We caught the bus to Potes on Monday morning, Sabine once again noting features of towns we passed through and where they were on the map, while I just gazed at the mountains. We determined to get back to La Hermina and San Vicente de Barquere, two of the more spectacular towns. San Vicente was… Continue reading Potes
Santander
Sabine was waiting for me at the tiny Bilbao international airport after spending six hours exploring the two shops and a restaurant in the facility. She’d also obtained a map from the tourist information centre and done some research. Since she’d made the decision to go to Spain and invited me I fully expected her… Continue reading Santander
Day 4-6
Merle didn’t manage to get any days off while I was there, so I joined her for the trip into town, with a plan to wander. I looked around while we waited for the bus. “Look how close we are to the mountains here,” she said. There was a park at the end of the… Continue reading Day 4-6
Day 2-3
Merle, like most people I know, is not a morning person, so I sat reading for a couple of hours the following morning, a Saturday, until she got up. We had decided to go to Parnassos, a ski area about 5 hours from Athens, but by the time we left, we knew we wouldn’t make… Continue reading Day 2-3
Day 1
I arrived in Athens just after noon, although Merle wouldn’t finish work until 5pm. We were planning to rent a car for the weekend, so I dropped my bag at the airport luggage and stopped off at the tourist information centre. I’d spent the flight reading up on the Greek writing system and some key… Continue reading Day 1
Hopscotch
It rained on the weekend. I mean, it really rained. Not this piss-weak mist that everyone complains about here, barely roughing the surface of puddles and drying on your clothes before the next drop can hit. This rain was heavy enough for me to put up the umbrella I normally only carried so as not… Continue reading Hopscotch
The customer is always…
After Japan, it’s not surprising that Belgian customer service fails to please, but surely they can do a better job than this. I used to take a few minutes to do my grocery shopping on the way home each day. Here it takes a good hour just to get through the registers so, needless to… Continue reading The customer is always…
Famous
If you finished the sentence by talking about the European Union, chocolate or the Maniken Pis, you get one point. If you answered with the name of the ugliest monument I’ve ever seen, the Atomium, score two. But Belgians would give you most points, say five, for realising that many things other countries are famous… Continue reading Famous
Trams
To me, trams represent an ancient world. I’d seen the photos of trams in Miranda near where I grew up, but the photos were black and white, which meant that they were taken about as far back as history went. Seeing them still running in Melbourne and in Sapporo didn’t change that, and when I… Continue reading Trams
Arrival
You might think that after living in Japan, moving to Brussels would be like coming home. You’d be wrong. I don’t have any friends or family here, and no one says “g’day” for a start. And the differences go deeper than that. How could they not, here on the other side of the world? I… Continue reading Arrival