Travelling to Brussels

So, we decided that the title for this post should really be, "Next time, pay the extra £10 and take the eurostar instead of the coach!"

Not that I am opposed to taking a bus.  Indeed, when Steve was figuring out the route to Brussels, we both thought that it was going to be a great route:  London, Dover, Bruges, Brussels.  We had already taken the eurostar through the chunnel, so thought it would be fun to try something different.  We both thought it was going to be great to take the bus, since the slower speed would make it easier to see the country side (the Eurostar goes so fast that you can't really SEE anything).  Plus, we thought it would be fun to take the boat over at Dover!  We would be able to look back and see the cliffs.  Sweet.  Or at least, that was what we were expecting.

Sleeping on the bus

Our first moment of hesitation came as we were boarding the bus.  To say that the seats were 'less than spacious' would be an understatement.  They were just as bad as the seats on Spanair Airplanes (which are not bad at all if you are shorter than 5'7", but are torture for anyone taller than that).  The only strategy was to hunker down and try not to move.  Duncan (who had stayed up til 3:30am the night before) coped by falling asleep within minutes.


I kept telling myself that the view would make the cramped seats worth it, but it was a rainy and misty day, so visibility was limited to the the margins of the highway.  Still, I felt comforted by the thought that we would be able to get off the bus and walk around once we were of the ferry.  So... as we approached Dover, I was very happy!  The mist had peeled back, and I could see the castle up on the hill, and windows poking out of the cliffs themselves.  I kept waiting for the bus to stop so I could get some good shots.  But, we stopped just long enough to pick up three more passengers, and then we drove back out of town the same way we had come.  It was only at this point that we realized that maybe we were NOT taking a boat at Dover; we were only there to get more travellers.  As Homer Simpson says, "D'oh!".... shoulda taken some shots from the bus!

horse on the hill at the chunnel

Steve and I exchanged some confused words, trying to recalibrate our expecations.  If we weren't destined for the channel, then where WERE we heading?  A bit of a drive, and we arrived at the Chunnel.  Huh?   Yep... that's right.  The Chunnel.  After a torturously long wait on the bus for French customs (who boarded, collected everyone's passports, left with them, did who knows what, and returned to redistrubute them complete with their new stamps), the bus drove onto the train itself.


It was a bit like boarding the ferry in Victoria, but the bus had to drive into a super narrow train compartment.  Once everyone was in, metal grates came down between the individual train compartments.  So... we were in a bus on a train.  It certainly sounds more exciting than it really was. It is pretty claustrophia inducing! ... and no snack bar!


The high point was getting off the bus (while the train was moving) to go find the toilets, "located in the first and last carriages".  To move between the carriages, you have to press the red button, wait 2 seconds for the doors to be unlocked, then push through into the space between carriages, (a space that felt creepy to me... i kept wondering if I would fall through the floor) where you again push a red button, wait, and then push through into the next carriage.

Duncan at the door!

on the train in the chunnel

between carriages

Pantheon, seen from the bus

On the positive side, the ride on the bus/train was only 37 or so minutes.  From there, we were back on solid ground, in France, and then on our way to Bruges (or at least, the coach terminal on the edge of Bruges).  We finally arrived in Brussels as the daylight was beginning to fade.  We drove past Pantheon, and headed for Ave Leopold II.  The lights were out, and the street sparkled all the way down to the city centre.  Most of the sparkle was the rush hour traffic that was greeting us.  I swear that it took us an hour to travel the distance that we ought to have been able to cover in 5 minutes.  For those of you who have not hit rush hour in Brussels, i don't know what to say:  people try to cheat the intersection, and things get stuck in absolute deadlock (cars in the centre of intersections, preventing movement from going in any direction.  It was so bad it was almost funny.  At one point, it was the BUS itself that had cheated the intersection, so we sat there blocking things up for a good 15 minutes before movement started again.  Finally the bus driver seemed to lose patience, and actually drove up over a sidewalk/meridien to get to a road in a different direction.  Quite the adventure.  But... at the end of the day, we arrived safe and sound (albeit cramped and sore and starving... with Alex on the edge of what might be his first migraine ever).  We all agreed that, next time, it would be better to pay a bit more and take the eurostar.  Lesson learned!  :-)    So... we found the hotel, unpacked, ate dinner (a relief after all those hours on the bus with no stops for food), and headed off to explore the grand place by night.  But that is another story.....  

Duncan on A Fine Day Out (to Seaworld) - Part 2

Right after we left the acquarium, there was an arcade.  There were so many games to play there, it was so tempting!  Mom said i couldn't play the rip-off games, even though I would have been happy to spend my own money on them.  But she would let me do some of the non-ripp-off games, like Bumper Cars!

Steve's Bumper Car

Duncan's Bumper Car

The three of us went on the bumper cars.  We were the only ones there in the lineup, so they let the three of us go by ourselves.  You can see pictures of me and dad in our cars. Mom was also there, but she took the pictures, and she did not take one of herself.    It was really fun, but i got serious whiplash because my parents were thrashing me.  Mom would hit me from one side and dad would get me from the other.  They are cruel and merciless, but I got my revenge on dad.

The Driving Game of Doom!

My mom  suggested that dad and I go on a game together.  You can see that it has a 'Warning' sign, saying that it makes some people feel sick.  My dad didn't want to do the game with me, but mom shamed him to get in.  Here is the game.  It is for 2 people and you get in a virtual car.  It spins around so that the things that happen on the track also happen to the car. I made the car crash so many times!  Every time, the whole car would spin around.  I spun it so many times that dad hit the emergency stop button, and the attendant had to come to let him out because he was feeling like he was going to barf.  Like I said, I got payback on him for the bumper cars!

sea-doo racing

dirty-dog racing: 2nd place!

So dad was feeling sick, and had to go sit down for a while.  Mom stayed with me, and let me do more of the games there.  It was fun. ... but it would have been more fun if they had let me spend my money on the rip-off games (like trying to grab the giant chocolate bar with a claw)

my first London Cab!

It was raining when we left Sea Life.  Dad said that we could take a taxi.  This was my first London cab!  It was pretty good, and quite big on the inside.  It was also nice not to get wet. 

Roof at Rainforest Cafe

For dinner, we went to the Rainforest Cafe.  You can see that something wierd happened to my legs.I know I shouldn't have been playing around with those ducks in the toxic waste! Now I have grown duck feet.  hahah.  In the bar, every seat at the bar had legs from a different animal (elephant, giraffe, tiger, you get my point).  The roof looks like a rainforest.  It is quite stylish, and a good place to go.  you can hear and see a rainstorm happen every few minutes.    There are also moving and talking animals: elephants, snakes, gorillas, monkeys, cheetas, tree frogs.

Duck Seat for Duncan

sweet dessert!

25th anniversary, eyes wide open!

I took this picture of my mom and dad.  The funniest part is that this is the third attempt at getting it without dad having his eyes closed.  Every time we take a picture, he shuts his eyes. 

Duncan on A Fine Day Out (at London Seaworld) - Part 1

Today i was quite happy because i got to go to the london sea life aquarium, with my mom and dad.  i know my friend Ben will be so mad since we couldn't go when he was here because the line up was way too long.  Today was rainy and there was no line up at all.

Mr. Jelly

You see this green glowing ball?  It is a jelly fish.  You might not believe me, but the colours in the tank were sometimes green and sometimes blue.  this is because the jelly fish is clear, so it is the same colour as the light.

upside down jelly fish

We also saw something called an upside down jelly fish.  I think you can see why they call it that by looking at the picture.

Rock fish?

This next picture might look like a bunch of rocks to you, but if you look at it long enough, you can see that one of the rocks is really a fish.

sea horse and shrimp

They didn't have the big seahorses in the tank.  there was a sign that they were redecorating their tank.  But there were still some small sea fish there.  |Here is one sticking onto the bottom of plants.  They were only about 2 or 3 cms i think.  You can also see that there is a little shrimp in the background.  I think they like vegetables (otherwise, why is he clinging onto that vegetable for dear life?)  :)

real, or not real?

This is a crocodile. It didn't move since we started looking at it. I thought, 'how is this supposed to be interesting??'|, and i headed off to the next part which was the Arctic part of the Sealife.

When we finally got into it, we found a ginormous Japanese Spider crab.  And I mean, this thing is BIG.  Just imagine a spider with the armour of a crab that can swim.  Well the next picture is going to be way more interesting!



Gentou Penguins

Now, my favourite part of the visit... the penguins!   These live penguins are all just walking around on the ice (and every time I think of ice it makes my teeth hurt, like I am biting into a popsicle).  One of the penguins was hanging around the ball, while the others were walking back and forth in a pack, like they were trying to figure out how to go through the wall (where the tank ends and there is just a picture of more icebergs).
All in all, Sealife was just great.  Here is a picture of us that we got at the end.  If you come back for the next blog post, I will tell you what we did for the rest of our 'fine day out'.

TO BE CONTINUED...

Playing Monet in Toulouse (by the Garonne)

The Garonne (from our window)

the lower path along the Garonne

From one side of the apartment in Toulouse, you could see the Brienne Canal.  From the otherside, you could catch the edge  the Garonne River.  The Garonne (or so says Wikipedia), stretches for some 600 km across southern france/northern spain.I didn't manage to explore all 600 kms of the river, but did try to get familiar with the kilometer or so just near the apartment we were staying in.  At the end of the street, you could climb the stairs beside the pink building, at which point you would have a choice of paths:  You could walk above, along a path lined by towering trees, or you can take the stairs down and walk along the edge of the river.   

the Bazacle in Toulouse



Either way, the stroll is gorgeous.  Right at the start of the walk, you can see a kind of break in the water, called the  Bazacle.  The word apparently designates a kind of a ford by which one could cross the river.  It is also the place where the water was the most shallow.  You can see it in this picture... the place where the water stops looking like a mirror.   In the 12th century, a dam was built at this spot, so there were windmills there til the 18th century, when a hydro-electric plant was built on the spot (it is just to the right of the photo).

The first morning i went out, the sky was streaked with clouds.  It was delicous watching the clouds and bridges and buildings reflected and doubled in the water of the river.  I did wonder if it would be possible to take a stroll every morning to see if, Monet-style, i could capture as many of the nuances possible in the interplay of light between sky and river. 

There was too much work to do (and too many things to see), so i didn't get back there every morning, but I did manage to catch a cloudy day, a clear day, and a few evening shots.  So... here they are!
 

the bridge on a cloudy morning



  


the morning sun reflected in the Garonne



The Garonne, on a sunny morning

 

at the quai de garonne in Toulouse





the bridge at night



Le Canal de Brienne

the lock at the Brienne canal



the old lock mechanism

As Wednesday was my last day in Toulouse, I took my last morning stroll along the canal. To get to the opposite side of the canal (or indeed, down to the jogging path that runs alongside), you first have to backtrack and walk over top of the locks.  In the photo on the left (taken from the little walkway which crosses the top of the lock), the gates are closed, with a line of leaves trapped at the top. on the other side of the walkway, you can see the old crank mechanism, presumably there to open the gates in earlier times.  I like the mix of that old piece of machinery, and the moss growing around the cobblestones, with the 'tagging' and graffiti you can see under the bridge.  An interesting mix of the old and the new.



From there, i headed off down the canal itself. According the cab driver, the trees are called Planatus.... might be like the London Plane Trees.  The trunks certainly look similar.  After I got home, a wikipedia search on the trees tells me that they are under threat from a fungus or something.  That would suck, since they are so stunning. 

As I was walking, i was trying to figure out the best angle to try and catch a whole tree in one shot.  And so I was circling a tree, trying to find the right angle to capture as much of one tree as i could. an old man wearing a beret passed me, and asked "vous cherchez un ecureil, madame?"   Was I looking for a squirrel?!   sigh.  OK.  Perhaps I did look a bit like Kiwi, circling a tree desperate to catch the mightly squirrel tormenting her from above.  Ah well.... so much for appearing suave and sophisticated in France.  I just gave up on my pride, and laid down on the ground to take photos of the trees.



La Manufacture du Tabac



I picked myself back up off the ground to start walking the canal.  Looking to the side, I realized I could see our top floor apartment (available for academic researchers visiting the university) reflected in the water of the canal in front of me. 



La Manufacture du Tabac upside down



So here is the 'above the water' version of the apartment (which covered all three sides of the top floor of this building), as well as the 'upside down reflection' version.



along the path...

 I continued my way down the canal, wondering how much shade those trees would provide with the full foliage of summer.  

under the bridge...

I strolled under bridges, and past more locks, until I got right to the other end of the Canal.



Les ponts jumeaux in Toulouse



At the other end of the canal, you find "Les Pont Jumeax".   Here, you have three bridges, each taking you in one of the  different directions you can go:  the Garonne River, le canal du Midi, or the Brienne Canal.  





I got one photo of all three of the bridges in one shot, but my camera's batteries gave out before I could get a close-up picture of the wall at the end, where there is a white bas-relief with people pointing you in the direction you want to go.  

   

Luckly enough, one can find such things on the web!  You can check out the site (I think it lets you translate to english) for a longer discussion.  

the bas-relief at les ponts jumeaux



Toulouse - hanging out at the university

The view from La Manufacture at 4:45

Well.... it seems that the University of Toulouse has a pretty old pedigree:  founded in 1229 (29 years after the Sorbonne).  It also has something like 97,000 students.  I don't quite know how to compare that with the University of Victoria, which will turn 50 this year! haha  :-

Same view, 5 minutes later!

There are three buildings linked to the university.  One is la Manufacture des Tabac (or just "La Manufacture", as the locals call it).  Our little apartment (or rather, big apartment) is on the 5th floor.  it is the end of the building, so has windows running around three sides.... LOTS of views!  From the side with the little kitchen and living room, we look out across the rest of the building (thus the roof tiles you can see), and can catch a glimpse of the Garonne River. I already posted pictures of the view from our room at sunset, but here are a few more.

From the other side of the apartment (that is, from my bedroom window) you get a view of the Brienne canal. The canal is lined with trees that are more than 5 stories high. they are amazing. I can't quite get over how still the water is in the canal: it is a mirror! Here too is a photo taken from the opposite side of the canal:  our apartment is the very top corner of the building. You can get a sense of how tall those trees really are!

View FROM my bedroom in La Manufacture

View OF my bedroom in La Manufacture

the Brienne canal in front of La Manufacture

And no two ways around it.  the canal is simply beautiful.  The other building we have been hanging out is called the Arsenal. It has all the markings of a modern building, but the courtyard is older, and looks more like it belongs to a church than an aresenal (if you ask me). The wall in the inner courtyard feels very much like a cloister. Even the walls have that pink colour you see all over Toulouse. The whole city has a soft feel, even in crumbling brick (brick that looks equally fantastic in daylight or by night)

At the Arsenal

The wall in the Arsenal at night