Tour Log 8: Belgium
Sunday 27 April 2008
After enjoying Liège for an hour and a half, we continued on to Brussels. Brussels had a big untidy feel to it after the carefully manicured German cities we have been in. In Brussels, we were billeted at the oxymoronically named Sleep Well Youth Hostel. Who ever heard of a youth hostel where anyone over the age of 25 sleeps well?
The Sleep Well had also perfected the art of trial by ordeal, or perhaps I should say shower by ordeal. Picture this – instead of a tap or taps which could be used to balance the hot and cold water, each shower cubicle in the communal shower rooms had a single button. When you pressed the button, you got about 25 seconds of water before it stopped and you had to press the button again. That part was merely irritating. However, for the first five seconds, the water was cold; for the next five seconds it was tolerable; thereafter, if you brought a cup and teabag you could make a decent cuppa with what came out the spout. In fact, staying in the shower for longer than 3 or 4 seconds risked third degree burns. Anyway, it’s all part of the rich tapestry of a SACS Music Tour, isn’t it? And the kids seemed to take it in their stride and no-one had to come and ask for burn cream.
Our first night saw us walking through the old cobblestone streets for a dinner in a restaurant in one of the very picturesque alleyways in central Brussels, crowded with cafés and other places to eat, with lots of colour and delicious smells (especially that favourite Belgian delicacy, mussels).
Next day, it was time to play tourist again. We had a long walking tour through the streets of Brussels in lovely sunny spring weather, taking in churches, the Royal Palace, gardens and ending in the Grand Place. And, of course, we saw little Manneken Pis, the famous statue of the urinating boy, who was tastefully dressed as a gendarme on the day we saw him. After eating our boxed lunch there was time to do various things for the afternoon. Some of the staff went to the excellent Instrument Museum, but the rest of us were bussed out to the Atomium, located in the exhibition park built for World Expo 1958. You have probably seen pictures of this thing, shaped like a large series of atoms connected together (apparently a diagrammatic representation of an iron crystal magnified 165 billion times). We climbed through that on another guided tour and then returned to the hostel for a totally forgettable feed of hostel lasagne, before getting ourselves ready for the evening performance at the Holy Trinity Church, which is a large Anglican church serving the considerable English-speaking community in Brussels.
Then it was Anzac Day. We were looking forward to this day, but with a little trepidation, as there were five separate gigs packed into a very tight schedule. So it was up at the crack of dawn to face those diabolical showers, and get organised for the 90 minute coach ride down to Zonnebeke (Passchendaele). On the way, I gave the kids a potted history of World War I to set the scene for the day. Once at Zonnebeke, we attended the ceremony dedicating a new museum before getting back in the bus for the short drive to Tyne Cot Commonwealth War Cemetery (apparently the largest in the world) where we sang in the open air during the wreath laying at the cenotaph attended by the Australian and NZ Ambassadors as well as local dignitaries. After that, it was back in the bus to head down to Ypres, where we arrived in time to be part of the ceremony at the Menin Gate, once again singing during the wreath laying. The Menin Gate is inscribed with many thousands of names of British and Commonwealth soldiers who have no known resting place (including 6,195 Australians), and just being there was a very moving experience.
Then we walked the short distance down the main street to the wonderful Cloth Hall where the kids sang once again at the civic reception.
Finally, there was a break to attack the trusty lunch box and a chance to have a look around. I chose to visit the In Flanders Fields Museum, which had a powerful audiovisual display of what the War meant to the town of Ypres and the soldiers who fought there. After that break, it was back in the coach again, and across to the larger town of Kortrijk, closer to Brussels, where we had an early dinner, so our string quartet could play at the reception being held there. The rest of us then went down to the Church of Our Lady (Onze Lieve Vrouwekerk) to get set for our last performance.
The church was huge, basically cathedral-sized, but the local organisers had done a superb job of publicising the concert, and we had a substantial audience seated half an hour before kick-off. By the time the concert got underway, the place was packed with well over 300 people. We normally started all of the concerts with the ANZAAS fanfare, featuring our brass players, and often did this from the organ loft, or one of the higher balconies wherever we were. On this occasion, our three French horn players found that they could access the ledges of the three large stained glass windows above the organ loft, so you had the amazing sight of most of the brass ensemble lining the front of the loft with Rohan Grey, Matthwew Smolonogov and TK framed a level above them against each of the windows. Mrs Belshaw was just about having kittens at the thought of one of them taking a backward step through the window and ending up on the square 30 metres down below – I mean, just imagine what replacing that window would have cost!
The concert was opened by the local uniformed town crier and then the kids really played their hearts out. That concert was subsequently voted the best concert of the tour, and it was a great note to go out on.
Finally, we got the truck packed and made it back to Brussels in time to be in bed by midnight.
On Saturday, our last day, there was a chance to sleep in a little bit before facing the showers for the second last time, and then we had a leisurely trip to Bruges in western Belgium. Our regular driver, Csaba, had to have a compulsory day off under EU rules, so we were in two specially hired coaches (parents and some staff in a small one, and kids and most of the staff in a large one). Bruges is called ‘the Venice of the North’ as a consequence of its canals, and it really is a very pretty little city. The Belgian driver of our parents’ coach dropped us off at the edge of the city (unlike the kids who were dropped off in the centre near the Concertgebouw), so we had to walk up to the Concertgebouw through the maze of streets, past canals and parks with swans resting in the shade. It was warm and sunny and just very enjoyable. There was time for a quick coffee, and then we divided into groups for the obligatory guided walking tour, before separating into smaller groups for free time.
Finally, we rendezvoused back near the Concertgebouw, actually managing not to lose anyone, and were back in Brussels in time for a short rest before dinner. Then we walked back down to the restaurant district for our traditional end of tour dinner, with some short speeches and various humorous awards. I especially liked the award for ‘best couple’ going to our two transport captains, Darren Heath and Csaba.
Sunday was packing day for most of the tour group. The group was out to the airport for the short trip to London and a repeat battle with Terminal 5.
