Mortsel

I'm excited this morning as I will be reunited with people I met on my Asia trip. It's a wonderful thing when you travel as in a very short space of time you make connections that are so special with people who are very like minded in many ways. Bobby won't arrive till lunch so I head out to explore the city some more. I arrive to the museum of the Madonna and child early but the house of Lodewijk van Gruuthuse, is closed so I just enter the church. I'm surprised at how many things are closed at the moment but another must in Bruge is a boat trip along the river but after trying two different boat companies who are both fully booked I manage to use my charm with one of the captains who tells me to go to the next bridge and he will let them know. I gladly manage to board and I'm pleasantly surprised at how different the city looks from the water. Belgium is all about the beer and as I get off the boat the famous beer wall is adjacent. There are 1250 different types of beer and they're relevant glasses in 30m of cabinets. If a beer is served in the wrong glass here a Belgium person would send it back as glasses are a certain shape to give the beer it's best taste . I meander back to the hostel and Bobby messages to say he's here. It's been nearly a year since we saw each other and when we start talking it's like we've never been apart. I've pretty much done most of the site seeing so we sit on a restaurant terrace and eat moules de frit, mussels and chips to me and you. We wander the streets and walk through parks. We are both catching the same train and board it just after 6. Bobby gets off after 1/2 an hour and continue on to Antwerp. It's a little bit mad on the train as each city has north south and central stations but I manage to get off at the right one and joke is there to meet me. She takes me to an old fort which has been transformed into an outside bar and eating area. Tim joins us shortly after and we sit sharing pizza and nacho over a couple of gin and tonics. When we come to leave I honestly don't know how they find there bikes because there are so many but we manage before walking back to Tim's house. The houses here are tall with terraces that have skylight window to let more light in. We sit on the terrace for a few hours catching up on each others lives before heading to bed.Read more