Day 3- Biking in Brussels (&Holland)

Day 3

Wow...Where do I begin? We had a discussion today that led to the question: How would you describe this day in one word. These are the suggestions that were made: epic, adventure, trek and thirsty.

Those words barely do this day justice. Let me start at the beginning.

We started in the train station on the first extremely hot day of the year. School is out for the older students and the elementary students are taking their end of the year field trips. This was the recipe for disaster on the way there. Basically everybody decided that it was a perfect day to head to the coast to see the beach (including us).

This is what the train car looked like.

You may notice that we aren't in the picture. That is because we were squished between the bathroom and wall. On this particular day there were 86 students on the train, all of which were in our car. It was squished, hot, and moving. Me, being the person that I am, could not handle this and ending up tossing my cookies as soon as our train stopped at the train station and had to wait a few minutes before I could get on the train again. This was not my finest traveling moment.

Here is a picture of Pat and Lou Ann who did not throw up on the train.

After all this we finally made it to Knokke. It was about a 2 hour trip. This is right at the top of Brussels on the coast. Our plan for the day was to rent bikes right next to the train station and ride to Holland so we could see the windmills and all the pretty scenery. After we rented our bikes and rode them down to the coast; this is what we saw:

I like this picture because you can see all the windmills in the background. This was still in Knokke, Brussels.

View of Knokke from my bike!
Phil and I with the North see behind us!
The three of us feeling the refreshing water!
View of the resorts
The original Bowens
Pat and Lou Ann heading out to the North Sea

So this trip to the sea turned to a very very very long trip to Holland. We ended up biking around 18 miles in 97 degree weather. Despite the heat, we really enjoyed ourselves. It was definitely an adventure. We realized how much we appreciated 7-11, Speedway, gas stations, etc... and all of their delicious COLD drinks that are available 24/7. It was a next to impossible to find any sort of drink. (Although leave it to us to figure out this daunting mission.)

Some of the scenery from my bike.

Aww, Phil on his bike! He looks cute.
Go Pat!
Leaving the coast!
They had these odd white boxes alongside the beach? I am not sure what they were for?

The first town we arrived it was called Cadzand.

We ended up stopping for a snack here.

Biking away!

Here is another picture of the place that we ate at.

:-)
I feel as if this picture needs an explanation. Like I said before, it was very hot, so LouAnn bought a hat for 3 euro at the store next door.
YAY- A real windmill called Oude Molen
The original Bowen's again

Another shot outside the windmill. Grinning and bearing the heat.This picture makes me laugh.
Phil and his momma!
Jump shot that happens at least once a day.
This was in the town called ...um...I forgot...I will just call it Stepford because that is what it a was like. It reminded me of the Truman Show because nobody was out and it was completely silent. Wierd but beautiful.
This is at the end of our bike ride. We aren't quite sure what he's standing by. We were hot and tired.

Before we caught the train...we ate at a waffles and fries restaurant.
After we ate, we headed to the train station only to wait for 2 hours until our train could get there. The electricity went down and the train was unable to get there for some time. In the mean time, Phil and I made a friend who deciphered everything the loud speaker was shouting at us in the station. She could speak over 5 languages and was very helpful. We didn't have any euro's left and she ended up buying us some drinks. She was such a blessing! What a nice lady! I really regretted not getting a picture with her. After we got on the train, we met some more "Brussians" and it was fun and interesting to try and communicate with them! We learned and endured a lot on this trip! What a great memory!