So how did it go?
Day 1 - Eurostaring, and Brugge
When we decided to leave, our next stop was to go up the huge Belfry tower in the square. It cost about €10 to go up, which wasn't cheap but it would afford decent views over Brugge. They only let a certain amount of people up at a time, thanks to a barrier system - so people only go up it as fast as people come down. The last time Sasha went up, it let Cory and Nicole through but Sasha had to wait until an extra person came down - and this time, it let me through but Sasha had to wait again! I waited on the other side of the barrier, and it wasn't long before Sasha was able to join me and we went up. The Belfry has a Carillon which plays pre-determined tunes read from a big steel drum, and we happened to be in the room with the steel drum when it rang a peel of bells. The view from the top was quite neat, although the wire obscured the view and was such that I couldn't poke my camera lens through making it difficult to get photos. It also became a bit chilly up there, as there was quite a wind blowing up high on the Belfry tower.
Day 2 - Bruggering Around
Day 3 - ANZAC Day in the Battlefields
Day 4 - Brussels and the Ordeal at Lille
In Summary
I didn't realise when we were in Bruges how close to Ostend and Zeebrugge we were (I should have twigged long ago that Zeebrugge is the port for Bruges or Brugge - Zee Brugge, its kind of there in the name isn't it!) nor how close to The Netherlands we were. We could have gone from Zonnebeke to Ypres and caught a train from there, but I couldn't work out how frequent the trains were nor the buses to Ypres so that's why we doubled back to Roeselare. I got to indulge in Belgian beers, lots of them (we even brought a couple of bottles back to the UK with us because it was dirt cheap!) as well as chocolate, fries, mussels and waffles - all the staple Belgian food and drink delights! Bruges was lovely, Brussels is still a city which is nice but missing a certain character and the heightened security presence in Brussels following the bombings didn't really bother me nor impede our trip. Having ticked off all the things I wanted to go to Belgium for, and with Sasha having ticked off having travelled on the Eurostar (getting more Eurostar experience than we bargained for no less!), I can't see any immediate or near-term need or want to travel back to the country. On the note of the Eurostar, we didn't apply to get our Uber fare back (which wasn't much actually) but that's a small price to pay to avoid competing with 750 other passengers (our rough calculation of 1000 took into account the two buffet cars, but not the first class cars with fewer seats). But we did apply for the delay compensation - we now have some Eurostar travel vouchers to the tune of 75% of our fares which because of the length of delay, is the maximum anyone can get. But given we got the cheap promotional fare for the trip that was delayed, it isn't much but it could be useful towards a future trip. The Ordeal at Lille won't be forgotten in a hurry, but we're not bitter about it - it wasn't Eurostar's fault and although it was an inconvenience, it isn't the end of the world and Lille will no longer be just a name on a map. However - according to The Rules, what we did there and our time there doesn't qualify as being able to say we've been to Lille because we never left the station. We can say we've been to Lille Station, but not Lille...
On the note of the Ordeal and "suspicious noises" etc, I had a lot of people ask me "Shouldn't you be avoiding Belgium at the moment?" or "You're brave, aren't you worried?" all in relation to the suicide bombings that took place in Brussels a month before - or that if it were them they'd be cancelling their trip. To be honest, I find such comments surprising - note they were "avoid Belgium" and not just Brussels, the only city where anything happened yet suddenly everyone was wary of the entire country. We weren't even in Brussels for most of the trip, and while we were in the city there was never any incident nor has there been since - if anyone is trying, they are being thwarted and as was clearly illustrated by the Ordeal at Lille, no one is taking any chances when it comes to security. Without going into a big diatribe, there will always be a risk no matter where you go - or don't go, because even going about daily life in London isn't necessarily safe either. If any city in Europe is going to be a target, surely it would be London. As long as you're sensible and there isn't a clear and present danger, then it should be fine - the truth is you're never going to know if you're in the wrong place at the wrong time until its too late, and in all honesty you have a greater chance of been run over by a car crossing the street than being involved in a terrorist incident. Hell, even when my parents were in London there was a danger of IRA bombings, something which isn't a problem now thankfully but that never seemed to stop them going about their time in the UK. So the bottom line - we knew there had been issues. We'd looked into the situation, we concluded that it would most likely be safe enough for us to still go through with the trip, and that call was correct.
So Belgium - thank you for your copious amounts of yummy beer and food, great sights and also the history lesson. We had a great time!