Thursday - April 26, 2012

Today was travel day, from London to Brugge.  We started with a lovely buffet breakfast at the hotel then checked out and got a cab in front of the hotel.  The concierge had told us it would take 12 to 15 minutes to get from the hotel to St. Pancras station to meet Sue and catch the Eurostar.  Trying to be safe, we allowed a full half hour even though that was twice the suggestion.  It ended up taking almost an hour because or road works.  We did make it in time and Sue was there waiting for us.  It was very helpful that Sue had traveled on Eurostar previously as she know the procedure and was able to help us find out way.

The ride itself was quick and smooth.  Barely two hours from London to Brussels including short stops in Ashford, Calais and Lille.  When we got there we spent a few minutes hunting for the Hertz office, until it appeared right in front of us.  The car was waiting for us downstairs and was much nicer than expected.  It is an almost new Renault with a six speed diesel and built in GPS.  The new diesel is very environmental friendly.  It was a bit surprising when I came to the first traffic light and the engine stopped. As soon as I put it in gear, the engine started right up on its own.

The GPS was very helpful in getting out of Brussels and finding the motorway to Brugge.  At first, it was a bit of a challenge following directions in Flemish, but we soon figured out Right and Left and the arrows on the screen helped a lot.;  We did figure out how to switch the voice to English, but it now speaks yards and miles while the speedometer reads in kilometers.  A bit confusing.

We missed the hotel the first time  around since I couldn’t believe that the small alley was really the street so passed it by and had to go around a short loop to get back.  The hotel is quite nice, run by a woman who really seems to enjoy running a small hotel.  She is a wealth of knowledge about the local area and her restaurant recommendations have proved to be excellent.  It is quite small, only about 15 rooms on four floors, but no elevator.  We have tried to minimize the number of trips up and down to save our knees.  The rooms are very nice and the beds are good.  What more could you want?