There is a group of six English Blokes ordering all of the cold beer. The bartender has to keep checking to see if there are enough for them to all enjoy the same kind of beer. Six more __________ sorry I only have four, okay..... Six more ________, sorry I only have three. They are tearing through all the beer that has been chilled for the day. That is what happens when a great Belgium Beer bar is treated like a Frat Party. Time to head back to the train and back to Brugges. We stroll over to the train station, Chris stops for photos ops and Trish to the station. Hurry Chris no time for a sweet treat, if we miss this train, we have to wait for the next one, and we are pretty much done with this town. Back to Brugge we go.
To the hotel to drop our stuff and head out for some shopping and touring. We inquire with the Hotel owner about the Riot Police from last night. Oh that, he says,”.there are some protestors about a forest. Well I can’t really call it a forest; there are maybe 20 trees that are being taken down to build. The people are upset; here the Police don’t take any chances. Not sure why they are so upset there will be double or triple that many trees planted. Can’t really call it a forest”
We wander the streets and people watch. Come across a quiet dark bar with a fireplace and some locals enjoying their Friday night. We join them for a pint, and some conversation. The owner seems to love Jazz and good drink. We settle up the bill, and are on our way. A few doors down we find a great local Tapas place. The kitchen is shared by two chefs that own the place and plan the menus. Sharing duties between the kitchen and the front of the restaurant.. The place is packed and the only open place is the bar, we chat with the bartender and enjoy dinner of tapas. We ask if this is locals or tourists. He states almost all locals always. Not many tourists, tonight, we are 1 of 2 tables, of tourists in the bar and restaurant. The bartender asked where we were from. Always a hard thing to answer. If we say the US, they say, of course, but where. But if we state Salt Lake City, Utah are we just arrogant Americans? The response varies, so we continue to say US. He of course interested to know if we still like our president. He states I read in America his rating is falling and the dislike is very high. He also, is quick to ask how Americans behave the way they do, he still can’t figure out how our last president ever won, really how did so many people like Bush. It makes for good conversation. Dinner was lovely; everyone should enjoy some tuna tartar with wasabi ice cream at least once. There is more kava being poured than should be legal. What a great idea, start each meal kava. We ask the bartender, what the celebration is. “The seniors/last years, only 100 days of school remaining” Really this is a celebration that is official, yes indeed he had one himself, plenty of fun then, not so fun now. Here you can drink at 16 it is perfectly normal, you can’t drive until you are 18. We tell him in the US this would be mayhem. Maybe this explains the protesters from last night and all of the people with painted faces today. 100 Days.
Time to go, we say our goodbyes, and wander back to the Monks hole, from last night. This night, still very cool and interesting, but we quickly realize, it is us and a bunch of people that are celebrating 100 Days (read here, young kids), we head home to pack up. Reality is hitting, we are almost done with vacation. We talk about what we have learned, what we would do differently how many days in each place, where would we come back to, what would we pack. We have had a wonderful time.
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