Making it to Belgium (as planned at least) seems to be impossible for us. The first time we tried to go, Oct 2009, our flight was delayed out of Raleigh to the point that we completely missed our connection in Atlanta, forcing us to reschedule the entire trip. This time, our flight to JFK was delayed several times in hour-long increments. Although we passed the time drinking free wine in the RDU lounge (benefits of status when flying internationally) when they announced a JFK ground stoppage we were forced us to reconsider our itinerary. Thankfully, all four of us were able to get on the flight to London and connect to Brussels a mere three hours late.

This three hour delay was really no big deal, unless you, perhaps, pre-purchased Magritte museum tickets for 11am and your flight landed at, oh, 11am. I missed the museum last time, so I was determined to see if someone would let us in late. We hustled to the Central Station, stored our luggage in a locker just large enough (a feat of packing that the boys should be proud of), and ended up at the museum around 12:15pm. The man scanned our tickets and even though a bright red +1:15 showed up on the screen, he didn’t bat an eyelash and let us in.

I then collapsed with relief in the elevator up to the third floor.

Unfortunately, we all agreed that the Magritte Museum was just okay. Bummer considering all the drama. Exhausted, we headed back to the train station and boarded the train for the hour-long journey to Bruges.

I would love to say that things got easier from here but lets quickly mention the mile plus walk we made from the Bruges train station to our hotel in the POURING RAIN. The photo below happened only after a a change of clothes and a two hour nap.

dry, rested, and ready for some beer!