When I last wrote, we were about to have our final full day
in England, which we spent in Oxford. We caught an early bus there, which gave
us time to wander around, before meeting our Chipping Norton friends, Paul
& Pauline Jackson, for lunch at The
Randolph Hotel. Paul had booked a table within sight of the Martyrs
Memorial, as that was the meeting place for our Walking Tour of Morse, Lewis & Endeavour. It was lovely to
catch up with them both & I presented Paul with the Collingwood scarf I
wore to this year’s Grand Final.
Ever since Paul’s friend, Rob, & I spent a day at the
cricket discussing footy, Paul has been curious to learn about Aussie Rules
& I have been delighted that he has started getting up early on Saturday
mornings to watch the games.
Paul wearing his scarf
in the Morse bar at the Randolph Hotel, Oxford & below, Wes, Pauline, Karen
& Paul in front of the John Thaw portrait
We were very sorry to leave the Jacksons after two hours,
which flew by, but our tour beckoned & we were so pleased we had booked it.
Our guide, Elizabeth, was very knowledgeable & had been taking tours like
this for 13 years. She had met all the actors & knew lots of inside stories
& clever jokes that are part of Lewis & Endeavour in particular.
We arrived back home tired but happy that night, after a
lovely, stimulating day in beautiful Oxford.
On Friday, we were booked to catch the Eurostar to
Brussels, so rose early, packed, cleaned up our flat as best we could &
headed off to St Pancras International Station via South Kensington tube. We
had bought Tourist Oyster cards back in September & I put £50 on each,
which was more than enough to see us through a week of travelling on the
underground.
The Eurostar experience was fun without being remarkable
& we arrived at Brussels-midi with the prospect of a 10 minute walk to our
Marriott Hotel. 45 minutes later we finally found it! The staff were amazed we
walked & when we pointed out that their website suggests they are 10
minutes away, they said – but not with luggage! We had to wait another 45
minutes for our room, but it is well-appointed & quiet & the shower
works very well indeed.
Leigh & Simon (pictured
on the train to Bruges) arrived too late for us to meet up that night, so
we grabbed a quick meal & had the best sleep of our trip with an excellent
mattress & foam pillows.
The next morning, we met up at breakfast & headed out
to The Grand Place to meet our guide
for the tour of Bruges. We were a small group of 9, which was very manageable.
Our guide, Peter, a Liverpudlian, had a great knowledge of art & history,
which made his delivery very interesting. We enjoyed two hours of solid walking
around the mediaeval town of Bruges, including the canals. Finally Peter left
us to our own devices, so we found a very pleasant café, where we had tomato
soup & Belgian fries for lunch.
Wes enjoying our tour
of Bruges
Last night we four caught a taxi to Le Wine Bar des Marolles,
which Wes had chosen some time ago, as the place to celebrate his birthday. We
were all impressed with the staff, the amazing food, the superb wine list &
most of all, the effort everyone made to ensure we had a memorable evening.
Stuffed marrowbones
& wild duck for two
This morning, we all slept in and met again at breakfast
for a debrief & discussion of the day’s activities. We set off to visit the
Museum of the City of Brussels, a
Gothic revival building which houses the history of Brussels, including artefacts,
paintings & tapestries. We enjoyed that very much, before heading off to
find the famous statue Manneken Pis. After
some more walking around, we headed back to Grand Place for drinks – tea for
me, hot chocolate for Wes (which turned out to be cold); coffee for Leigh &
a beer for Simon.
We spent some time at the magnificent Gothic Cathedral of
Saint-Michael & Saint-Gudula, where I lit a candle for Jessie.
Our final destination was the famous shopping arcades &
eating areas. We even found a place advertising Australian Made Ice-Cream! Leigh & Simon went off to have a
late lunch & drive back home to Luxembourg, while we went back to our hotel
for a rest as we have a concert to attend tonight at the Bozar.
We had a lovely time with Leigh & Simon & are very
grateful that came to spend time with us during our holiday.
Leigh & Wes
outside the Brussels Town Hall building
No comments:
Post a Comment