Saturday, January 07, 2012

A trip to France and back- for €10.00

At approximately 12.27 in the afternoon, we set out from our little beachside apartment in Koksijde, Belgium. We luckily made it in time for our tram, out of the freezing wind before too long. While safely on the tram, we glimpsed a bit of a sandstorm. We could see the sand sweeping in rivers across the road, beautiful, but we were happy to be inside. Just as I am writing this at the end of the day, the TV that is on behind me is reporting about the sandstorm and the damage.
Soon we arrived at the end of the tram line, where we had planned to catch a train to Bourburg (France), to a chapel of modern sculpture that K was particularly keen on.

However, we weren't sure how to buy tickets. Gw asked a bus driver sitting in a bus, and he said we could catch his bus to Dunkirk, then go on to Bourburg from there. We took that bus, and after about 50 minutes, were in Dunkirk.

We stopped at a tourist office to ask how to get to our next destination, and we were told the bus didn't leave for another 1 and a half hours. We decided to stop for lunch. We stopped at a nice little-ish cafe. Ge and I both got a Croque (toasted sandwich) "WallStreet", which was the cafe's name. We also got an Orangina, an orange drink I always thought my French teacher made up.

Lunch was very good, and soon, we made for the bus stop.
After a bit of misinformation (and linguistic adventures ED) we realised we had missed our bus. We thought about waiting for the next one, but it would take too long, so we just decided to go home. After a bit of shopping and a brief coffee stop (it's embarrassing where - McDonalds - it was cold everywhere else ED windchill factor to 1 degree!), we got to the bus stop for the bus back to the station. The wait was brief, but it was very cold because of all the wind. There was a port in view, and the ships cast great shadows over the choppy and already dark water.

Awhile later, we were back at the station, and there was a tram waiting there that we immediately jumped onto. We went back over the sand covered roads again before arriving at our stop. We half ran back into the apartment, shielding our faces from the sand blowing into our faces.

It was almost a relief to be back in the smoke (cigarette) smelling foyer, and it definitely was to be back in our room. I can now safely say our family has been to France and back for €10.00!

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