Thursday, 7/6 -Ypres
We decided to use the last day of our 3-day rail pass to go to Ypres. Got up a little later and had our breakfast at the usual train station cafe. Got on a train headed our way. We had to change trains in Ghent, which was only half an hour away by train. Then on to the train to Poperinge. In Kortrijk, the train was split, so we had to get off our car and onto one of the others that was continuing on the journey. Luckily the conductor let us know, as none of the announcements were made in English, only French and Flemish. A few stops later we were in Ypres (or Ieper, as it is also known – that’s an “eye” not an “el”). The town was charming. We walked a few blocks to the In Flanders Fields Museum, and after a few false starts, found our way inside. We bought tickets and started the visit. It was a great museum, with many items to see and much interpretive information. We were both very interested and we stayed for several hours. At the exit, we had a beer in the museum cafe before leaving. We walked around town a little bit before stopping at a little place for a light lunch. We had a sausage and cheese plate and a platter of fried meatballs. Very tasty stuff, which we washed down with a local beer (Wipers Times, named after the WWI trench newspaper). We walked around a little bit more and headed back to the train station. We used our last few euro coins for the day buying water, as we were parched after walking in the heat. We were a little early for the train again, so waited in the little station area to get out of the sun. It was quite warm that afternoon, even in the little train station. We boarded and were careful to get a car toward the front to avoid any issues in Kortrijk again. We changed trains in Ghent and were on our way home. Several miles outside Brussels, the train broke down and we had to exit at another station and catch another train into Brussels Central. We arrived about 45 minutes after we had expected to, but still gave us time to look for the little Mannekin Pis statue (we had not seen it yet) and to shop for souvenirs and dinner. We found a nice dinner at a little Italian place a couple of blocks from Mannekin Pis. I had veal scaloppine al limone and Lynn had spaghetti. Both dishes were excellent. Then we headed back toward the Grand Place and found a Belgian chocolate shop and picked up a few things for family and friends. It was late by then, so back to the hotel to bed. While buying a metro ticket to get back, the ticket vending machine asked for a credit card PIN for the first time all week. Baffled, we tried another card. No joy. A young couple asked us if they could help,and we described the issue. They did not know any trick to have the machine not ask for the PIN, but the girl offered to help us by using her card to pass us through. We all ended up stuck between the entry and exit gates of the multi-pass gate (designed for groups or handicapped people in wheelchairs). She backed out, and then somehow Lynn and I were through. Then she came back in again and got caught in the box again. Finally she did something that allowed her to pass. We thanked them both and headed on our way. Finally back to the hotel for some sleep before our big trip to Luxembourg.
Friday, 7/7 -Luxembourg
Got up at our usual time and had a small breakfast downstairs at the train station. Lynn had a white chocolate covered waffle on a stick that she got from a different vendor; I had my usual Suisse Ronde and coffee. We walked over to the now familiar Ustel Floris Hotel to meet our tour. We met a nice family from San Francisco there who were also going on the trip. Eventually Johannes, our guide from the Ghent and Bruges trip showed up with a bus to pick us up and he took us to the downtown departure point, where we got off that bus and got on the bus for the Luxembourg tour with another guide. The bus was fairly full, and the tour was given in English, Spanish and French due to the mix of people. The trip was long, taking about three and a half hours to get to Luxembourg. We had a 30 minute stop about half way, where we availed ourselves of the restrooms and got some drinks. Finally we arrived and debarked the bus. The guide began the tour next to the cathedral and then walked us through some of the sights in that area, and then down toward the old part of the city. We started at the top of the hill and then walked down into the old city down by the river. We then walked back along the river, looking back up at the casemate built back in the time of Louis XIV, designed by his engineer, Vauban. Eventually the guide walked us along the river to a place where a tunnel entered the cliff side and we took an elevator back to the top – brilliant! Then we had some free time, about an hour and a quarter, to walk around and have lunch. We found a nice little Italian place and had tortellini with meat sauce. After eating, we looked for a store to buy some water for the return trip, but did not find anything on our way to the designated meeting point. We met the bus and started the long trip back. We were nearly halfway back to Brussels when one of the other passengers marched up front and demanded a bathroom stop. The driver and guide relented and we stopped at the next rest area for “5 minutes” for comfort. We also were able to buy some water, which was a good thing as the bus was a little on the warm side and we were thirsty. We continued on for a while longer and then came to the exit for Dinant, a nice little town on the Meuse River. The guide gave us a fairly brief tour, maybe half an hour, and then gave us a little bit of free time. We went into a little river front cafe and had a quick beer and some Lemon Cactus which turned out to be surprisingly refreshing. We stopped one more time on our way back to the bus to buy water. The bus trip back seemed a bit longer as we were tired of riding. Luckily, we were the first off, as the normal debarkation schedule could not be achieved due to some blocked streets for a festival. We walked back to the hotel and freshened up a bit (it was after 2100 by then) and went downstairs to the hotel restaurant for a burger. After first being seated in the normal, fancy restaurant section, we found that the dinner we had in mind was only available at the bar, so we moved there. Lynn had the Victor Burger and I had a steak sandwich. Both were delicious, and each came with a bowl of famous Belgian Frites. We had beer to drink. After finishing all that off, we went back to the room and organized briefly for our homeward departure the next day, and went to bed.