Gent and Eeklo. November 5-9, 2014.

November 5-7.

Caroline took the 12:58pm Eurostar from London St Pancras to Brussel Zuid (naturally there was a 25minute delay entering the tunnel), and from there continued onto Gent to stay 2 days with Hilde and family. One evening we went to the delightful Pizzeria Da Toto (corner Handbalstraat and Koning Albertlaan), highly recommended. After walking around town, which is always enjoyable, I caught up with cousin Lucile and Frans.

St. Baafsplein.

Some favorite street art in St. Paulusstraat.

With Lucile and Frans.

Eeklo - Mostly Again. October 24-30, 2014.

Friday, October 24th

We drove from Luxemburg City to Eeklo by way of Bastogne, where we visited the Bastogne War Museum; another very well done museum, very worthy of a visit; and the American Memorial / Mardasson Memorial. We spent about 3 hours taking it all in.

The Soldier and The General.

The Memorial.

After battling rush hour traffic on the ring road around Brussels we eventually pulled into Eeklo. Naturally, after parking Sterlin, we headed to De Kabouter for some well deserved libations after a long day driving and visiting museums.

Luc, Peter, Conchita, Caroline and Stephen.

Saturday, October 25th

A relaxing day. We moved a couple of mattresses into Stefaans new apartment. And a nice place he has. In the evening, Caroline and Hilde drove to Antwerpen to see the Chippendales with the free tickets Caroline scored in Switzerland.

Sunday, October 26th

We started to clean Sterlin for his trip home. First up we tackled the fridge and the rather dusty fridge slide. It was not long before we gave up on that and decided to help Stefaan move into his new apartment driving a load of goodies from his old place to his new place.  In the evening we had a few drinks and nibbles with Erik and Kristin.

Monday, October 27th

Sterling got a proper clean. First was the carwash followed by a vacuum session back at Caroline's mum's home. The main event of the day was a visit to Tante Erna's place with Roland, Alice and Magda. We had the usual Belgian fare of coffee/tea, cakes (2 rather nice and large ones), a wee drink followed by vast amounts of cheese. It was all very nice.

On the way there we made a flying visit to the Canadian War Memorial in Adegem, just outside of Eeklo. Wikipedia link to the Canadian War Cemetery.

Evening drinks with Stefaan.... in De Kabouter - where else.

Tuesday, October 28th

A long day spent packing everything into Sterlin for the trip home. We had to keep behind just 'enough' clothes to survive for the next month until we get home. We had very nice drinks with Isabelle in 'Eethuis De Raedt'.


Wednesday, October 29th

Spent the day cleaning the car and removing the tar. Damaged Sterlin's paintwork in the process. Eventually found a way to remove the tar using some magic product that Erik fixed me up with. Eventually completed the packing and made inventory.

That evening we had a lovely time catching up with Hilde (Caroline's cousin), Peter and their son Victor.

Stephen, Caroline, Hilde and Peter.

Thursday, October 30th

Drove Sterlin to Rotterdam.

Eeklo Mostly. September 22-28, 2014

Monday, September 22nd

We slept in a little to help get over our jet-lag. Stephen was sent out to get some Starbucks from the nearby train station. Lunchtime was fast approaching and we arranged to have frites and frikadelleworst with Stefaan. Afterwards Stefaan headed back to work and we boarded a train to Eeklo via Gent.

Magda (Caroline's mum) and Robert picked us, and more importantly our heavy luggage, up at the train station. The first stop was to retrieve Sterlin from where he had been stored for the last month. Unfortunately Sterlin failed to start due to a flat battery. In hindsight we should have disconnected it. Oh well. Luc soon found a "Quick Start" unit and we were back up and running in short order. We went for a little drive around town to charge the battery up. The electrics have never quite been right on this trip but have never caused too much pain.

We moved into Caroline's old room and soon exploded our luggage.


Tuesday, September 23rd

The afternoon was spent removing jerry cans, sand tracks, roof top box and most of the luggage from Sterlin. The jerry cans and roof top box were cleaned in preparation for their return to San Francisco. And then everything was stored in Caroline's mum's garage for when we return after our trip around France.

Wednesday, September 24th

Up super early as Sterlin had a 8:00am appointment with the Land Rover Vernaeve garage in Gent. We got caught in some roadworks and heavy traffic but still made it in time. Sterlin got the standard oil service and air filter replacement as well as temporary repairs to a leaky coolant system. Overall Sterlin was in tip-top shape.

Florian and Nico at Landrover Vernaeve Gent.

Caroline visited a dentist recommended by Hilde and had a much desired cleaning. As we were running ahead of schedule we were able to see where Hilde worked and have a short lunch with her. So nice to see her again, even if it had only been a week since we had said goodbye in Otaru.

In the afternoon Caroline visited her favorite comic book shop 'De Poort' and managed to find a few comic books that interested her. And then we headed to a small coffee shop recommended by Geert and caught up with him. We also went for a very nice walk along the canals and a visit to part of the University that had been recently restored. It was nice seeing Geert again.

It was getting late and was time to head back to Eeklo for dinner. Sterlin seemed to be running exceptionally well after the service.

Thursday, September 25th

Eeklo holds its weekly markets on Thursday, which provided enough of a reason to walk into the city center and visit the merchants and their wares. It was not long before we returned to the bar of the previous night to have morning coffee with Erik and Kristin.

Enjoying the early evening sun with mum.

Dinner was with Hilde, Moos and Liran in Gent. Hilde's kids continue to grow-up and it was nice to get to know them a little better.

Friday, September 26th

Stefaan took a day off work and joined us for a walk around Eeklo and down memory lane for Caroline. Dinner was with Erik and Kristin. They shared their photos on Morocco and we reciprocated with photos from our trip.

Heldenpark in Eeklo.

Saturday, September 27th

Huge day of parties. Activities started in 't Stekkedooske with Caroline's mum who was having her birthday with close family. We had a classic Belgian dish: Fondue. There was a huge amount of food and we could not finish it all, and we seriously tried. After the lunch we washed the meal down with coffee and sweets at Uncle Roland and Auntie Alice. Our bellies were full. But the day was just starting. In the evening we joined Geert and Isabelle to help celebrate their 50 birthdays. The drinking and eating went on till the wee hours of the morning.

Mum's birthday lunch in 't Stekkedooske.

Roland, Magda, Erna and Alice.

Caroline, Stephen and Stefaan.

Sunday, September 28th

We packed up our stuff and loaded it into Sterlin. Time to hit the road again with a plan to spend a month or so touring around Western Europe, mainly France. It will be a bit weird living out of a suitcase again.

Brussels. September 21, 2014

Sunday, September 21st

We landed back in Belgium after a short stop-over in Munich. Fortunately both ourselves and our bags made the tight connection. We headed into Brussels to take a few drinks with Steven and Sophia. So nice to catch-up with friends.

Brussel. August 21-22, 2014

Thursday, August 21.

We said goodbye to Eeklo for now and took a train to Brussel. We'd never visited Brussel together before so we decided that after seeing lots of new and exotic places a visit to Belgium's capital was in order. We may be doing this more often before flying out of Zaventem!
We booked into the Ibis hotel on the Ganzemarkt, ideally located 1 minute from Brussel Centraal train station, so easy enough to catch the train to the airport the next day.

We wandered around marveling at how beautiful Brussel is.

Stefaan joined us for an after-work drink (well for him it was) on the Grote Markt, which by the way is a UNESCO World Heritage Site, and later we sampled some more Belgian beers and had dinner with Sofia and Steven. After dinner Steven took us to nearby Parking 58, one of the best free places for views in town.

Koninginnegallerij.

Rue de Bouchers / Beenhouwersstraat.

Grote Markt.

When in Belgium....

... sample the beers.

Caroline and Sofia.

Morning view from our room - when leaning out a bit :)

Friday, August 22

Off to the airport to catch our midday flight to Japan.

Eeklo. August 16-21, 2014

Saturday, August 16.

And then it had arrived, kind of faster than we'd expected, and bitter-sweet: the last driving day of our 'Overland Adventure'. Sure, we'd still planned to go places before going home to San Francisco, but, as far as the 'Sydney to Eeklo' part was concerned, this was it: the day we'd arrive in my hometown, Eeklo.

When we started planning the trip in earnest, one of the big decisions was which direction we'd go in: Europe to Australia or vice versa. Somehow I always envisioned arriving in my hometown, so that was that.

Before getting to Eeklo we stopped in Oud-Turnhout to have lunch with friends Helly and Willem.

Lunch with Helly and Willem.

And then we were there, in Eeklo!!!
First we made an 'unofficial' stop at my mum's place....

After a quick visit to Caroline's mum...

.... before arriving on De Markt in Eeklo, where a special reserved parking spot (it helps to have friends in high places ;) ) was waiting for Sterlin, right in front of Café De Kabouter. Friends joined us for a lovely homecoming celebration on a lovely sunny day, on the terrace of De kabouter. We were delighted by a live accoustic performance of Peter 'DeeZee' De Zutter and our hosting waiter was Stefaan, my brother. Some friends stayed for drinks, some joined us for dinner in Cafe Leffe, also on De Markt.

...We arrived on the Markt in Eeklo
where a a spot had been reserved!

Geert, Mieke, Nils, Ilse, Gina (front), Erik, Kristien, Jan, Robert,
Magda (mum), Katrien, Stephen, Sven.

Carlo, Mieke, Siska, Caroline, Peter (thanks for the music!),
Erik, Gina, Stephen.

Sunday/Tuesday 17-19, August.

The next 3 days we spent seeing family and friends and re-organizing our luggage for our upcoming trip, and Sterlin who would be parked for the next 4-5 weeks.

Would you believe that Eeklo also has a UNESCO World Heritage site? Its Belfry is on the list 'Belfries of Belgium and France'.

Stefaan, Stephen, Caroline and Koen in De Kabouter.

Eeklo at Sunset met de Herbakker.

UNESCO World Heritage.

Eeklo by night. With the Belfry / Belfort left.

Wednesday, August 20.

Originally we were going to leave Eeklo for Japan on August 19, but a few days prior we'd received the sad news that Caroline's Tante Aline had passed away and we decided to stay so we could say goodbye and attend her funeral on the Wednesday.

Thursday, August 21.

We said goodbye to Eeklo for now and took a train to Brussel. We'd never visited Brussel together before so we decided that after seeing lots of new and exotic places a visit to Belgium's capital was in order. We spent the afternoon wandering around Brussels with the highlight being a visit to the King's Residence. We finished the evening enjoying a drink with Stefaan on the Grand Place.

We booked into the Ibis hotel on the Gansemarkt, ideally located 1 minute from Brussel Centraal train station, so easy enough to catch the train to the airport the flight the next day. The hotel was very convent, so we may be staying in Brussels this more often before flying out of Zaventem!

August 16: Arrival in Eeklo / Aankomst in Eeklo!!!!!

We set out on an Around the World Trip in May/June 2013. The Overland Adventure started for real on Sep 1st, 2013, in Sydney, and will finish in Eeklo on Aug 16, 2014.

In mei/juni 2013 vertrokken we op 'Reis Rond De Wereld'. Het echte Overland Avontuur begon op 1 september, 2013, in Sydney, en zal eindigen op 16 augustus in Eeklo.

That day we will arrive in Eeklo and will pull up in Sterlin in front of Cafe De Kabouter on De Markt (provided we can find an available parking spot there) sometime between 3pm and 4pm. This will mark the official end of our 'Sydney-to-Eeklo Overland Adventure'.

Die dag komen we aan in Eeklo en stoppen recht voor Cafe De Kabouter op De Markt (als we daar een vrij parkeerplaatske vinden) ergens tussen 15:00 en 16:00.
Dit wordt dan ook het officiële einde van ons "Sydney naar Eeklo Overland Avontuur".

We'd love it if you could join us for a drink!
This is not a 'private' event; De Kabouter will be open as per normal. It's just a matter of gathering with friends in our favorite watering hole in Eeklo at the end of our adventure :)

** With Live Performance of the one and only: Peter De Zutter!!

Het zou zeer leuk zijn mochten jullie er zijn om samen met ons een drankje te nuttigen!
Dit is geen "privé evenement"; De Kabouter zal gewoon open zijn. 't Is gewoon een kwestie van in ons favoriet Eekloos Cafeke samen te komen aan het eind van ons avontuur :)

** Met Optreden van de enige echte: Peter De Zutter!!!!

Unexpected trip to Eeklo, Belgium. February 18-24, 2014.

We traveled to Eeklo, Belgium, to attend the funeral of my beloved aunt Annie, who passes away rather suddenly. She will always have a special place in my heart. And I will miss her.

It was good to catch up with family and good friends.

Meanwhile my mum was in hospital for previously scheduled, minor surgery, so we took the opportunity to visit her twice a day while there.

Stephen with Nico from
Landrover Vernaeve.

We contacted Landrover Garage Vernaeve in Gent to pick up some consumables for the car. We'd rang them on Wednesday and they had our things ready for us on Thursday. We handed out some cards with our travel blog and hopefully we'll have a chance to stop by there when we get to Belgium with Sterlin in October.




PS: February 26.

Stefaan (my brother) kept me informed of our mum's condition and after a some additional minor surgery, all is now well and we are looking forward to her going home in the next few days.

Gent - Gent - Ypres. June 21-27, 2013

Friday and Saturday, June 21st - 22nd.

Had a wonderful stay with Hilde, Yaron, Moos and Liran in Gent.  Moos kindly gave up his room for us which was very nice of him.  We talked, ate, drunk and just relaxed with our long time friends.  We found Starbucks within walking distance, which is pretty good luck as there are only a handful in the whole of Belgium.

Hilde and Caroline arranged a send-off party for our friends in Belgium.  We rented 'the dungeon' (dating back to the 13th century) of De Afkikker in Gent. dating back to the 14th century.  It was great to see everyone over a few drinks.

13th Century Basement with 21st Century lights.

Sunday, June 23rd.

Back in Caroline's home town.  And of course enjoying the first of a few beers with Stefaan in 't Kabouterke, Caroline's old haunt on the Markt in Eeklo.

Stefaan, Stephen, an 'Exporke' and a Hoegaarden.

Monday, June 24th

Had a wonderful lunch with Caroline's mum, aunts and uncle.  It was quite the outing with everyone enjoying and food and wine.
That evening we caught up again with Stefaan, and where else but in Café 't Kabouterke in Eeklo.

In 't Kabouterke.

Tuesday, June 25th

Touring Eeklo for the day and being a tourist in Caroline's home town.  Found the local museum, which was closed and yet we were still allowed to visit. I guess we looked harmless enough.

Huysmanshoeve. Eeklo's oldest farm.

Eeklo Markt.

Wednesday, June 26th

Spent a lovely day with Hilde visiting Ieper/Ypers and surrounds. The whole area was the site of many years of trench warfare during World War I, and consequently, is now the site of many monuments and graveyards. People of many commonwealth countries including New Zealand fought and died in these fields.
We started with the impressive, humbling and reflective In Flanders Field Museum in the Lakenhallen in the center of Ieper. We then walked to the nearby Menenpoort / Menin Gate. Afterwards we went for a drive that took us amongst others to Tyne Cot Cemetery and The 's Graventafel New Zealand Monument.

Menenpoort Ieper.

's Graventafel NZ Monument.

Tyne Cot Cemetery.

Thursday, June 27th

Heading to the airport for our flight to London.

Traffic in Belgium.  Just a few road works.

Gent and Eeklo. May 19-29, 2013.

May 19.

I arrived in Zaventem, from Stockholm around 7pm, jumped on a train to Gent and knocked on Hilde's door. Being Sunday there where no trains to Eeklo anymore at that time, but I'd pre-arranged to stay at Hilde's. And since Monday 20 May was a holiday we spent that day together as well. As usual very nice to catch up.
Together we visited an old haunt of mine: Cafe In Den Hemel. I spent many hours there long time ago - before I left Gent for London.
Stocked up on 'strips' again during my usual visit to Stripwinkel De Poort.

Nice street/wall art I came across in the
St Paulusstraat, side wall of St Pietersinstituut.

May 21st.

Arrived in Eeklo in the afternoon. Sorted out having my heel spur looked at next Monday.

It's all about family and friends here.

And let's not talk about the weather - 8 degrees C here!! Really?! And wet wet wet..

Meiklokjes / Lily of the Valley. Mum's garden.

May 28nd.

Sunshine and no rain all day yesterday!! Yay!!!!!
I couldn't go for a long walk because of the Shockwave treatment for my heel spur, but a lovely lunch in Kristien and Erik's garden made up for that.
Today the weather was nice till about 4pm-ish; I got my walk in before that.

Buddha statue in mum's garden.

When in Eeklo I  always spend at least one evening in Cafe 't Kabouterke, an old and favorite haunt of mine. I learned that this iconic little cafe may soon no longer be.... that will truly be a sad day for Eeklo.

't Kabouterke.

Twilight in Eeklo.