Sleepless in Belgium

​For some odd reason, every time I travel to Europe, I get cold-like symptoms. Runny nose, scratchy throat, and dry cough. I’m fairly certain it’s dehydration, but I like to say I am allergic to Europe.😂😂😂😂 Needless to say, I started traveling with my favorite daytime decongestant, and my favorite nighttime, because trying to find the same drug ingredients in a country where you don’t speak the language is tricky. And many times the names of the drugs themselves are different…for example, acetaminophen is paracetamol. And they don’t sell ibuprofen over the counter. I’m not sure if they sell pseudoephedrine (my decongestion of choice), but I’m afraid to ask because of it being a highly regulated drug due to its use making methamphetamine😬.  I was going to try to pick up some cough drops for the scratchy throat lest I wake up with coughing spasms at night, but I decided to wait until we get to England today just because it’s easier to read ingredients and find what I’m looking for. But this is a nice time to Blog because it’s peaceful and quiet.  My alarm is set for 5:30. I imagine a large part of my difficulty sleeping stems in the fact that we have a travel day ahead that has a lot of uncertainties. I’m sure I will make up for it tonight! Safely tucked away in the pre-motherland.😂😂😂

Yesterday started out just swell! We had a leisurely morning at the hometel, and then wandered into Old Town to climb to the top of the belfry. When we arrived there, we were told we had to schedule a 1 o’clock climbing, as they regulate the number of people going up and down since the passage at the top is so narrow. But that gave us time to do a canal cruise first, which we were so grateful for after the fact, because the lines were incredibly long later in the afternoon!😱. SOOOOOO many people in Brugge on the weekends!😱 How grateful we were to have had both Ghent and Brugge to ourselves for a couple of weekdays each!

For several sections of the steps, the only thing you had to hang onto for stability was this rope attached to the center of the stairwell. The majority of the steps were a lovely, worn marble that eventually transitioned to wood near the top.  I imagine it was only due to the state of the steps as the building aged, as the belfry was built in the early 1100s!😱

The second level church treasury 😌.  

Three levels up!

All were grateful to stop and let others pass, if only to catch a breath and rest the legs, but that was much easier to do on the wider steps near the bottom. 😂

The underside of the staircase 👆.

When we would come to a ledge like the one below, we would squish into it, which made it easier for those coming down to pass by on the wider part of the steps.  And I hadn’t noticed it when I took the picture, but you can see how well worn the steps are in this one!

At one point, a sweet, young lady asked if I would hold the queue so she could take some pictures of her mother, who was perched on a couple of the upper steps that we couldn’t see. So we held the line, and quickly became fast friends at having completed the favor.😂  When we finally made it to the top, we were able to take pictures of one another and have a nice little chat about where we were from, where we had traveled, and what we were doing in Bruges. They were both from the Netherlands, and so very fun to talk to! When they heard we were from Montana, they asked if we had horses. And then the daughter laughed and said, “You probably get asked that a lot.”

 I said, “No,” with a giggle, “we usually get asked if we’ve seen the movie Yellowstone!”😂😂😂

At that, she asked if I had any pictures I could share with her, and of course I did! Because we live in horse-topia!😂  But what I really wanted to show her was my mountain lion picture!😂😂  She loved the pictures, and when they decided to head back down, she asked if she could give me a hug.  What a wonderful encounter💕🤗…  

After they left, we spent some time taking pictures from the top 😊. 

A shot of the busy Square from above…

Perched on one of the ledges.😂 A man asked if he could take a picture since he saw us trying to do a selfie.😂😂😂I reckon he thought we might fall.😂😂  

Now THIS is clearly understood😂😂!

When you start down the first upper section of steps, there is no rail, nor rope anchored to the stairwell. That was the most unnerving part, but we were careful, and leaned against the wall for stability. We had to giggle once again, knowing this would never fly in the United States.😂

Bells in the belfry!

To show you the relative width of the steps at the top…

What a wonderful experience! I will stop here for now and jump in the shower. We have a 7:15 Uber pick-up scheduled to get us to the train station. I’ll be back before too long!💕