Crocs in First Class?

You bet! Apparently this guy had to sell all his shoes that can reasonably be worn in public for his ticket today. Really nice :-)

-Ryan

They Found Us!

Do planes really need 2 altimeters? According to Air Canada they sure seem to. I think Mel jinxed us when she pointed out that our flight was code shared with a United flight and that lead to an altimeter failing which cost us a one hour delay, which meant missed connections in Montreal, then in Toronto.

So instead of a leisurely 4:30pm arrival we're hoping for a 12:30am arrival.

I can only assume Mel's less than cordial mood right now is a manifestation of her guilt for jinxing us.

-Ryan

Strike One...but You're Out Anyway

I think we were due for some sort of vacation failure, and we got that done nicely today. It was our last full day on the trip so Mel and I decided to head into Brussels to see a few things while the others took the car back to Ghent for another day there.

We got dropped off at the train station and bid the others a good day. We should have realized something was fishy when we noticed there were hardly any other people around during rush hour. It was quiet, a little too quiet.

The train station doors were locked and there wasn't a soul to be seen inside. There were a few people outside the station having a smoke, but they seemed to be permanent residents of the smoking area outside the station and had no intentions of going in.

After some asking around I got one word being repeated to me, "greve". Nobody knew what the translation was for it, but once someone mentioned "syndicat" I figured out there was an all day strike on for the trains (and busses as it turns out). The lazy jerks didn't even bother with any sort of picket line or signs, just no work. WTF? If you're going to strike shouldn't you make some sort of public display of annoyance?

So instead of a nice day (and the weather was the nicest we'd seen in a while) in Brussels we ended up walking around Mons all day again. Still made the best of it and enjoyed ourselves (after all, the beer in Mons is just as tasty as anywhere).

But the strike wasn't quite done messing with us. It also messed up our ride home and some scrambling had to be done to get us a ride as our cell phones weren't really working.

Even that all worked itself out though and barely even delayed the most important plans of the day, cooking and eating delicious frog legs! If you haven't tasted them, yes, they are very much like chicken wings. But unlike wings you can take frog legs and pretend to make the frog jump around the table and telling your wife about how delicious Kermit is.

-Ryan

Oh Those Crazy Monks

There is a LOT of beer in this country. And they take that beer very seriously. When I asked a waitress yesterday which one of their draft beers was the best she replied, "This is Belgium, they're all the best." That didn't really help me pick one, so I just worked my way down the taps. She was wrong by the way, one of them was tastier than the others, but they were all good.

I switched over to bottled beer today. About half way through one of these bottles I wondered to myself, "What is that big '10' in the background of the label?" Turns out that means, "Don't bother trying to stand up for a while, this 10% beer will just sit you back down." I'm sure the monks who brewed this would totally approve of it being mixed with the cold meds I'm taking too.

See you in the future,
Ryan

Street Meat to the Rescue

Our first breakfast in Belgium was not exactly what I'd call delicious, or healthy, or even good really. We grabbed some stuff from one of the few cafes that was actually open on a Sunday. I thought I was getting myself a quiche tart with some little candy/sweet things on the side (including a French macaron). Turns out I got a large custard tart so I essentially had nothing but desserts for breakfast.

I left the cafe feeling about like a sack of crap and really wanting something better to eat. But all was not lost! We happened upon a nice Sunday market in a town square only a couple blocks away that had among other things a big truck selling street chicken, ribs, hams, and potatoes. A bag full of delicious wings only set me back €2 and just may have been the best wings I've ever had. Definitely the best ones I've eaten from a truck on the side of a road.

I've also learned that street waffles are excellent! Anything from now on I see being sold on the street is going straight into my mouth. Even if it is just sitting on the street I might give it a shot. The streets here don't seem to smell as much like urine as in other places so food is probably fairly clean.

We didn't end up staying in the bakery we wanted to tonight because their boiler broke down and they told us we'd have no hot water for showers. So we're in Mons now instead. That'll teach us for trying to stay the night in a bakery.

-Ryan

I'm So Important I'll a Have Croissant After my Croissant!

And NOTHING for my wife!

I'm pretty sure that was the impression I left with the super-barrista at a Parisien cafe this morning. I tried to order ONE coffee and TWO croissants. The coffee being for me and a delicious croissant for each of us. What I got was a croissant delivered to the table. Then when that was done and cleared away I got two coffees (one was sent back). And finally when that was done I was asked if I would like MY second croissant. I'm sure the guy didn't notice Mel ate the first one. He must have assumed I was some crazed tourist ordering my croissant "courses" sequentially.

Come to think of it, I would actually like to start doing that at home. It'd be fun to order up a Boston Cream donut and explicitly tell the Tim Hortons donut slinger to bring me a second donut IMMEDIATELY after I had finished my first one.

In defense of the super-barrista this morning, he was making and delivering tiny French coffees at an unbelievable rate. I think someone coming onto his turf who DOESN'T order a coffee really messes with his rhythm.

-Ryan

Carcassonne IN Carcassonne!!!

I realize there has been a gap in posts lately (incidently, I giggle every time the subway tells me to "Mind the Gap"...see www.thechive.com for context). We've been busy, and not having too many MISadventures.

But I do need to congratulate Alex on winning our one and only game of Carcassonne right inside the ancient city walls of the town the game is based on. It was pretty nerd-gasm worthy to play this board game inside the city walls. For those of you who haven't played this game, imagine playing Monopoly while actually driving a pewter roadster, or hopping around in a huge metal boot. Or maybe like playing Monte Carlo in the casino of the same name. Or maybe Risk on an actual battlefield with live ammo...maybe not that one, but you get the idea.

Anyway, it was great and an excellent, unique thing to do.

More posts about failures are sure to follow :-)

-Ryan

And the Winner is...

Chitterlings! The category was "Worst Tasting Item of Food Prepared in France". Fortunately I didn't order them, UNfortunately I did taste them. I highly recommend them to anyone who is really into mysterious meat generously flavored with shit. Honestly, they tasted exactly how a pig barn smells, THAT delicious!

There have been plenty of delicious foods to more than make up for that dish though, but who wants to read about travel successes? Travel failures are much better.

For example, I managed to go through 3 subway tickets in one trip today. Apparently there is no grace period to run laps of the exit doors :-(

Avis is a four letter word

Unlike the good price you get by booking train tickets right at the station, booking a car right at the rental place is a shitty idea. The employees at avis are apparently experts in wringing every last penny out of their victims...er...customers.

"You want extra drivers? That'll be $50 more. All FOUR wheels? $25 per day for each one after the first. You want enough kms to actually get OUT of our parking lot? That'll be VERY expensive."

At one point he told us unlimited kms were not allowed in France, though it clearly contradicts what their website says. Jackass.

In the end we didn't have much choice and got the avis car. The car claimed to be a turbo, but maybe something was lost in translation, because this seemed to have as much jam as 2 squirrels hopped up on a couple shots of French coffee. I followed my goal from yesterday and used all the throttle as much as possible.

It wasn't all bad though. The car was narrow enough to fit into the TINY streets to get to the house we rented. We had to actually fold in both side mirrors to get to where we were going, but we made it. Didn't even do much damage.

The town we're in is about the size of a postage stamp yet somehow contains 2400 residents. The houses are all very narrow and tall. I feel like if I turned my phone the wrong way I'd get my thumb stuck writing this post. See for yourself...

-Ryan

(The house isn't sideways, couldn't rotate the picture)

Qualifying for the Grand Prix of Marseilles

In one day I've seen 2 people get hit by cars in this city. Maybe not "hit" but at least grazed. One was a little girl that was crossing the street with her parents too late. She wasn't hurt, just scared. The other was a fat guy hanging over the edge of a hop on / hop off tourist train that got clipped by a mirror. That seemed deliberate actually, it was a driver side mirror. I guess that is why some of the tourist trains kept people glassed in like they're in an aquarium.

Why am I mentioning this? Because tomorrow we're getting ourselves off the mean streets and into a car of our own. Should be an easy task, just make sure you use all the throttle all the time and clip any  pedestrians you encounter with your mirror. Driving on the sidewalk seems like fair game too so it shouldn't be hard to rack up lots of points.

We've probably had enough walking for a bit anyway. Walking here is a far cry from the flat turf we call home. We climbed up today from the old port (which seems pretty close to sea level) up to a church that said it was 147m above sea level. That church should provide some towels at the top, or maybe a shower.

Despite how sweaty that walk was I still don't think it at all justifies the fugly track suits so many people seem to wear here. WTF? You're clearly not about to run a 100m dash, why did you decide to put on a matching track suit this morning? It may be about right for the climate here, but does that mean I should start wearing ski boots and goggles all winter at home? Probably not.

-Ryan

No United legs? No problems!

We just arrived in France had absolutely no problems getting here. No lost luggage, no missed or delayed flights, no unexpected drives to Regina in the early hours of the day, nothing! And I think all the thanks can be attributed to having none of our flights operated by United.

My first observation here is that I really don't need to worry about splashing on too much aftershave (not that I'm planning to shave this sweet beard off anyway). I'm pretty confident I could have tracked one woman like a bloodhound about 15 minutes after she walked by...and I might give that a try later.

My second observation is that I really can't speak French yet. Not too shocked by that, maybe it'll come back after a bottle of wine or 3 :-)

-Ryan