don't mention the war

With the exception of a very short stint in Cape Town, Woz has always been the one to drive when we're anywhere overseas. Although I love driving, he seems to adapt so well to left/right hand driving and so it is easier to let him do it. This trip however I decided I would tackle right hand driving - my successful achievement being that I was able to drive us across the border from Belgium to Germany.

Having worked for a German company for almost 8 years I was very excited to finally be on German soil - to witness for myself the country I'd heard so much about.

Well we loved it. We spent three days in Germany, stopping in Oberwessel, just outside Frankfurt, then down through Stuttgart, stopping overnight at Nordlingen, just outside Munich, then to Bad Reichenhall for our last night in Germany.

we made it!

Driving down to Dover, Woz and I could barely believe we'd made it this far! We half expected a call from Libya to say, "the visas are through, come now", but no, we made it Dover without so much as a text or phonecall, boarded the ferry and we were away! It took just over an hour before we reached Calais. Once there we wasted no time in crossing the border to Belgium, staying rural until we found a small town in which to camp and to enjoy dinner. It was like so many beautiful European towns and cities are - complete with picturesque architecture and cobblestoned open squares where the pubs, cafes and restaurants spill out onto the street harnessing an atmosphere unrivalled in any other continent (or so we think!).

The adventure had begun!

By mid afternoon it was time to head home, on the motorbike along the coast. We stopped off at a bustling Belgian seaside town which owing to it's highrise beachside apartments Woz described as 'Surfers Paradise crawling with Europeans'. We had just enough time to peel off our leathers, go for a walk along the beach, dip our toes in the ocean and then jump back on the bike towards Calais to catch the train home.

the church graveyard

tour of brugge via the canal

The Tour Guide on the boat translated his tour into three different languages, English, French and then Flemish.

tour de sale

When we are in Australia, Woz and I have foolishly signed up for the Slog to Sale which is a 160km charity bike ride. Of course we're a shoe-in to be the first two to complete the ride, given that we haven't ridden a bike for almost three years and are naturally lazy when it comes to exercise for exercise sake.

We thought we'd get some training in while we were in Belgium ... 5 km's oughta do it right?

damme

On Sunday morning we rode our bikes out of Brugge to a small town called Damme. It was a 5km ride bordering
the surrounding farmland and absolutely picture perfect. The town itself wasn't that special. A beautiful quaint little farming villiage but it paled in comparison to the grandeour of it's neighbour, Brugge. It did however have a church tower with a spiraling stone staircase leading up to an incredible view.

Maggie had told us about the ride and also given us directions to ride the extra 13 km to the border where we could cross over into the Netherlands. It was tempting, and had we done it we would have entered four countries in one day, but we decided to enjoy Belgium and ride back to Brugge for a boat ride along the canal.

self portrait

posing

still life

bed and breakfast

We found a B & B in town which was run by a lovely wee Scottish lady named Maggie. She was so helpful and considerate and we felt right at home there - she even offered for Woz to bring his motorbike into her foyer area for the two days we were there rather than leave it on the street!

The room was very cheap and had so much character, ours on the top floor with stained glass windows overlooking a garden on the other side of the street.

on the bike

riding the push bikes through town

when in brugge ...

By late afternoon having walked all over the city we decided to do as the locals do (and the thousands of tourists) and ride a bicycle. For just 10 euros each we were able to hire two bikes for 24 hours which opened up so much more of the city to us. We could have taken our motorbike, but it was so hot we couldn't face putting on our leathers and the option of jumping on and off the bicycles on a whim sounded too good to resist.

grote markt

woz's 'blue steel' look

antique market

brugge

On Saturday afternoon around lunchtime we arrived in Brugge and fell in love with it from the moment we reached the outskirts of the city. It's Gothic beauty is unparallelled by any of the European cities we've visited in the past. Brugge has been virtually untouched since the middle ages and is by far the most well preserved city we've seen, with not a single Starbucks or Mc Donald's to be found. The canal carves its way through the city through stone houses, churches and shops. Everywhere we looked was another breathtakingly beautiful building, so many that we forgot to capture them on film.

There are so many languages spoken in Brugge it was almost a little disconcerting. Usually when we travel my brain works overtime reading signs, listening to conversations, scanning for words that are familiar to me, and it is always comforting when I feel that I'm able to understand a little of my environment. Here, French, Flemish, Dutch and English seemed to be spoken so we avoided meltdown and took the easy option, English.

a first for us

Thanks to our very gracious friends Duncan and Rejieli, this weekend Woz and I had our first weekend away baby-free. We dropped Nate off on Friday night and put him to sleep in their flat, then walked home to what felt like a very quiet and empty boat and set our alarm for 5am the next morning so that we could ride our motorbike to Folkstone, catch the train across to France and then ride through to Belgium. We made the most of every minute and it seemed like we packed a week into two days. We came home exhausted but re-energised at the same time ... (and missing our little boy).