Day 7 - Namur

Alethios

New Zealand2765 Posts

January 17 2010 18:31 GMT

Hey guys. Sorry this one is up so late. I had it all written up and ready to go on Thursday night, but I must have clicked away from the page or something... and several hours work went down the drain. Lesson learned I guess. Write it up in word, then copy and paste it over. Problem is the formatting gets mucked up and... grumble grumble grumble.

Point is, it's so depressing starting something again like that, I couldn't bring myself to do it until now. So sorry thats it's later than I promised.

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Kelly and I had organised on Tuesday (day 6) night to meet up the following day in Namur. I was to take the train, which left at 11:30.

I thought it best to head along early, as I had to buy a ticket and was unfamiliar with the station. I hurried along, and caught the 10:30 tram, the same one as I had caught the previous day.

It was snowing more heavily that day than any other since I'd arrived in Europe. It was a lot of fun to see snowflakes flocculating into larger clumps, getting into cracks, covering the road and people alike.

It wasn't long before I discovered the big downsides of tram travel. Obviously the tram cannot leave the tracks, so if there is an obstruction, the tram cannot but wait for it to clear. Previously, this hadn't been too serious a problem, as the idiots who think it's ok to stop in the middle of the road, flick on their hazzard lights and pop into a shop would only hold the tram up for a minute or so at most.

The problem I ran into that day was much larger. I didn't realise this at first, thinking the unexplained stop was much like the all the other stops. I contented myself by looking the trails of snow in the air passing cars leave behind. Really interesting way to see the pattern of air flow around a vehicle. Time was ticking on though, and we were getting nowhere fast. After about 10 minutes, people started getting off the tram, realising that it was a serious blockage up ahead and they'd need to find other methods of reaching their destination. Not speaking either French or Dutch, it took me a while longer to realise this, and it wasn't until 11 or so that I finally got off the tram, still a long way from the train station.

I walked, following the tram tracks, in the direction of the station. I hoped that another tram or perhaps a bus would come along, but I quickly realised that I'd need to find a taxi in order to reach the station on time. Unfortunately, I suppose most of the taxi's in the area had been diverted to the area I had just left, and I was unable to find one for some time.

When I did finally find a taxi, it was one of those BMW corperate taxis. I kept checking my wallet during the ride, knowing that I'd be paying a bucketload once i'd arrived. In the end though, the trip came to 7 euro 50. Double that to get it to New Zealand dollars, and you're looking at about the same price as a comparable journey in Auckland. Not too bad!

At the station (Gare Du Midi), I grabbed myself a 'go pass'. Anybody under 26 can use one, and it's 50 euro for 10 trips (not train rides, you can change trains as often as you like) from anywhere in Belguim to anywhere else. Not a bad deal at all.

So in the end, I ended up on the right train at the right time. Woo hoo! Not knowing about the Belgium train system though, I just jumped into the first carriage I saw. Soon after I sat down in the train, I was joined by two extremely well dressed businessmen, who spoke English to each other. I quickly learned, eavesdropping, that they were from Luxembourg (which was the trains eventuall destination). Never met any Luxembourgians before. Fun times. The ticket man came through, clipping tickets and informed me that I was seated in the first class section of the train. Whoops. Guess that explained all the rich people and nice seating.

After walking through the train to a more modest section, I sat myself down amoungst the chatter and merriment of the other half. Much more enjoyable really. I contented myself to listen to the chatter and gaze out the window into the snow covered wonderland.

I was meeting Kelly inside the trainstation at 1, and the train arrived around 12:50. I pulled up a seat inside the trainstation to wait for her. Big mistake. The stainless steel seats must be chilled down to about minus 60 degrees celcius(though i realise that would cause massive problems for the steel) for maximum sitting pleasure. Seriously, those seats felt like they were on the far side of Pluto. I, being a red blooded kiwi bloke, thought i'd just tough it out rather than lose mana by standing up again thus prolonging the agony.

Kelly arrived, and I met a few of her friends. Weird people. Stay clear of them if you can!

Only joking, they seemed nice enough though I only saw them for a minute at most. Since it was a wednesday, they were all heading off to Brussels to get sloshed and (apparently) topless. Big Wednesdays in Belgium apparently. We always saved it for Mondays when I was flatting. That way, you had the entire week to recover by sleeping in class, before going out drinking again Friday night. Not really my kind of thing though, but it did happen.

Er, anyway. Namur is a really lovely city. I really can't get enough of the streets throughout Europe. Narrow, carless, cobbled, lined with great houses and fantastic cathedrals and other old buildings.

If only there were cobblestones!

After grabbing lunch (more colesterol packed goodness in the form of the machine gun, which i've had to cut back on, on penalty of death (= ), we headed along towards the citadel of Namur, the city's main attraction apparently.

It was just a short walk away, across the river. It's a gigantic fortress, facing away from the city, towards the Barbarian hordes. Situated on what must be Belgium's only hill, it's a very nice park to walk around in.

The view across the city from about half way up

When we neared the top, Kelly insisted on standing in the snow for a while and admiring the view. Easy for her, she was dressed much more warmly than I!

This really was a fantastic view, shame about my camera not capturing it as well as I would have liked

I was starting to get really cold, so we headed back into town. Kelly tells me she likes shopping, with other people's money, and as much as I usually hate shopping, it was time to get some thermals. We shopped around for a bit, before finding some very cheap thermal leggings and tops. Apparently the big gift giving day is new years around there, so we caught the big sales nicely.

The next port of call was to get me some of Kelly's favourite waffles. It's a regular belgium waffle, which has been absolutely drenched in chocolate. I ate it, though I was less than impressed to be honest. Think I prefer the regular ones. Anyway, Kelly managed to take a series of what are perhaps the most unflattering photos ever taken of me. Though now that I think of it, there are likely many contenders. No doubt i'll regret sharing them with you later on in life anyway.

See what I mean?

The last port of call in Namur was a local pub. Beer, even in pubs is rediculously cheap in Belgium and I was keen to have a beer or two in a genuine establishment before heading back to Brussels.

Kwak, a beer i'd seen occasionally in New Zealand, but never bought due to it being $15 a bottle, was first on my hit list. Set me back 2 euro. Disgustingly cheap. Certainly not a half bad beer either, plenty of flavour.

The glass is, of course, half the fun

Seated next to us, were a group of teenages engaged in some heavy drinking. They were singing a drinking song at one point, and motioned for me to join in. I explained that I did not know the song, but would be happy to join them anyway.

Nice group of people really. Kelly had met one of them before, and I bought a round for everybody, which came to about 7 euro for 6 of us. Buy the cheapest drinks you possibly can at any bar in New Zealand, and it'll come to at least $36 for 6 people. Who says Europe is expensive?

One of our number was a couple, and kept withdrawing out of the conversation to make out (kiss, full throttle). As they were lying atop each other, I remarked to the others how New Zealand is very different and how you would never see such a sight. They responded that you'd usually never see such things in Belgium either! My guess was that the couple must have only recently started going out, and we found out they'd been going out for about four days. The sweet sound of me being right, yet again, rang in my ears.

The fun was not to last, Kelly had to catch the last train back to her place around 6.

I've mentioned the pay per use toilets in Europe before, but the train station in Namur was particularly bad. There are two old folk sitting right by the door ensuring you pay before entering. More than a tad unnerving to be honest. Snapped of a photo (with their permission) as I left so you can see what I mean.

Scary!

Anyway, I saw Kelly off, then took the next train back to Brussels. It was pitch dark by then, so there was unfortunately nothing to see from the train.

+ Show Spoiler [Many images from my day in Namur] +

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I'm going to start writing day 8 right away, as I'm in danger of falling seriously behind. Obviously things start to fade and the posts aren't as good the further back I go, so look out for day 8 a bit later on.

Also, I'm looking for things to do tomorrow in Brussels. Any ideas? Most things are shut on Mondays. Anybody keen for a beer or something?

Cheers guys,

Alethios

RaGe

Belgium9946 Posts

January 17 2010 19:05 GMT

I'd grab a beer with you if I didn't have exams. Since you seemed in to art, the museum of fine arts in Brussels might please you. And yeah, the justice palace like I already mentioned. Could visit Leuven too, only a couple of minutes on the train.

Pakje

Belgium288 Posts

January 17 2010 19:08 GMT

go to this place http://www.deliriumcafe.be/
hopefully it's not too crowded.

btw visit leuven

Alethios

New Zealand2765 Posts

January 17 2010 19:21 GMT

Pretty sure I've already been to the justice palace. Isn't this it?

Worth heading to Leuven on a Monday do you guys reckon? Looks like a great place though, perhaps I'll save it till Tuesday?

Mango

Belgium522 Posts

January 17 2010 20:07 GMT

Don't know how long you stay in Belgium, but if it's possible I would say wait visiting both Leuven and Gent until the 2nd week of February. Both have a big university but we are having exams for the moment, you will meet way more young people if you wait till the lessons start again.
Also don't forget to visit Brugge, most touristic city in Belgium so a must do I suppose.

I can only give some advice on Gent though, the only decent city I know well enouf. If you like Kwak there is a special beer place called 'De dulle griet' you should visit (also very touristic, it's on 'de vrijdagsmarkt' ) where you can get the special 1,2l glasses, a special drinking experience for a bit over 9euro I think. Also special for drinking is 'Het dreupelkot' close to it on 'de groentenmarkt', you can get jenever there, but I honestly have no idea how that is called in English, it's pretty good though

For dinner you should definitely eat french fries in Belgium, but will probably already have noticed the places where they sell those, go in and enjoy!
If you want something different you could try Amadeus in 't Patershol, you can get wonderful ribs there and it has an incredible authentic feeling to sit there.

For visiting: you have the SMAK and Museum voor schone kunsten if you like musea, but both ain't really worth it if you ask me. SMAK is modern art if that would be your thing. Otherwise you could go see the Gravensteen, the Belfort and other churches in the center (it's a bad time to visit though tbh, they are working everywhere in the center for the next year, bad luck cause it really is a mess there for the moment...). There ain't that much which is specially worth visiting in Gent in my opinion, but if you have some time left it's a really cosy city to visit, just wandering around is a very pleasant way to spend a day. And for transportation: the center reachable by tram.

Have fun in Belgium, and you can PM if you have any specific questions.

RaGe

Belgium9946 Posts

January 17 2010 21:44 GMT

On January 18 2010 04:21 Alethios wrote:
Pretty sure I've already been to the justice palace. Isn't this it?

Worth heading to Leuven on a Monday do you guys reckon? Looks like a great place though, perhaps I'll save it till Tuesday?

no this is it:

ganil

253 Posts

January 17 2010 22:08 GMT

Namur is a cool city

Caphe

Vietnam10817 Posts

January 17 2010 22:18 GMT

Nice write up

Keep it coming, and good luck with your trip

Alethios

New Zealand2765 Posts

January 17 2010 22:49 GMT

On January 18 2010 06:44 RaGe wrote:

Show nested quote +

no this is it:

Wow, that picture really stuffed up the page format

Okies, well I'll have a look out for it tomorrow. Thanks for the heads up.

Latham

9560 Posts

January 17 2010 23:27 GMT

#10

Damn I've got exams on Monday and Wednesday ;\. Hmmm I'll probably be done with the one on Monday at about noon so we can go grab a beer in the afternoon? I can't show you much about Brussels, but I'd gladly show you around our Campus, grab a beer and talk with you.

Just sent you a PM with my phone number.

meeple

Canada10211 Posts

January 17 2010 23:35 GMT

#11

Haha its looks really fun, and I'm definitely jealous of the cheap beers. Thats one handsome chocolate stashe

foeffa

Belgium2115 Posts

January 17 2010 23:48 GMT

#12

Should go to Antwerp. ^^

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