Bruges, I'm on my way

Brother Jack kindly volunteered to return me to the Rotterdam Central Railway Station to catch my train to Brugge via Antwerp.

He thought, and I agreed, that it would be an ideal opportunity to see a little more of Rotterdam on the way, so we set off early. Murphy raised his ugly head once again and closed The Bridge that we had to cross to get to Rotterdam. Just as we approached, police vans lined up across the road and barrier lights were put in place to stop us from crossing the bridge.

There was a lot of concerned sounding Dutch being spoken in the car at this stage and of course, I couldn't understand a word but the very tone of the conversation and the fact that we had just executed a U-turn, obviously time was now something of an issue.

Jack began driving much faster and things began to feel a little different from my position in the front passenger seat. In Europe this is where you would be sitting if you were in the driver's seat at home. Except that you don't have a steering wheel in your hands and you can't see out of the rear view mirror. Traffic is coming at you from the wrong direction and you have no idea where they are going. I'm not sure how to describe this sensation but it is not natural and it is more than a little scary at times.

We eventually arrived at our destination and there was a lot of fussing trying to find my ticket. I have changed the tickets so many times that I had a problem finding the right one. Raced through the gates, ran (can you imagine it) to the escalator and arrived at the top to a completely deserted platform.

Fortunately, Jack and Adrie had waited to see whether I made it or not. So I returned to the concourse and knew I would have to arrange another ticket. I asked Jack to explain to the helpful young woman on the ticket counter about the bridge being closed by the police and she not only happily exchanged my ticket, she also gave me a 9 Euro refund. My first choice had been a high speed train but I was now on a slow one. No other options. After a short wait I returned to the platform and waited.

The first leg of this journey took me back to Antwerp where I had about 45 minutes between trains. Picked up a sandwich, some grapes and a bottle of drink then went in search of my next train.

The platform was quite crowded and as departure time approached even more people streamed onto the platform. Many of them carrying shopping bags. I understand why folk would catch the train to town for a day's shopping in Antwerp. No surprise there!

Made sure I was in a handy position to board the train and snag myself a good seat. My luggage made it difficult for anyone to sit beside me but there were a few empty seats so I wasn't getting any dirty looks.

However, this being a slow train it pulled into an outer Antwerp station and even more passengers climbed aboard. This time they were standing in the isle. I felt a little uncomfortable about this but I had decided that I would offer the seat to anyone who could lift my luggage onto the rack above. Too high for me to reach.

The young man standing closest said he could put my luggage on the rack and sat down beside me. His name is Wouter (pronounced WOWter, English equivalent would be Walter) and he is 17 years old. We struck up a conversation which lasted for the whole hour and a half that took us to arrive in Bruges.

Wouter lives in Antwerp but he is attending a special school/hospital in Ostend where he is receiving treatment for a digestive disorder. This particular illness is very rare and in the beginning had the doctors puzzled. Wouter lost a lot of weight and had to be fed through a tube because the acid in his gut was not working properly. However, he is a very positive young man who has many interests and would eventually like to work in the medical field himself. He was very interested in where I came from and asked lots of questions and we agreed to become Facebook friends.

The journey passed very quickly and I have discovered that Wouter is also a big Neil Young fan and a 'cat' person as well. No wonder we found a rapport.

No one looking for taxi's when I alighted at Bruges and the friendly driver offered me some advice about where to eat etc around the centre of town.

It was almost 8.00 pm by the time I staggered into my room and as I had been so busy chatting to Wouter on the train I hadn't touched my food, so that became my dinner.

Had a chat with John on Skype. He seems to be managing to see something of Saint Petersburg. Walked into a theatre yesterday to admire the interior and discovered that Giselle was being performed. He was offered a ticket but decided that it might be just a touch too

much if he told me that was what he was doing. He did however delight in telling me that he had dined at Jamie Oliver's Italian Restaurant. He used the excuse that it was the only menu he could read, therefore being aware of what he was ordering.

We are a little worried that we might order horse or frogs legs or something else completely unfamiliar and foreign. You know, sheep's testicles or pigs bladder. Gives me the shivers just thinking about it. I suppose one day we look back on this and have a good laugh.

Below, another bridge into Rotterdam. Happily, this one wasn't cordoned off by the police.