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Rating:
 (5.0) (3 Votes)
Budapest, Belgium
May 14th 2001
Pros: a beautiful medieval
town
Cons: none
Today we drove from Normandy through northeastern France to Belgium.
Our first stop at the crack of dawn (almost) was the D-Day beaches.
Very moving. We saw the remains of the artificial harbour the Allies
left at Arromanches.
We continued north and, when we reached the mouth of the Seine River,
we stopped at a service centre for some breakfast. This poor excuse
for a cafeteria gave us a TINY cup of coffee you could stand a spoon
in. No cream. But good croissants. Later after driving on a very
back road (one lane, two way traffic, pouring rain, soggy ground),
we stopped in a remote French village hoping to find sustenance.
One little restaurant we saw was closed because it was Monday. Desperate
for nutrition, we stopped, parking on the sidewalk like everyone
else, at a little hole-in-the-wall Brasserie where a little dog
was barking at us from the top of one of the tables. Nevertheless,
we had a terrific lunch -- warm soup (great on a cold, wet day),
great bread (no butter), Hache Parementiere (shepherd's pie), a
fresh rhubarb tart (pie). It was fabulous.
A little later, we stopped at the Canadian National Memorial at
Vimy Ridge (Canadians: if you don't know about this piece of Canadian
history, look it up! Americans: this battle took place during WWI
and was a sight of great moment for us Canucks.) Mom's grandfather
was posted to this area in 1917 and lost his leg soon after when
he stepped on a mine. There are many mines still unexploded in the
fields of this region. Farmers are killed every year. We toured
the trenches/tunnels. It was very moving. Some are as much as 25
m underground.
Tonight we're staying in Bruges -- a beautiful medieval town. Beligum
is famous for their French Fries served with sauces, especially
mayonnaise. We had some for supper and the waitress gave us six
sample of sauces. Some were very spicy!
That's all for now. Love to all.
Stay tuned for our next adventure in Bruges and then in Holland.
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