Good bye White Cliffs of Dover; hallo Dunkirk, France!!
Our first stop on the European Continent happened at Lille, a little behind schedule, but we were very happy that we've managed so far in a little bit of an uncertain travel-situation. Next on the menu….find the connecting bus in this 'person-less' information- only-available-on-line world we are living in now. By the grace of God, I managed a hot-spot to some data, opened my e-mail(while standing in sub-zero wind-chill on a pavement of an un-known city) and there I found the number of the next bus we then litterally had to chase down!! Pfeew. Last leg of our epic journey to Ghent, Belgium.
At this stage, I realised that we will miss the classical concert we were hoping to attend. A friend of a South Africa friend, Barbara, invited us to it. Both she and her husband Wim, was singing in the choir at this event. We found the internet provision on the Flexi-bus very convenient. We could watch movies, read books, listen to music…just like on a plane! It was very helpful in this situation, because I could inform Barbara about our delay. We agreed to meet at the Christmas Market after her concert. Once the bus dropped us off at a roadside stop in Ghent, the kids and I walked so long to our Hotel Onderberg, while Arno was doing the hard work of bringing our luggage by UBER. Our rooms was for a family of 6. Lovely an clean, but most important was the TV. Thomas quickly found the best channel to watch the final game between Argentina en France in the World Cup Football competition. Up to the last minute we were biting our nails, but Messi's team finished at the top!!
Unfortunately, the first experience of a European Christmas market was a little 'dampened' by buckets and buckets of ice-rain. We managed to find Barbara, had a Deutscher 'pikante' Brattwürst and some Dutch Poffer'tjies.
The cherry on the cake, or should I say the star on the christmas tree, was a hot gluwine in wooden shed-bar,clubbing with some Belgians!!!
Just a very good end to a cold day with challenging travel dramas.
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