Adventures 2013 - Volume 4, So This Is What Happened - Part Two

Being outside your normal routine for a time soon has me feeling out of sorts.  While I don't miss work, waking up at the crack of dawn or my laundry, I miss my patterns - my knowing that it's time for this or that.  It's things as simple as the way my morning coffee guy confirms how I take my coffee everyday ("just milk, yeah?") which allow me to feel settled and calm.  There's none of this on vacation, which I think is why I like to plan them to death - I need to insert my own sense of knowing into my adventures to instill that sense of calm.

This particular trip in that regard has been challenging.  Aside from our hotels, one concert and one restaurant we have generally had no idea what we're doing.  My natural inclination to freak out at this has waned substantially - we are being so well taken care of and I'm finding routine and pattern in people rather than things.  Take for example The Glasses Family.  We first happened on them at our hotel in Bilbao.  Mom, Dad, Brother and Sister - tall, lean and blond, all but the sister with glasses.  Andrea and I talked for hours about them.  Does sister feel superior because she's the only one with perfect vision, or left out because she doesn't have glasses like everyone else?  We saw them for breakfast at the hotel, for tea later in the afternoon and, much to our surprise, at the airport heading for Brussels.  We gasped with glee as if it was a family reunion!  THE GLASSES FAMILY!  Going home to Brussels!  With us!  They had no idea who we were and I'm sure didn't give us a passing glance at any point during our random run - ins over the past couple of days, but that's the way it should be:  no one should be watching professional people watchers!  We're boring!

We lost The Glasses Family at the Brussels Airport (or, maybe, they finally lost us), but weren't sad for too long as we had another real-life family to meet: the Zadows!

My dear friend Matthew moved with his family to Brussels about six years ago.  He's an opera singer and there's simply more work and training for him in & around Brussels - he's short train rides away from Antwerp, Paris, you name it.  His wife, Maggie, is a teacher and their boys, Malcolm and Duncan are two of the most whip smart charmers you'd ever hope to lay your eyes on.  We parachuted into their lives for two days and, again, let the natives take the lead.

The Zadows picked us up from our hotel in the late afternoon and we embarked on a stroll through the city that basically involved chocolate, beer, mussels, frites, gaufres a bit of history and plenty of laughs.

I often joke that I drink about two beers a year.  Judging from my beer consumption in Brussels, I'm probably good for about a decade now - it's just that the beer doesn't taste like beer there.  It tastes like delicious!  Matthew did a great job choosing for my palate (black cherry!) and I wanted to try it all - light, strong, fruity, all of it!  I'm a "when in Rome" type of person and Belgium is Beer.  In fact,  beer  in Belgium is served in specific glasses and if the bar or restaurant does not have the right glass to serve what you ordered, they will either not serve it or apologize profusely.  I can completely dig standards like that, so after many taste tests and very full bellies we head back to the hotel for much needed sleep and the anticipation of tomorrow.

To say I'm excited about going to Bruges is a massive understatement.  I AM SO EXCITED TO GO TO BRUGES!  The town has held a magical place in my mind well before the amazing 2008 film In Bruges, starring Colin Farrell and Brendan Gleason.  Of course there's a small worry it won't live up to my expectations, but I calm myself down knowing that even if that happens there will be chocolate.  Lots and lots of chocolate.

We're picked up from the hotel by just the boys as Maggie is tutoring, and embark on our 40 minute train ride to Bruges.  As we arrive, the weather is foggy, gray and almost mystical.  It's as if we are on set of our own murder mystery movie.

Made complete with a 90s soundtrack:

And swans in love:

The day continues with whimsy just like this.  Cobblestone streets, horse drawn carriages, boat rides, chocolate shops upon chocolate shops, beer, frites and a climb up the Belfry.

Bruges is a ridiculously charming place.  The type of place that seems to only exist in movies or Disneyland.  We now know that's not true - ridiculous charm exists in Belgium and its name is Bruges.  We're off now, to the Zadows for dinner.

Ah, a comfortable sofa, neverending glasses of champagne, delicious food and glorious company.  Did we mention Shaggy on the sound system?  Why not!  Everything rolls when you're open to it and I couldn't have imagined a more perfect final night.

And so, a trip that began with a casual sentence over dinner has come to an end and I can't say that my delays in posting about it weren't due to the fact I'm still in denial - I miss Alex and Raul and Uri and Adrian and Matthew and Maggie and Malcolm and Duncan and The Glasses Family and our anger management cab driver and laughing with Andrea everyday and eating loads of chocolate and pinxtos and drinking bottles of vodka with a squirt of lemon juice and beer.  I miss drinking beer!  I miss singing Debbie Gibson.  I miss my holiday.  And that's why we need them.  To shake us up and out of our normal day - our routines - to see life fresh and new, when we're there and also when we're home.  To make us fuller and richer in experience, so we can see that our ways aren't the only ways - it's a big world out there lovebugs, and it's up to us to explore it.

Let's Go!