Category Archives: Travels

Scratch One Restaurant!

General, Travels

The Chinese restaurant from last night has been scratched from my list. The food made me quite sick last night and I spent the greater part of the night either sitting on the throne or embracing it. Quite a mess. I’m finally feeling much better, but have quite a ways to go before I’m back to normal. These episodes don’t happen very often, but when they do it takes quite a toll on my body.

As a result, everything I had planned to do today went by the board. I slept on and off until 3 this afternoon. About 4 I went outside and drove 30 kilometers to Kotrijk. The main reason was to find a wifi Hotspot and get connected. The McDonalds at the Expo turned out not to have a hotspot, yet. It was installed but wouldn’t be in their cash register until Monday. Next door was a bar / restaurant that advertised on a sign in the window being able to surf the internet. They do indeed have the capability, but it also very new. I’m the first customer to make use of the capability. I’ve bought 60 minutes of time and have ordered a cup of hot chocolate. I don’t feel like eating anything, but the hot chocolate sounded benign enough. Perhaps by tomorrow my system will have recovered enough for me to want to eat something. I’ll probably feel like I’ve been starved!

Tomorrow I also check out of the hotel in Ourdenaarde and move to Gent for two nights. My new boss arrives here on Monday and I’ll meet her for dinner in Gent on Monday evening and then show her how to get to the office in Ourdenaarde on Tuesday morning. Tuesday night I move to the Holiday Inn at the Brussels Airport and will fly back to Salt Lake City on Wednesday. The trip is coming to a close. Today I feel crappy enough that it’s a good thing the trip is ending.

Chinese (continued)

E-Mail Musings, Travels

I mistakenly pushed the send button rather than the save button on that
last post. Consequently, it went out raw — mispellings, errors, and all.
This little Blacberry keyboard causes lots of fumble-fingered spelling.
I’ll correct it online whenever I get an internet connection.

Dinner was good. It was indeed shrimp fried rice. There was apparently a
large birthday party at the restaurant. While I was eating, they set up a
long table and seating for about 30 people. They started to arrive at 7:30.
The party looked like it was for an elderly lady as everyone coming in came
up and greeted her with a kiss. The Belgians greet family with either one
kiss on the cheek or three kisses (left, right, left). I think the decision
about 1 or 3 depends on how close the family relationship is.

The birthday meal was going to be a buffet. It looked pretty good. I don’t
know how they would have served everyone otherwise.

So I’m back in the hotel and drawing a bath. I’m a bit chilly so that
should feel good. Then I’ll read for a whie and head for bed. A big
sightseeing day tomorrow!

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Friday Night Chinese

E-Mail Musings, Travels

The next restaurant on the schedule is a Chinese place. It’s well appointed
inside but there is only one patron besides me. There is some takeout that
has just come from the kitchen so that is a good sign. The proprietess
speaks Cantonese so my meager Mandarin isn’t impressing her very much. I’ve
ordered a spring roll and shrimp fried rice (or at least that’s what I
think I’ve ordered.

It’s clear and quite cold tonight. I had to scrape ice off my car this
morning and will have to do the same tomorrow, I’m sure. This weather is
forecast to hold through Monday.

Several more takeout orders have been picked up. This place seems also to
have a delivery service. A couple more patrons have come in. The spring
roll was huge. Sections of it were stuffed with different vegetables and
meat. Very different from what I’ve had in other parts of the world. It’s
still a bit early for eating out, so we’ll see what the patron count is by
the time I’m finished.

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A Fried McDonalds

General, Travels

No More Cholesterol

The other night I was looking for a quick meal to take back to the room so I decided to go through McDonalds for a sandwich and a soda. I drove along the road where the store used to be, but it wasn’t there. I turned around and drove back along Route 60 and where I was pretty sure the McDonalds used to be, I saw the big M sign (turned off) and a McDonalds with all the lights off. “They must be closed,” I thought. Problem was, in addition to not getting a good dose of fat, calories, and cholesterol, McDonalds also hosted the only wifi hotspot within 20 miles of Oudenaarde! I was quite disappointed that the place was closed.

The next day I asked about the McDonalds at work and found that it was indeed closed — because the place had caught on fire. A daylight picture shows the damage. The roof is gone and there is a lot if internal damage. According to people at work, the building will be torn down and completely replaced. A spotlight on the roof illuminating seasonal decorations overheated and shorted out causing the fire. Last year I remember McDonalds complaining that they hadn’t sold as many gift certificates as expected. Apparently the holidays aren’t good for McDonalds in Oudenaarde in several different ways. Meanwhile, there is no place to get an internet connection. There must be a conspiracy at work here!

Dinner in Oudenaarde

E-Mail Musings, Travels

The most difficult and interesting part for me when traveling is what to do
for dinner. At home I generally don’t have to make decisions about food let
alone where to eat. On the road, however, a diifferent story emerges. It
becomes even more interesting in a different country. There are several
restaurants in Oudenaarde and I’m working my way through them on this trip.
That actually makes part of the decision easier. When I got here, I drove
through the town noting a number of restaurants. I started at the one
furthest from my hotel and have been working my way towards the hotel one
restaurant at a time. No decisions about where to eat as I now have a plan
and a schedule!

Tonight I’m at the restaurant associated with the Cesar Hotel. It’s a
three-star restaurant, whatever that means. Since I don’t know who the
rating authority is, I can’t evaluate the rating, yet. Perhaps after
dinner…? There are quite a few patrons here which is a good sign.

The next problem is what to eat. Tonight I remembered to bring my Berlitz
language guide with me to figure out what the menu items mean in English
and then found that the restaurant had a menu in English. Maybe that’s part
of a 3-star rating? I’ve ordered a steak with a pepper sauce and am looking
forward to that. It’ll likely come with fries (most things do here in
Belgium, the inventor of French Fries). Then depending on how much food was
served and how full I am (sorry, Taco Bell, but you don’t have the
franchise on being “full”), I’ll order a Dame Blanche — vanilla ice cream
with a hot chocolate sauce. The chocolate is “to die for” in Belgium.

All restaurants are smoking allowed with no non-smoking areas. The guy at
the table next to me has lit up a pretty foul-smelling cigarette.
Fortunately, they look to be leaving soon. I’m still somewhat surprised at
how many peiple on my staff smoke. It’s a much higher percentage in
Oudenaarde than in Pocatello.

Last night I drove into Gent to meet a number of people for dinner,
including a couple of people on my staff from Pocatello who are also here
on business. We ate at a Thai restaurant and most of us ordered the “Chef’s
Buffette,” a selection of various Thai dishes which we then shared. That
place will stay on my list. It was very good, paticularly the “Thai Cake”
for dessert.

I’ve finished my dinner. It was quite good and I’d come back here again for
dinner. The pepper sauce could have been more “peppery,” but no other
critique. No Dame Blanche, however. I’m full (which is a good thing to
feel, but bad for the waistline). From here it’s back to the hotel and into
a bath. Then lights out for the end of another day here in Oudenaarde,
Belgium.

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Wednesday in Oudenaarde

General, Travels

Another full day in Belgium is on the schedule. The day started with an 8:30 a.m. meeting and will conclude with a 5-6 p.m. meeting with a whole bunch of meetings in the middle. The best part is, however, that jet-lag is now behind me. I had a great night’s sleep and have pretty much moved to this time schedule. A week from now I’ll haved to make the move back. Someday we’ll be able to make this trip in a couple of hours but I don’t think that’ll do anything for jet-lag!

The weather has certainly been out of the normal for this time of the year in Belgium. Friday and Saturday featured very high (hurricane strength) winds and torrential downpours. Monday and Tuesday set record high temperatures for the region. Today is cooler, but stiff winds are back. By Saturday we’ll have very unseasonbly cold temperatures. I’ll probably be able to experience all four seasons during this trip.

I’m not terribly fond of the hotel I’ve stayed at this trip. I’ve looked at another hotel in the city center and like those rooms much better. However, there’s still no Internet access. The hotel in Gent has put in some Internet access in their business center, but still doesn’t have anything in the rooms. I think there’s a Best Western just down the street from the Sofitel that does have in-the-room Internet access. I plan to check that out on Sunday when I move from Oudenaarde to Gent. Should I be judging hotels based on how connected I can be when I’m there? It sure seems as though that’s a prime consideration.

Oudenaarde, Day 2

E-Mail Musings, Travels

Sleeping is often an interesting proposition. I was absolutely dragging
last night when I went to bed at 9 pm. By 5 am sleep was gone and I was up.
I called Nina because she wasn’t in bed yet (it was only about 9:30 pm in
Pocatello when I called). She had spent a good part of the day moving snow
around. I suspect she’ll sleep well!

After work I went downtown Oudenaarde to see if I could get a GPRS card for
my laptop and maybe have some internet capability. No such luck. No one had
anything remotely like it. I will continue to be disconnected outside of
the office except for my Blackberry. At least that’s something. I’d like
something more, but this will have to do.

Dinner was very good. That is, very good to the tongue but not so good for
the waistline! The new day will dawn in about an hour. I get to the office
in darkness and leave in the darkness. Actually, that sounds a bit
nefarious!

The weather here is unseasonably warm and very windy. No real rain
forecast. Yesterday got up to about 60 degrees and the same is forecast for
today. Good thing I brought my umbrella….

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Monday Morning in Oudenaarde

E-Mail Musings, Travels

Good morning from Belgium. It’s about 7:15 a.m. The dawn hasn’t arrived.
It’s been raining. When I drove back to my hotel about 9 p.m. last night
the clouds had rolled in and a light drizzle had started.

The strategy of going sightseeing in Brussels, taking a nap in the early
afternoon, staying up another 5 hours, and then sleeping all night has
worked. I slept very well and woke up when the alarm went off at 6 a.m.
Unfortunately, the breakfast room wasn’t open at 7 so I’m waiting until
half-past to see if it opens then. It not, McDonalds will get my business.
I’ve only eaten once in the past 24 hours and I’m right ready for
breakfast.

There is a small TV in the room with about fifteen channels including BBC
and CNN for news. This time of the day most of the CNN reporting is
recorded stories that were broadcast originally last night. That makes the
BBC have the fresher news as it’s the beginning of their day. Most of the
other channels, except for MTv are in Dutch or French and thus not
interesting. Well, time for food!

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