Leaving Normandy, Arriving in Brussels

Some observations about Normandy:

We felt comfortable in the rural Norman environment. The countryside is green and gently rolling, with patches of tame woodlands separated by fields of wheat, or flax, or hay. And dotted everywhere by little hamlets, many of them older than any town in Canada. Not a lot of wildlife in evidence except the birds — but boy, are there a lot of birds, all singing and twittering their songs. Hearing actual cuckoos calling (and yes, they sound exactly like the clocks) was a kick.

Many of the little villages are so close together, it’s a wonder they bother to call them separate places (apart from, I guess, the centuries of history of being separate places). I sometimes imagined what rivalries could exist between towns so close to each other — like, a resident of Vieux Challons looking out his kitchen window at the village of Vrai Challons, 50 metres away, and muttering how those Vrai Challons people think they’re so great, just wait till next football season, we’ll show them.

The people in Normandy were very friendly, always kind and helpful and not at all put off by our horrible broken French. Perhaps it’s just because they don’t get so many tourists that they would feel put-upon, as the residents of larger, tourist-intensive places do.

Although Ruth wasn’t always the calmest of co-pilots, I really enjoyed driving around the winding side roads in a standard-transmission car. Our peppy little rental car (we called him Gilles) was fun to zip around in, especially with our trusty GPS (“Kathy”) to keep us from getting lost.

Arriving in Brussels:

The train was smooth and fast, and our hotel is attached to the station, so it was an easy day of traveling (if you don't count the driving in Paris or the insanely mysterious procedure for returning the car). Fred did an incredible job of driving -- I would have been completely terrified. In fact, the only driving I've done so far has been on country roads. Love driving stick; I wish standards were more common back home.

My Flickr friend Raf was waiting for us in the lobby. What fun to meet him! He is a super sweet and interesting man, and kindly took us on a wonderful walk around the centre of Brussels. We explored, stopped for a beer, explored, went out for mussels and frites, explored, then stopped for dessert at Le Falstaff -- a beautiful art nouveau restaurant that was established in 1903. A thoroughly delightful introduction to the city, and a wonderful new friend who we hope will visit us in Canada one day!