In Belgium (and I know that it’s the same in France), you can only get sick on Monday-Friday from 9am-6pm and Saturday 10am-6pm. These are the only hours that the pharmacies are open. You need the pharmacies to get medicine. You cannot buy cough drops, aspirin, or pepto at a grocery store. You need a pharmacy. I did manage to find Riccola herbal candies at a GB Express on Sunday when the sore throat started. This too was lucky. GB Express is the only grocery store (more like a Kwik Trip) open on Sunday. Grocery stores are opened Monday-Saturday 9am-7pm. HA. They don’t let people in anymore after 6:30p.
In other Belgian news, I don’t really know the response of the people to the Wednesday broadcast of the Belgian split. All I know is what some of you may know by the article in the New York Times. I do find this humorous, and not surprising that many people believed it. For those of you who ever visit Belgium, you can feel the difference in each of the three areas (Flanders, Wallonia and Brussels). I guess the separatism is getting worse, but I don’t think that the country is going to split anytime soon. Maybe after the broadcast they will start to talk about the problems this country faces.
I did do some traveling this past weekend. Saturday, I was in Germany. I went to Cologne, which is not far over the Belgian/German border. I went for the Christmas Markets. I had been told that in this region, the markets in Cologne are the best. I went to 4 of the 6 of them. I had hot wine and German sausage (please note: I will still not be partaking in beef and pork products at home. Choices tend to be limited at Christmas markets AND I have to say they tasted better than any sausage I ever had in the States). Overall, it was a good trip. I do have recommendations for anyone who gets the opportunity to go in the future. If you can avoid going on the weekend, avoid it. There were areas where I could barely move, which wasn’t too bad until it started raining and people took out their umbrellas. If you can only go on the weekend, don’t go between the hours of 1 and 4pm. That is when it seemed to be the most crowded. Beware of rain, and don’t be afraid to sit in the cathedral for a while if you need. I know that I did and I wasn’t the only one. If you had just glanced at the pews, you would have thought there was a church service happening at that time.
That’s about all for now. I am flying home on Friday for the holidays. I will be back in Belgium on January 5th, and I will continue to update this blog at that time. I have a lot more trips planned for the spring. Including a trip to Paris the week I get back and a trip to Madrid the week after that. So I should have more interesting stories for those of you who have been following along on my Belgian tales. Until then, take care and Happy Holidays!
