Day 2 - Bruges and Ypres  The drive into Bruges was uneventful - thankfully, and we were set down near the coach park.  We crossed over a bridge into the Minnewater - a park.  We wandered through the park and then the streets of Bruge...

Day 2 - Bruges and Ypres

 The drive into Bruges was uneventful - thankfully, and we were set down near the coach park.  We crossed over a bridge into the Minnewater - a park.  We wandered through the park and then the streets of Bruges until we got to the canal-side of Onze-Lieve-Vrouwekerk - the Church of Our Lady - chosen as the meeting point as the spire of the church can be seen from pretty much anywhere in Bruges. 

 The young people were reunited with their mobiles and set free to explore the city in groups of 3 or more.  We were to reconvene at this meeting point and head back for the coach and then on to Ypres and the Poppies (our hotel) ...

 Now, in the words of others -

 Mrs. Milne and Mrs. Wilson --

• Brugge - beautiful city with ornate buildings
•  lovely, sunny, warm day. 
• Had a great boat trip along the canals - guide spoke English, French, and German fluently.  Very impressive!

 

Annie G. -

• Chatting with old friends
• Seeing historic town
• Loads of free time
• Happy days banter
• Random boiled egg?

 Mr. Brown -

• Boat ride - the poem
• Chocolate shops
• Lunch in square -> Phoebe run!
• Horse attack
• 5 mile walk to bus - I'd like to step in here and say he exaggerated... it was only a 3 mile walk back to the coach; nothing like heading left for a mile and a half when if you'd only turned right, you'd have been 5 minutes away.  At least it was a gorgeous day, and the walk did no one any harm!  :-) AO
• "How you like them apples?"

 Caitlin C. -

Stepping off the ship to a sunny day in Belgium, we headed straight for Bruges (secretly hoping to catch Colin Farrell eating an ice cream!)  Bruges was a perfect picture of Autumn, red, yellow, and brown leaves falling all around us.  We were given free reign to roam around the town, so some of us decided to take a boat ride through the canal in Bruges.  We saw many interesting things -- from old, ivy-covered houses to Labrador dogs hanging out his bedroom window!  We also sampled chocolate from various sweet shops, buying chocolate in ALL shapes and sizes!

When we got to the Poppies hotel in Ypres, it was straight off to dinner where we each had practically a ‘whole chicken' to ourselves!  After free time to explore the main square, it was off to bed to get some well-earned beauty sleep.

Becci B -

• EGGS
• Amazing hot chocolate
• Sunny weather
• Happy Days!
• Being reunited with our phones
• Half a chicken

 

Eilidh S, Christine C, and Rebecca J -

• Lost an hour, up at 5.30! L but very happy still! J
• Back on dry land and in sunny Belgium
• Arrive in exquisite Bruges, with its red, yellow, and brown falling leaves
• Nearly got run over by several horse and carriages
• Boat ride through Bruges with our intelligent guide, NOT driver! 
• Buying chocolate in ALL shapes and forms
• Our delicious dinner, "I'm so hungry, I could eat a whole chicken!"... well, here you go!
• Exploring Ypres by night J
• Off to bed, need some rest for tomorrow!

 

Mhairi N -

• The sunshine
• The hot chocolate
• Happy Days banter
• The continual eggs
• Free time banter in the corner of the square
• The half a chicken
• Being reunited with our phones

 

Chelsay B -

Went to Bruges and it was amazing.  I enjoyed the freedom that we were given and Bruges is full of beautiful, old-fashioned buildings and statues, etc.  It was a pretty place and the people were very nice.  When we arrived at the Poppies and given our rooms, they were nice and a reasonable size.  The evening meal was lovely, and the games room kept me happy  :-)

 

Eleanor B -

The aftermath of staying in a hot stuffy room and losing an hour came to pass.  Most of our little time on the vessel was spent searching for water.  Next stop, Bruges - the prettiest place I have ever been in.  Autumn colours fly around and cute shops dot the area.  First thing we did was go on a boat J which (as Mr. C's poem pointed out) was wave mania. We then explored the many shops and on the way back we visited the large cathedral.  It was in my point of view the best part of the day since the masonry, painting, architecture and woodwork were beautiful.  I spent a large portion of my time there and could have spent more.  We them made our way to the Poppies and dropped off our stuff.  We then had our first meal which consisted of half a chicken and a plat of chips each and then tiny bit of ice cream.  After the meal, we had our first gander around Ypres.  It was architecturally stunning!

 

Ross D -

After breakfast, the ferry arrived at Zeebrugge.  A quick drive by Paul, and we had arrived at Brugge.  The city itself is amazing.  We were split into our own groups and had the day in Brugge.  The amount of chocolate shoppes is staggering and we even had to drag Jenny away from a couple after we had visited the 5780^th one.  Then after a slight detour on the way back to the coach... We arrived at the Poppies and after exploring the main square, slept for the night.  Comedy doesn't ... take time off - my rather lame one-liner for the night; they did get better, I think... AO

 Anon -

I enjoyed my hard-boiled egg in the sunshine and looked at the local delicacies.

 

Bruges was amazing.  I did find it funny that one of the first things that several of us did after getting to Bruges (after an overnight ferry crossing) was go on a canal cruise, but it was great.  Our guide was very knowledgeable and did his tour in 3 different languages; I wonder if he cracked the same jokes in each one?  We saw lots of interesting sites...

 After we got off the Dijver cruise, the adults (me, Mr. Caldicott, Mr. Brown, Mrs. Milne, and Mrs. Wilson) split off from the young people, and we went our merry way.  We were headed toward to Grote Markt which is storybook pretty.  On our way there, we stopped off in a little café (and as some of the girls have already mentioned, the hot chocolate is fantastic!) then wandered along - stopping at all the interesting shops that caught our eyes - not ALL of them sold chocolate.  There were so many shops with handmade wooden toys, and we had to check them out.  We did stop a time or two outside various chocolate shops.  One had this dragon made completely out of chocolates in the front window.  If you look carefully at the photo, you can see that his scales were made up of chocolate bowling pins and shoes, etc. while the ridge on his back was made up of chocolates of various shapes - from pigs to Santa Claus!    We saw some of the kids on our way to the Grote Markt - some of them already sporting carrier bags from various chocolate shops.

 Once in the Great Square, we had a look around.  The Grote Markt is bounded on one side by the Provinciaal Hof, on two sides by old guild halls now turned into cafes/restaurants/shops, on the fourth by The Cloth Hall and Belfort, then we sat at the base of the statue (kind of in the middle) to partake of our delightful repast -- or what there was of it we would eat.  We then enjoyed hanging out in the sun for a while until Mr. Brown decided that he had been still for too long and decided to run across the square (with a little egging on from the rest of us, it must be admitted) a la Phoebe from Friends.  It's one of the funniest things I have seen - too bad still photography could not capture it in its essence.

 We then decided that perhaps it was time to start making our way back towards the meeting place.  We wandered into the Belfort and Cloth Hall, but decided against taking in the exhibit, and headed toward the Burg Square where we saw the Town Hall and the Old Court Hall.  From there we headed back towards the meeting point - stopping off at a few chocolate shops along the way - we made a few purchases, it must be admitted .   As we headed back towards the Church of Our Lady, we saw more of the young people and heard about their adventures while reminding them of the meeting time.  Everyone made it back on time, and everyone seemed to have had a great time.  Have to say, I do wonder if some of the guys ever really left the meeting area. 

 We then headed back toward the coach.  As has already been pointed out, there was a slight miscalculation on my part, and we wound up walking about a mile and a half in the wrong direction, but through the language of smiles and pointing and a helpful policeman, we headed back the right way.  On the other hand, if we hadn't gone that way, we would have missed parts of the city we wouldn't have seen otherwise - -I'm sure the windmill made up a little for the walk...  Actually, everyone was really good-natured about it for which I was very thankful!

 We boarded the coach and headed towards Ypres and the Poppies.  On our way into the city, we saw this funny water feature - a free-standing tap/faucet.  Paul then winded his way through the narrow streets of Ypres, and we arrived at the Poppies where I met Mieke (the owner), and she explained about the very sensitive smoke alarms, the tannoy system (throughout the hotel - brilliant!), keys and codes, the games room, linens, what time we would like breakfast, and where we were going to be eating that night and for the rest of the week.  Everyone took their stuff to their rooms, and they were supposed to make their beds (have to say, don't think some of the beds ever got made!).  We then headed for Der Anker and the meal of half a chicken and frites.   Everyone then had about 90 minutes of free time to wander the square and check out the few shops that were open - interestingly enough, most of the ones open sold chocolate...  The adults wandered the square then headed for a café for hot chocolate or coffee or in Mr. C's case, a waffle.

 It was then time to head back to the hotel for a little more free time before bed check.  The games room got a workout as did the computers - well done to those who worked out the Belgian keyboard!  It was a challenge.  As expected, there was some exuberance as it was the first "real" night, but everyone soon quieted down as the morning was going to bring new adventures!

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As with all things of this nature -- trips, blogs, etc. --  there will be some in-jokes and some things you simply had to be there to understand, but I/we hope that this will be enough to give you a picture of our experiences -- fun, exciting, p...

As with all things of this nature -- trips, blogs, etc. --  there will be some in-jokes and some things you simply had to be there to understand, but I/we hope that this will be enough to give you a picture of our experiences -- fun, exciting, poignant, moving, what have you.

Sunday, 12 October 2008 --

The day dawns bright and clear, and I'm excited and a little nervous about heading out -- will everyone be on time?  Have their passports, etc.?  Will the coach get there on time?  Will everything go ok?  I had been well-briefed by Mr. Moodie, and I had my trusty notebook with me, but you just never know... 

As it turned out, everything was fine -- everyone was on time, passports in hand, and mobiles were handed over with a minimum of fuss.  There was a little distress about the fact that Rebecca J. hadn't been feeling well and might not make it at all, but after some phone calls in the QHS parking lot,  her mother would see how she was doing later and might just meet us at the ferry in Hull -- it was decided that the coach journey down might be a little too much. 

I met Paul -- the coach driver, about whom more later -- and we got everything and everyone on the coach and pulled out of QHS to the waves of many hands, including Mr. Moodie who came to see us off.  This was it -- we were on our way!

Miss O 

Now --  in the words of others --

Eleanor B -- Made final farewell by rolling suitcase over dad's toes.  Journey in bus was mostly boring but contained occasional chortle.  Ferry was a little bit of mischief as we wandered the decks singing pirate metal songs and "Bohemian Rhapsody."

Chelsay B -- was a long day.  The bus up was very long, but it was a laugh.  The ferry wasn't that good;  it was good entertainment-wise, but I got seasick.

Ross D -- Longish bus journey, but we made it to the ferry in the end.  After being served dinner and finding our way to the arcade, we then deciuded to try to educate Steven and a few how to play poker unsuccessfully.

The ferry was amazing itself and the freedom of wandering around while travelling instead of being on a coach is better.

Eilidh S and Christine C--

•  First drama of the day, phone call from Becca, she's ill :-(. 
•  Second drama, hand in your mobiles! Agh! The separation is painful. 
• Long and happy drive to Hull where we meet Joycey - Woo! 
•  Slight confusion over which boat we're going in -- the rust bucket or P&O Ferries?! 
•  Excitedly pour into ferry, much to the delight of all other passengers. 
• Good food, very important! 
• Reenactment of Titanic (the happy bit)! 
• Hide and seek (hee hee hee) , cards and getting used to the sway of the boat. 
• Oliver! and the delicate vocals of the waitresses! 
• Off to bed; can't wait til tomorrow!

Mhairi N --

• sending notes to Miss O
• the piano man
• dancing to the other singing man
• napping
• the back of the bus

Becci  B --

• being told by Mr. Moodie that Belgium wasn't ready for me and Mhairi
• getting good seats at the back of the bus
• Passing notes!
• being serenaded by the piano man
• dancing on the ferry
• staying up and chatting
• learning magic from Ander

Caitlin C -- We travelled on the bus for about 7 hours which was moastly a combination of sleeping and eating!  Arriving at the P&O ferry, we were a little confused as to whether or not the ferry was a rusty old Russian ship in the dock!  I guess 'most' of the passengers were happy to see us all tumbling into the ship!  Supper was surprsingly delicious -- spicy curry or roast beef.  We enjoyed the musical talents of Oliver Holland on the piano and the 'interesting' vocal techniques of the onboard waitress? :-(  Visiting Bruges tomorrow!

Annie G --

• meeting new people like Scott
• note passing
• dancing
• singing
• the piano man 

On the ferry -  The trip over was fairly uneventful with only one reported case of seasickness - which is amazing considering the number of times some of the boys went up to the buffet!  Our day began at 6 am Belgium time which was actuall...

On the ferry -

 The trip over was fairly uneventful with only one reported case of seasickness - which is amazing considering the number of times some of the boys went up to the buffet!  Our day began at 6 am Belgium time which was actually 5 am according to our body clocks - oh, the fun!  The young people were surprisingly pleasant as we knocked on their doors to make sure they were awake enough to go to breakfast which was another buffet, and some of the kids ate as if food was going to be outlawed by the time we reached dry land!

 

Some of the boys helped me take the packed lunches up to where we were to disembark.  Packed lunches for 50 takes up a lot of space! Especially with as large as these were... The lunches were a source of consternation and much amusement.  They included enough food for a small army.  There was a ham sandwich, a cheese sandwich, a tomato, a hard-boiled egg, a box of orange juice, an apple, an orange, a Tracker bar, and a piece of Millionaire's Shortbread - I think that was it.  As we walked from where the coach dropped us in Bruges to the centre of the city, parts of lunches were deposited at the numerous bins we passed; I'm pretty sure the eggs were among the first things to go. 

Welcome to the Queensferry High School Belgium blog!  

Welcome to the Queensferry High School Belgium blog!