Belgium - June 2024
date: 6th - 14th June
I come to Belgium fairly often because my partner is Belgian with all of his family still living here. Often trips are just for a weekend, but this time we were visiting for a week - and I’m not working!
Getting here (the long edition)
This trip has been a little different to usual because we arrived in different ways. My partner has wanted to cycle from Paris to Brussels in a single day for a long time so we decided to make it happen. Going to Brussels, he decided to do it in two days, so he cycled Paris to Saint Quentin on day one, and then cycled Saint Quentin to Brussels on day two. I took the train to Saint Quentin and then on day two took the train from Saint Quentin to Brussels with a connection in Lille.
Saint Quentin
We stayed in Saint Quentin for a night because it was a place that I could easily get to on the train, could easily get to Brussels and that was around half way on the route to Brussels.
While in Saint Quentin, I didn’t do much. I chilled a little in the hotel room - I called my mum and read my book. After my partner arrived and was showered, we walked into the city to get some dinner.
For dinner we went to Édito - we had a pasta dish and a Welsh. Welshes are something you don’t see often on menus - I’ve never see it in Paris (but I haven’t really searched for it either) - it’s essentially a hot cheese sauce over toasted bread. It’s not something I want to eat every week but on occasions it’s nice. We then went to store to buy a beer to have in the hotel while watching Jet Lag. We knew we’d be up earlyish the next day to get to Brussels.
To get to Brussels I went via Lille. I gave myself four hours connection time because they were working on the train line so the changes of issues increases (and I frequently have train problems), I wanted to get lunch and I needed to change train stations (only ~10 minutes on foot). I walked through the city, had sushi for lunch and then went to the train station to sit and read. I didn’t feel like walking around with a heavy bag.
I’ve been to Lille before - I visited in early 2017 with a group of au pair friends, and last year had an overnight in Lille after we missed the last train to Brussels because out first train was delayed. I think Lille would be a fun city to live in, and I want to revisit again sometime, maybe in September for their mussel festival.
Another day of travelling by train meant I read a solid chunk in my 700 page book, a court of wings and ruin which I only started on this trip (and then later finished).
Brussels
After arriving in midi station, I took public transport to get to my mother-in-laws apartment. I find that in brussels there are so many ways of getting around the city with various combinations of metros, trams and buses. I usually look to see what is going to be fasted because I don’t like waiting 15 minutes if I’ve just missed a tram.
The time in Brussels was pretty short this time. We had a family party on the Saturday which involved a walk around Brussels with some fun facts about the places we were passing through followed by a picnic for lunch.
On the Saturday evening, I took the train to Bruges, which is where I was spending the rest of the week. I wanted to take the bus to get to central station but the bus stopped early because of a manifestation so I walked to nord station and only just made my train. The train after was in like 3O minutes but I didn’t want to wait (and was rather grumpy because I really thought I was going to just miss the train). I arrived at my father-in-laws house alone because my partner had an event and his dad wasn’t home. It was my first time being here alone which was a pretty weird feeling. I had a chilled evening with a glass of wine, crackers and cheese and reading my book.
Bruges
I’ve been to Bruges a few times, but when I’m here I’m usually working remotely so don’t have time to do things during the day, or the days are filled with family related events.
We went to Ostend for a day to visit the grandparents who live there. They cooked lunch for us and then we looked through old photos for hours - they were explaining who everyone was in the photos. It makes me kinda sad that printed photos aren’t so common any more. It was nice to see them again but after over four hours of dutch my brain was tired. After leaving their apartment we went for a walk along the beach and I even went into the sea. The sea was surprisingly not that cold and I’m so pleased I went into the water. I don’t live near the sea at all, so it really feel like an occasion when I get to go into the water.
In Bruges, they had an event on - the Bruges Triennial - an event that happens ever three years which lasts for a few months. This is my first time visiting at the same time as the event was on. I wrote an entire article on the different installations around the city. I was able to see 11 out of 12 - there was one at the coast which I didn’t have time to see.
I also had the time to visit the Groeninge Museum, a museum with a focus on flemish painters including Jan van Eyck and Hans Memling. There were some paintings that I recognised, and it was interesting to see the different styles between the centuries. There were a lot of different groups doing tours, but it wasn’t too busy - I think if I were to go again I would like to follow a tour.
They also had some pieces from the Rebel Garden exhibition which is spread across three museums (Groeninge, Gruuthuse and Sint-Janshospitaal). The Rebel Garden exhibition focuses on our impact on nature and how it affects out environment. I like how this stood out compared to their usual collection.
I went into two different book stores to look for a book written by a Belgian author. When travelling, I like to buy a book from a local author (or set in the area) because it’s nice to have a souvenir and to discover new authors. In one of the stores I asked if they had any books in English or in French by Belgian authors. They had a couple of books but they didn’t seem overly interesting to me. The person in the book store pointed out some Dutch books that were translated rather than from Belgian authors. It seems the market of Belgian Dutch being translated isn’t so popular. I ended up buying a book called la plage d’ostende by by Jacqueline Harpman, a Belgian writer who writes in French. I haven’t yet started this book.
While walking around Bruges, I always think about how many photos I will appear in as part of the background. There are people taking photos all over the city - it’s a really cute city especially when the sun is out.
Home time
After a week in Belgium, it was time to go home - this time the easy route. I took the train from Bruges to Brussels which took about an hour, had almost an hour in midi station before the eurostar back to Paris.
I love travelling, but I also love the feeling of getting home and sleeping in my own bed again. My partner had a long journey home - head winds made it much harder to cycle the 360km, but he did it!