26.11.12 Bruge to Brussels via Ghent
We left Bruge at 10am despite our intention of getting on the road earlier. At least the rush hour traffic, if there was any, had gone and set the sat nav for brussels. I forgot to take off 'dont use motorway' option so we soon found ourselves on the fast road which was fine but it did mean we were missing some of the local villages. We came off at Ghent and had a drive through as there was little parking for a van our size. By mid afternnon we were scouring a place in Brussels to stay overnight. Our only real option as we needed wifi was to stay at the International Hostel which allowed parking of motorhomes and use of hostel facilities. It was more expensive than we wanted but we could at least catch up on some work and we were able to skype both Millie and Richard. Mike and I walked into the centre of Brussels to admire the old town and then we caught a metro to see the EC buildings. Some of these were most impressive and it was easy to see where our money as tax payers goes. We were able to catch the Metro back to a stop closer to the hostel but we became disorientated and were soon lost. Using our very poor french we were dierected back onto the right route and were soon glad to see our mobile home again.
27.11.12 Brussels to Cologne via Maastricht.
We left Belgium for Germany but Maastrict in the Netherlands was directly on our way so we called in for a lunch stop and a quick walk around the town. It had a lovely square with many tempting cafes but we went back to the van for our regular soup and sandwich lunch and then we were on our way again. We arrived at a 'stellplatz' the german equivalent of a french 'aire' just as it was getting dark. This stellplatz had a good position right alongside the Rhine which had a cyclepath that would take us right into the town centre 2.5km away. We were very fortunate to get the last place on this site. That night we walked into town. it was a long way to walk but we did not want to have to take the bikes off (or more importantly put them back on) the van in the dark. Cologne is famous for its huge cathedral. It dominates the skyline and features on all the tourist souvenirs.
We headed for the cathedral as we knew it to be in the centre of the old town. This was also where two of the six Christmas markets that Cologne provides are held. These two markets were good fun. There was a great atmosphere with people drinking and eating german products as well as all the Christmas wares for sale. We tried the local bier called Kolsch and had our first gluhwein. We then walked another 2.5km back to our beds and felt we had completed our exercise for the day. The next day we headed back into town but this time on our bikes. Our first stop was the Cathedral. There was a service on-going which initially prevented us from visting the main building of the cathedral so we decided to go up the Bell Tower. This was no mean feat with 533 steps rising to a height of 157m. Unfortunately the weather was overcast with low cloud so we could not get the full benefit of the views from this lofty height. We then went on to visit two of the other Christmas markets that were not too far away. Neither Mike or I felt these markets were as good as the ones we had visited the previous night. I wonder how much this had to do with not visiting them in the dark. However there was one other thing that had caught my eye that I wished to visit and that was the Ludwig Museum. I had noticed that they were showing David Hockneys 'Big Picture' Exhibition. I had not seen this in England and having watched the development of this exhibition previously on television I was very keen to go. And was I glad I did. It is a fantastic exhibiton and I recommend it to you all. His use of colour is amazing and how he also incorporated the use of digital photography and the IPad was outstanding. All for the price of 10 Euros. I dont think I would have seen this exhibtion so cheaply in England. It made my day (not because it was cheap but because it was so wonderful). Mike and I both loved being in Cologne. However it was time to leave. 
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