Traveling: Brugge, Belgium

Why, oh why did I leave Italy??

Yesterday I flew from Rome to Amsterdam, then took a train from Amsterdam to Brugge, switching trains in Antwerpen. I was ready, I knew what I was doing, where I was going, and how I was getting there. And I was excited to get back to the land of clear schedules and punctual trains. Or so I thought....

My train from Amsterdam to Antwerpen had some minor malfunctions, so we were running late. Instead of the allotted 21 minutes to change trains, I had 3. No problem - I made it from track 24 to track 3 with one minute to spare. Then about halfway into the final leg to Brugge, the train stopped at a station in Gent, and didn't move for 45 min. Now when this happens in Italy, I think there's a problem. When it happens in Belgium I think there must be a scheduling reason. Turns out there wasn't. The train finally starts up and we make it past one more station and are on our way to the next when the train dies again. Now we wait again. And we wait. And we wait. Then finally the train starts moving again. Back into the direction from which we have come. No joke. Everyone on the train starts muttering and sighing, having no idea what is happening. Then, as if by magic, we end up at the next station. Coming from the wrong direction. And then we continue moving in the wrong direction - all the way to Brugge. Strange.

Now, instead of arriving at 8.40p, I arrive at 10.30p And of course by the time I walk to my hotel, reception is shut for the evening with a note on the door with a phone number - which I have no way of calling as 1. I've suspended my cell service, 2. I arrived too late to buy any kind of phone card, and 3. the pay phones don't take coins anymore. But wait, there is a couple who is staying in the hotel walking up the stairs, so I ask if I could use their phone to call reception. And the woman says, "Oh sorry, I don't have my phone on me." And they keep walking. What?? Really??

So I leave my luggage behind a door in the lobby, and head back toward the station, thinking I'll take a cab and have the driver call reception for me. When I get back to the station, the taxi driver says yes of course, he'll take me to the hotel, but no, absolutely not, he will not call reception for me. I wish I was making this up.....

I walk into the station, past the drunks pulling up a chair for the night, and see a woman about my age. I explain my situation, and she makes the call for me, tells the hotel I will be back in 10 minutes, and wishes me a good trip in Belgium.

Now of course I had had to use the bathroom for about 2 hours. So when I got back to the hotel, and still saw no one at reception, I wandered up the stairs, thankfully found an open room, and used the bathroom. I was also thinking that if no one showed up, I would crash in this room, and deal with it in the morning. At least I would have a bed.

Soon after I went back downstairs, the guy at reception showed up, told me my room was the very one I had just been in, and I was done for the night.

Or so I thought.

When I got to the room, I shut the window and got ready for bed. Then I noticed an awful smell coming from the shower room (the toilet and shower were in two different rooms), which reminded me of the time when a small animal died under the floor in my apartment. I then realized this was the reason for the open window. I tried to close off the smell, because I had no desire to sleep with the window open, but a few hours later, I gave in. I put on my scarf, opened the window, and slept.

Thankfully, I got a new room this morning, but only until Friday, as the hotel is full booked. They are hoping to solve the problem by then so I can move back into my room for my final night in Belgium. Fingers crossed, everyone. And hopefully tomorrow it won't be raining....

All of this for William Forsythe tonight. And Xavier Le Roy tomorrow. And Jerome Bel on Friday.

When I think about it, I really haven't had ANY problems since I arrived in Europe in mid-Sept. It's just too bad that all the accrued trouble decided to surface at the same time. Que sera sera. Quel che sucede sucede.

I refuse to be grumpy.