I still had the little bit of vanilla ice cream that came as dessert. :P

After lunch, I wandered back towards the hospital and cathedral in search of the Archaeology Museum. It was just around the corner, so I went in. The man in the ticket office gave me a little sheet that had a very simplified history of Bruges in English; after that point, everything written everywhere was in Flemish. It was a kind of cute little museum; had examples and details of the lives of the Flemish up to the modern day and the history of the city. The cool thing was that everything not specifically behind glass was interactive and touchable. I do, however, feel like had I been Flemish and probably about ten years old, I would've been much more enthralled; it was obviously a museum meant for children. Of course, that didn't stop me from playing with the period costumes in the costume room; some things are just always fun, and dress-up is one of them. Also, most of those things fit me anyway. >.>

When I left the Archaeology Museum, I didn't really know what to do with the rest of the day. I had thought about going to visit Our Lady of the Pottery, but I found out that it's all the way across the city, and I didn't really want to walk it, so I went around and did some shopping for souvenirs for family and stuff. I got some chocolate for myself, as well, and came back to relax for the afternoon (the chocolate is to-die-for delicious, btw. Nom nom nom...). Once again, I was still full from lunch by 10pm or so, and so I decided not to worry about dinner. This is getting to be a habit.

Bruges Two: In Which I Really Just Want A Wal-mart

Tuesday morning, I got up slightly more quickly, and after breakfast headed over to the Belfry to see if the line was shorter. When I got there, I found out that it was actually my favourite: non-existent! The Brugges Museum ticket thing I had bought before also works for the Belfry, so I showed my ticket and went up. It was mostly a lot of brick; the stairs themselves were wooden, reinforced at points with brick, and incredibly narrow. It was really hard to pass anyone coming down; someone had to wedge themselves into a corner and wait for the other person to go by. There were a couple of stopping points along the way; at one of them you could see the giant drum that rings the Carillon bells, like a giant music box drum; unfortunately the bell system is undergoing a complete overhaul that won't be finished until June, so there were no bells, and lots of construction work. When I got to the top of the 366 steps, I took a bunch of pictures of the view, and then headed back down. To be honest, I was pretty disappointed; it felt like the only reason to go up was to see the view. Maybe I've just been spoiled by amazing Gothic cathedrals, but I like architecture that's fascinating and fun to see in and of itself; so the Belfry didn't impress me.

After the Belfry, I headed off in another direction, and found a cool little museum; however, right as I was taking pictures of the pretty outside, my camera decided to tell me that the battery was dying. As I hadn't brought an adapter that my camera charger could use, I decided to go ask the hotel if they had one. So I walked all the way back to the hotel, and went to talk to the concierge. It turned out they had one for Great Britain and for (what I think was) Asia. No North America. I asked her if she knew where I could find one, and she gave me a bunch of directions. I have come to the conclusion that I cannot navigate by verbal directions, because I had no idea where to find what she pointed me to, and wandered all over the place for a while. I found a random electronics store, and they didn't have any kind of universal adapter. So I wandered more, finally found the shopping street that I think she had meant to direct me to, and little store that matched her description but appeared to be closed until July. I went on, and found a little phones-and-accessories store, and when I asked there they directed me next door, to a larger electronic supplies store. The guy there was rather gruff, and more so when he found out I was American (in this situation I didn't feel like messing with French and went straight to English), but they had one model of universal adapter that was basically exactly what I needed. It was also over 20 Euro. *sigh* So I bought it, went back to my room and plugged it and my camera in, and sat on my bed in a sour mood for a while.

Eventually, after hanging out and talking to Tim on AIM for a while, I figured it was probably charged, and went out again. I got lunch at a little restaurant next to the museum I had found before, where they had a menu for 15 Euro. My entrée was basic potage (soup) of the day, made with whatever vegetables they get in that day. The main dish was fantastic, however; thick juicy steak with a mushroom sauce (which cost extra but was worth it), fries, and a little salad. The fries were also good; the salad was a little questionable, but okay. For dessert I had profiteroles, which were okay, but not as fantastic as I've had in the past. After lunch, I headed back to the museum, this time with a charged camera.

The museum turned out to be the "Gruuthuse," where a prominent rich noble family of Bruges used to live in the Middle Ages. The house was covered in the crest and symbols of the family; it was actually really cool. They had a bunch of exhibits, most of which were religious stuff. They didn't allow pictures, which was really dumb (especially since it was the house itself that I really liked the most), but I snuck some shots of the chapel. Apparently, since their house was right next to the Cathedral of Our Lady anyway, they got permission to build a little private viewing chapel into the wall, so they could participate in mass without leaving home! I thought it was pretty cool.

After the Gruuthuse, I wandered around a bit, and did a little shopping. I found a really cool little row of shops tucked away by the Burg, and wandered through them. I had stopped to look out at the canal at one point, when a random man dressed as a musketeer (feather in his hat and all!) came up to me, said hello, and kissed my hand. It was rather bizarre, but he seemed very friendly. I was talking to him in French, and so when he asked where I was from I told him I live in Tours. He had me follow him to his little shop, which was right behind me, where he had a little camera set-up that took my picture, and printed this calendar/picture thing, that had a map of old Bruges. It was obviously a ploy to get me to pay for it, but he seemed nice, so I went with it (and it didn't turn out to be expensive, so it was okay). He was chattering on the whole time, like he never gets to talk to anybody. He also sold me a little poster case for it, which I think will come in handy for my poster of Tours, too. As we were talking, I found out that he likes to get people to send him postcards from wherever their home town is; he gave me his card (his name is Erwin, apparently), so I thought I'd send him something from Tours and maybe from Bozeman. I did end up telling him that I was originally from the States, and so we talked half in French and then in English. After a while, I made a polite excuse for having to go, and he as much as admitted that he gets lonely in his little shop, tucked away. I ended up feeling pretty sorry for him; he was fun.

After that encounter, I walked back to my hotel and just decided to relax and not let the frustrations of the day get to me. I ended up deciding that I really just wasn't hungry for dinner (I swear I eat so much at each meal when I go out, I can hardly handle it), and that I would save money by not going out, so that was my day.

In Which I Wander And Find Cool Stuff

So this morning I woke up sort of slowly, and got ready and went over to the other part of the hotel for breakfast. I was one of the last people there, so it was kind of hard to find a table that didn't have dishes and stuff on it. I got a very good little bread roll with nutella, and some yoghurt and orange juice. Then I got a map from the lady at the desk (who I found out also speaks perfect French, in addition to her perfect Flemish and English and probably German. >.>)

When I headed out, I didn't really have too much of a plan. I was headed towards the Markt, where the Belfry is, and from there I thought I'd find the Burg, which is the town's administrative center. I headed down one of the streets and right ahead of me was the Belfry! I love when the major monument of a city is really obvious and easy to find! So I followed it, passing a pretty brick cathedral on the way, and came out in the Markt. There actually wasn't much to see; there's the Belfry itself, and some pretty Gothic-style buildings that I took pictures of, and the horse-drawn carriages go through pretty constantly. I wandered on through to the inside of the Belfry, but the line was really long to go up, so I decided I'll do it another day.

When I wandered back through and found the Burg, I didn't really know what was there besides the Town Hall. I ended up taking some pictures of a random building that turned out to be a church that turned out to be the Basilica of the Holy Blood! Who knew? I went inside, took pictures, and it turned out I was just in time for the Veneration of the Relic. So I stood in the line, and went up and touched it, as you do. (Or, well; I touched the glass they lay over the reliquary inside of which is the sealed bottle containing the piece of cloth supposedly soaked with Jesus' blood.) It was supposedly collected by Joseph of Arimethea when he washed Jesus' body for burial, and was given to a Flemish Count when he was on Crusade in the Holy Land. (Historians think it was actually probably looted from a Constantinian treasure house.) After I went through the line, I went around and took a few more pictures, then went out and into the tiny basilica museum, where they have various items relating to the relic. I will say; as helpful as the occasional translation into French and English is, I still feel like I miss half of the information in those places, since it's all in Flemish. I bought a little charm from the Basilica; I'm going to use it and the little labyrinth charm I got in Chartres and start a charm bracelet! Then I went into the downstairs part of the Basilica. That part is all made of brick, with vaulted ceilings, and is basically a little prayer room.

After the Basilica, I went into the building right next door, which is the Town Hall. They have a program in Bruges where you can pay for a 1-day, 3-day, or year-long pass, and visit 16 of the major Bruges Museum sites in the city. I went ahead and got the 3-day one, which was awesome since for me (being between the ages of 12 and 25) it was only 5 Euro. The Town Hall didn't have too much stuff; the major feature was the Hall Council room, which is beautifully carved and painted, with a huge fantastic fireplace, stained glass windows, and giant murals depicting important people and events in the city's past. It was a good thing I had the audio guide, though, or I wouldn't have had any idea what any of it was.

After the Town Hall, I wandered out and through a side street going away from the Burg, which led me to one of the canals. There was a stand selling tickets for the boat rides, which give you a brief tour of the city from the water. I'd wanted to take one, so I figured why not and bought a ticket (they ended up being over 6 Euro; one of the most expensive "attractions" in Bruges!). I was in a big line of people, but the boats apparently leave every few minutes and they pack people in pretty closely. I ended up wedged between some people speaking French, and an older couple that spoke Spanish, with an American couple across the way, and the back of the boat was filled with a big group speaking Flemish. I will say, Bruges has been one of the most intercultural and interlingual experiences of my whole life! The guy doing the tour was giving commentary in Flemish, French, and English, so when I didn't catch something in the French I could usually pick it out in the English, which was nice. He was kind of a young punk; he went really fast, talked faster, and kept making all kinds of uncouth comments and jokes. When he was helping some kids into the boat at the beginning, I don't think they spoke English, because he was muttering something about "Step careful, get in, fall in, I don't give a shit" and at one point we went under a bridge where some girls (admittedly dressed rather skank-ily) were standing, and he yelled at them to come back in summer and wear skirts. Despite him, the trip was at least helpful for getting more of an orientation on the centre of the city, and he did know the script for the various things to look at. I took a lot of pictures.

When I got out of the boat, I just continued along a random street, where there ended up being a lot of restaurants and some market stalls selling jewelry, random knick-knacks, and a guy who'd done really awesome paintings in a "hyper-realistic" style, so they looked like photographs. I ended up going back to the Burg for lunch, and had moules frites! I pride myself on being able to finish an entire pot of mussels and fries. :D

After lunch, I went back out, and wandered further through the market area. There were more stalls set up farther along the canal, so I went and looked through them. I found a stall where a guy was selling what he said were Roman and medieval artifacts that a friend of his finds with a metal detector, and he makes into jewelry. I went ahead and got a necklace that's supposedly a Roman pendant with Roman glass. I don't know if it's real, but at the least it's very pretty, and I like it. Then I wandered further along the canal, and found some cool random art in a garden, next to a couple of the art museums in Bruges. One of the pieces was a set of four men on horses, meant to be the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse. I went through and took pictures since they looked cool, and as I was walking away, some random group of, like, 30- and 40-year-olds went by and were laughing and exclaiming because the Horsemen had obvious penises. Because immaturity is not reserved for the young, lol. I wandered around, saw some more random stuff, and ended up heading back towards my room since my feet were hurting.

I hung out in my room for a while, not doing much, and around 1oish I went out to find some dinner. Unfortunately, apparently Bruges curls up and dies on Monday evenings, because nothing was open (and it was all really expensive anyway). After wandering around for way too long trying to find somewhere to go, I finally found a little pita place, and just got a pita with fries and a drink to go, and ate them back in the room, and just stayed in for the evening.