BELGIUM - day 3 - Train to Brugge

Just because you have been looking at Google Earth all week long and can see that there is a direct line from east to west, don't expect the ticket man to tell you when the next direct train to Brugge is if you don't specify the words DIRECT TRAIN.  I just asked, "When's the next train to Brugge?"  It was now!  So we hurried to track 4 because that was the NEXT train to Brugge. (say it in French - say Brouge - like the red stuff you put on your cheeks - but with a B)  

 

I wanted to cry when we got to Kortrijk.  We've been on the damn train for 1½ hours and the ride is only supposed to take an hour and 10 minutes at the most.  The destination sign at the central station said Kortrijk so I assumed that Kortrijk was the last stop and that Brugge must be on the way to Kortrijk - right?  Wrong!.  Shocked and dismayed when we got all the way to Kortrijk and no sign of Brugge at all. 

I asked the ticket controller, "When do we get to Brugge?"  "In about an hour", he said. 

The above pix is the route we took.  It took 2 hours and 24 minutes.

 

This is the route I saw on Google Earth and the one we wanted 

which takes less than 1 hour and 10 minutes.

Believe me - we made sure that we got on the express, direct, short as possible, train going back.

The 2½ hour train ride went through cow country almost the entire way so it was a real sleeper until almost at the end of the line, these 5, loud, obnoxious guys come shouting onto the train blabbing in Flemish.  They are loud and drinking beer and one guy is dressed as a comical cowboy.  All 5 guys approach us and when the cowboy is next to us, he turns around and shows us his ass.  He has no pants on!  One of the guys sticks a whip in my hand and demands me to whip the cowboy on the ass.  So I did.  And they are laughing and blabling some more in Flemish, saying something like eeneuro toeuro treeeuro.  When they get to treeeuro, I realize they are counting in a heavy accented english and charging me for every smack on the ass. One Euro, Two Euro, Three Euro.   I stop spanking, open my wallet and hand over a 5€ bill and give the guy 2 more smacks.  This is your typical European style of a bachelor party.  The guy is getting married the next day.  It was too funny and made us forget for a moment that the train ride seemed like an eternity in boresville.

Finally we arrive in Brugge.  We hop off the train and walk straight over to the departure board to see when a late afternoon train departs and to be sure that we take the express and direct line.  We need a train that stops in Gent and not in Kortrijk.  The G in Gent is pronounced like the sound of sucking snot from your nose to your throat - and I am not joking.  You can see, for example below, that the train departs at 16:57 and arrives at 17:59.  That's 1 hour and 2 minutes.  Thank goodness.

Here is the first cute building we come to as we enter the village of Brugge. 

 It is on the UNESCO list of world heritage sites. 

Of course all those cow fields and all that ass spanking worked up an appetite. 

So we headed for one of the many cute restaurants in the village.

Fried shrimp roll, salmon, beef chunks in wine sauce and of course - french fries.

After lunch we hit up one of the boat tours.  

This is the best way to see most of the village with the least amount of energy expended.

The first boat stop we went to had a wait of 45 minutes.  So just around the corner from the last building on the left, in the above pix, was the next boat ramp where we got on board.  Several ramps - same tour.

Here now are a few pix from the boat tour.

It's an awful lot like the  It's A Small World boat ride at Disneyland except it's real - 

like real busy with tourist.

ok.........you get the idea.

and now we head back to the train station that will take us back to Brussels Central Station - in just one hour.

A map of Brugge, train tickets and boat tickets and so happy to have shared this moment with Jens.

Clink the link to see all 101 pix of day 3 to Brugge.