Tuesday – May 1, 2012

Tuesday was our day to return to England on Eurostar.  We had driven into Brussels enough times to have a pretty good idea how long it would take, and since May 1 is a holiday, we didn’t expect too much traffic so we decided on a leisurely morning.  We had a late wake up alarm, did some packing and a breakfast without rushing.  After breakfast, we finished packing, brought the bags down stairs and paid the bill.  We left the bags in the hotel lounge to do some final touring of Brugge.

The weather had warmed and cleared – of course, we were leaving.  Our prime objective was the Church of Our Lady where there is a Michelangelo sculpture of Mary and Child.  According to the history, it was commissioned for the church in Sienna, but purchased by the Count of Flanders before it made it to Sienna. We learned that the church is an interesting mix of church and state.  One side is open without charge to the public, supposedly so that the faithful can pray.  The other side is run by the Brugge City Museum and there is a charge for entry.  The only thing that separates the two sides is a simple rope hung from the pillars, but people seem very good about respecting the boundary.

It was worth the 3 Euro charge as there are some very interesting paintings and old sarcophaguses both in a side chapel and under the main altar floor.  It wasn’t clear where the remains that had previously occupied the chambers have gone, but the display was interesting.  Beautiful paintings on 12th century tombs.

There is so much art in the church, that in one chapel I noticed a sign for a Van Dyck but there was no painting.  When I inquired, the guide pointed to it rather carelessly leaning against a back wall.  I guess when you have so many masters, who cares about one.

After going back and picking up our bags we got the car out of the underground car park and drove to Brussels.  The trip was fast as expected and it only took a little while to find the correct train station.  Hertz was closed so we just dropped the car key in a slot in a door and found some sandwiches and got on the train.

The trip was smooth and quick.  Brussels to London in two hours is really amazing.  We knew that there wasn’t going to be a car rental office at St. Pancras and we had been told to take a cab to Euston Station and that Avis would pay the fare,  The cabbie didn’t know exactly where the office was and so dropped us at the station taxi rank.  It turned out that the Avis office was a couple of blocks away so I left the ladies at the station and got the car.  Once I had the car, to took almost 40 minutes to get back the two blocks between one way streets and avoiding the London Congestion Charging System.  The trip down to Emsworth wasn’t too bad, considering we were travelling in rush hour.