How is the public transportation so good? How is it so cheap? So clean? Why do their buses have seatbelts and ours don’t? Why do I see so many bike share brands and so few shared bikes being ridden? Why do I feel so safe? How is it that I haven’t been sexually harassed? How do they build so high on such steep slopes? Is the slope maintenance environmentally friendly? Why do the street crossings take so long to change for pedestrians? Who are the people behind the dueling Falun Gong/Dafa protest displays? Who would pay over $1,000 USD for a pet fish? Are the caged birds in the market alright? How is the coffee so good here? When did they start serving…
Posts tagged “cities”
The two most common reactions I’ve gotten when I mentioned visiting Bruges have been, “oh, it’s so cute!” and “oh, it’s really crowded.” Both are true; it’s crowded because it’s cute. And yet, we managed to miss the crowd crush and enjoy our few days in the city. We arrived by train from Brussels (so comfortable! so convenient!) and wandered through the drizzle with our backpacks to where we were staying. This set the tone for our stay: walking under grey skies and in the rain. We did get some sun while there – and some strong downpours – but in large part, we had to content ourselves with being wet. We still walked around, but I suspect many others did not, leaving the…
Categories: Travel
My awareness was fraying at the edges. It was morning in Brussels, but per my internal clock, who knows? Three nights in Ohio skittered by, each one wonderful but marked by progressively less sleep. Next was a transatlantic flight, which was marked by more anxiety than sleep as I sat isolated, thanks to a kind flight attendant, blasting music into my ears so I wouldn’t hear other passengers retching on the bouncy flight. I got off my string of flights in Brussels eager to spend some time exploring on the ground, but also a little jumbled, not entirely aware. I glanced at the train track number for my train to Brussels from the airport and climbed onto the first train that pulled up. About…
Categories: Travel
Went Looking 