Go Back  Fodor's Travel Talk Forums > Destinations > Europe
Reload this Page >

Honoring my Father, Belgium, Amsterdam, London and TWO GTGs

Honoring my Father, Belgium, Amsterdam, London and TWO GTGs

Old May 26th, 2015, 07:25 PM
  #1  
Original Poster
 
Join Date: Oct 2005
Posts: 72,630
Likes: 0
Received 50 Likes on 7 Posts
Honoring my Father, Belgium, Amsterdam, London and TWO GTGs

Background: Some of you helped w/ my questions about re-tracing my father's footsteps during the Battle of the Bulge/Battle for the Ardennes. The impetus for this trip was a series of accidents . . . finding a 1946 letter from my Dad to the War Department requesting a partial disability and the reply denying it but including the name of the village where my Dad was injured; meeting a bartender at the Grand Californian who's family is from SE Belgium who put me in contact w/ a man who was a 9yo living outside of Bastogne during the winter of '44/'45 and who since retiring has devoted his life to studying the battle and guiding people around the area; finding a sort of 'throw away' line in my Mom's memoir where I first learned of the unit my Dad was temporarily attached to during the battle, and a 1947 post card from one of the guys in my Dad's platoon briefly mentioning the battle.

I wasn't hunting for any of these -- they all just sort of fell in my lap in Jan/Feb of this year (My father passed away unexpectedly in 2006 at 84 so he wasn't around to ask . . . and very seldom talked about his time in the ETO anyway. Mom died in 2011 at 87)

So visiting SE Belgium for sure - now what else should I include? Well London is just about a given -- I try to get there 2 or 3 ties a year. As long as I'll be in Belgium I'd like to fit in Brugge somehow. And since I'm in the neighborhood -- a few days in Amsterdam.

So the initial plan was:

Fly into LHR and stay one night at the St Pancras Renaissance; Eurostar to Brussels and on to Brugge for one night; Train across Belgium to Stavelot (near Spa) for three nights including a full day w/ driver/guide touring around the Ardennes; Train to Amsterdam for 3 nights; Flight to LGW and 4 nights in London; Fly home. Plans did morph because 1) a Belgian rail strike forced me into two nights in Brugge/two nights in the Ardennes and 2) a bit of brain fade on my part gave me 6 nights in London instead of 4. (all to the good but both required me to pack and move to different hotels/rooms)

April 19/20. Overnight flight from SMF through LAX to LHR arriving late morning. Like last London trip I booked business over and coach home because I figure in Only need the lie-flat bed on the overnight flight. Doing it this way saved me more than $2000 on the tix. Totally lovely flight - really good food - didn't sleep that much but did manage to relax and stretch out so I wasn't a basket case when I got to LHR. Because I flew Business I had Lounge access and because my room might not yet be ready I visited the landside Admirals Club for about an hour, watched some telly, had a bite to eat and glass of wine then headed to the tube station topped up my Oyster and set out to St Pancras.

I've wanted to stay at the Renaissance since it reopened several years ago - but the historic rooms/suites are a bit above my pay grade. Taking an early morning Eurostar I decided this was as good a time as any. But I simply couldn't pull the trigger on a £480 room -- so I booked a room in the contemporary Barlow wing @ £220. I knew it would probably be sort of Holiday Inn-ish -- but I could still enjoy the public rooms and service . . .

Welll . . . I arrive at St Pancras and after faffing about looking for the hotel (i did know exactly where the hotel is but the signage in the station is pitiful and how to get there from the concourse isn't easy) I was giving up and about to walk out on to Euston Rd to come back in the hotel's front door when I found the only sign near the glass lift. Wheeled my little carry on through the lovely lobby and a very nice woman at the registration desk chatted for a while "I've always wanted to stay here - but for just one night decided the Barlow wing would be fine. Someday I'll try to stay in one of the historic rooms. blah blah blah." After about 5 minutes she winked at me -- yes winked(!). "Oh, Ms janisj - the hotel is totally booked. So we've placed you IN A SUITE IN THE HISTORIC WING"

OMG OMG OMG -- I have never seen such a massive room in London. Easily 20 foot ceilings. Huge bed. Chaise lounge. Couch. Three 18 foot windows out over Euston Road w/ floor to ceiling drapes. Fireplace. Dressing table at the end of the bed w/ truffles and three kinds of mineral water. Enormous marble bathroom w/ an 8 foot tub and two person shower. Ell around the corner w/ a table/chairs and built in bench. The bench seat raised and there were various ports and electrical sockets of every type I've ever seen -- UK/Continental/US/OZ etc.

When I unpacked I decided to hand wash the blouse and undies I'd been wearing for 27 hours before heading out. I rolled them in a hand towel but they were still pretty wet and I hung them on the shower door. When I returned a couple of hours later -- turn down service had been done, all the various decorator pillows/shams were stashed away someplace, more truffles, biscuits . . . and my laundry was totally dry and hung in the closet??? How did they do that? Ask me if I loved this place . . . HECK YEAH

All I did this afternoon was go to the Shard -- when I went up last year it was drippy and overcast and there was very little view and today was GORGEOUS, so I decided to do it again. Expensive . . . but what the hey -- I'm staying in a bleedin' SUITE at the St Pancras Renaissance . . I'm officially a member of the 1% and can afford it Then I had dinner in Covent Garden and returned to my SUITE at the hotel . . .

My Eurostar is early in the AM so I requested a 06:30 wake up call. I woke up on my own about 0615 and decided to stay in bed til the call came. 0630 and nothing. 0635 and there is a knock at the door. There stands a butler (a BUTLER ) . . . apparently last night when I made a phone call I had put the receiver in the cradle wrong so when they tried to phone me - nothing. And w/i 5 mins there was my wake up at the door. Did I say I love this place

Next: Delayed Eurostar, cute hotel in Brugge, fabulous beer, trapped in the city an extra night and having to find someplace to stay

Last edited by Moderator1; Jul 15th, 2020 at 05:21 PM. Reason: removed broken html
janisj is online now  
Old May 26th, 2015, 07:33 PM
  #2  
 
Join Date: Jan 2010
Posts: 7,855
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes on 0 Posts
What a fantastic start to your trip janis! Love it.
Looking forward to the rest.

Last edited by Moderator1; Jul 15th, 2020 at 05:21 PM.
raincitygirl is offline  
Old May 26th, 2015, 07:46 PM
  #3  
 
Join Date: Jan 2003
Posts: 33,288
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes on 0 Posts
What a great start! I hope the rest of the trip is as amazing!
Kathie is offline  
Old May 26th, 2015, 08:47 PM
  #4  
 
Join Date: Feb 2004
Posts: 6,134
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes on 0 Posts
It really was a bit of serendipity at work in finding out about your father's war - time experience. Meant to be.

I'm booked into the St.Pancras Renaissance for one night on my upcoming trip.Last year I stayed across the street at The Great Northern and liked it, but this year I found the prices at the Renaissance only a little more (and, yes, I booked into the cheapie) and decided to go for it. Maybe I should try a similar line when I register. I was upgraded to one of their best rooms at the Northern last year. Have no idea why.

Delayed Eurostar? Crickey!
historytraveler is offline  
Old May 26th, 2015, 10:26 PM
  #5  
 
Join Date: Feb 2006
Posts: 27,609
Likes: 0
Received 1 Like on 1 Post
Would love to stay at the Renaissance but way above my budget. How great that you scored the upgrade!
thursdaysd is offline  
Old May 26th, 2015, 10:27 PM
  #6  
 
Join Date: Nov 2006
Posts: 1,209
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes on 0 Posts
What a lovely start to your trip! I might have been tempted to spend the entire afternoon & evening luxuriating in that gorgeous suite!

Looking forward to more!
2010 is offline  
Old May 27th, 2015, 01:57 AM
  #7  
 
Join Date: Feb 2007
Posts: 1,862
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes on 0 Posts
You are sooooo lucky. Keep your TR coming.
SS
ssander is offline  
Old May 27th, 2015, 02:13 AM
  #8  
 
Join Date: Feb 2007
Posts: 6,144
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes on 0 Posts
The hotel sounds amazing - I've drooled over their website many times, the bathrooms in particular.

Big Eurostar fan too - all the best trips start with it.

Following along....
RM67 is offline  
Old May 27th, 2015, 08:30 AM
  #9  
 
Join Date: Sep 2005
Posts: 6,818
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes on 0 Posts
Yo... Janis...as you may recall, I've been waiting for this report, most definitely for the SE Belguium WW II portions about your dad. Sorry to hear that he passed on (as well as your mom)...I could not recall whether you had stated that in your earlier posts about Belgium.

Your auspicious (ultra-luxurious) beginning is a winner...nothing like positive surprises at the beginning of a trip to set the stage!

I have the good fortune to have four 24th Division, 19th Infantry, buddies still alive and kicking, in our late 80's. We constantly share, to keep memories and documents alive. One in Hawaii (orginally Boston), one in Michigan. one in South Carolina, another in Florida and yours truly in So. California. We've been busily scanning very old pics and getting some hearty reminiscent laughs out of it. Gawd we were young, thin and sassy!

Keep it coming, Janis...at ease.
Stu Tower
tower is offline  
Old May 27th, 2015, 08:41 AM
  #10  
 
Join Date: Jul 2006
Posts: 17,989
Received 22 Likes on 4 Posts
Janis, my father also fought in the Battle of the Bulge. Luckily we have his daily letters written during the war plus his division's "yearbook." I have visited many of the sites where he fought but not the Ardennes so am really looking forward to your report. Thanks.
HappyTrvlr is online now  
Old May 27th, 2015, 09:21 AM
  #11  
 
Join Date: Jul 2006
Posts: 25,493
Received 4 Likes on 4 Posts
My father died the year after yours, a little younger and spent the war building the landing crafts for Normandy.

Glad the shmaltz worked, the rest should be fun
bilboburgler is offline  
Old May 27th, 2015, 11:19 AM
  #12  
 
Join Date: Nov 2005
Posts: 2,857
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes on 0 Posts
Woohoo, janisj - great beginning! You must be living right.

Very much looking forward to more.
LCBoniti is offline  
Old May 27th, 2015, 11:48 AM
  #13  
 
Join Date: Feb 2003
Posts: 20,013
Received 0 Likes on 0 Posts
I am following this also, great start and looking forward to more.

I was upgraded like that once so I know the feeling
Percy is offline  
Old May 27th, 2015, 12:08 PM
  #14  
 
Join Date: Oct 2013
Posts: 7,933
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes on 0 Posts
When I was working as management consultant in New York, back in my youth, sometimes a client emergency required me to work so late that I couldn't make the last train home. On those occasions, the company always booked me a single room at the Waldorf Astoria. The single rooms were cheap and dreary, obviously intended for the servants back when the hotel was built. However, I soon learned that the later I arrived, the more likely the single rooms would be all taken (because they were so cheap) and I would get upgraded, often to a suite. One of these suites was so enormous that I had trouble finding the bathroom. I never saw a butler, though. Maybe they were off duty at that time of night!

I always took my time getting back to the office in the morning.
bvlenci is offline  
Old May 27th, 2015, 01:19 PM
  #15  
Original Poster
 
Join Date: Oct 2005
Posts: 72,630
Likes: 0
Received 50 Likes on 7 Posts
Thanks everybody. Will try to finish this up in a few entries over the next couple of days (I compose, check spelling, etc. as I'm posting so it takes a while) . . . but I do have a few things I have to do today and I do have to help the Warriors beat the Rockets tonight so it may take til the weekend.

historytraveler: Fingers crossed they have the same overbooking problem when you are there. Even one of the Junior suites would have been wonderful -- but this was a suite suite -- real honest-to-goodness suite.

April 21/22: Delayed Eurostar, cute hotel in Brugge, fabulous beer, trapped in the city an extra night and having to find someplace to stay

My Eurostar was scheduled to leave @ 0855 and it did and made good time . . . all the way to Ebbsfleet (For those who don't know, Ebbsfleet is about 20 miles east of St Pancras)

Nice Gallic voice comes on the PA announcing only one tunnel in use so we will have to sit here 15 mins. Then about 25 mins later he comes back on and tells us we'll be on our way in about 50 minutes. THEN a couple of additional announcements later (each one extending the time we'll be just outside beautiful Ebbsfleet International) he comes on and says there is an "Unusual Noise" is coming from carriage 4 and engineering staff must check it out. Then yet another announcement the the driver must perform safety checks. At 12 noon we we finally feel the engines starting up. And all this time obviously no Eurostars were leaving from St Pancras behind us and only one had passed us coming the other way towards London. 3/4 of the passengers in my carriage were business travelers day tripping to Brussels for business meetings . . . and they are all missing them. We enter the tunnel exactly one hour (continental time) AFTER our scheduled arrival time in Brussels.

(Re the delay and compensation: There are three levels of compensation for Eurostar delays: 1 hr - 119 mins a 25% refund; 120-299 mins - 50%; 300+ mins 100% refund. My train was delayed 179 minutes. The next day I sent an e-mail asking if/how if I could claim compensation and got a reply right away -- the gist of which said I needed: the PNR booking reference, scanned receipts and/or tickets, and UK or Eurozone bank account details. And If I don’t have a European bank account, a PayPal email address. Alternatively they can credit the funds to my credit card, but they need a telephone number contact me, as they won't credit an account w/o speaking to the customer. I wrote back saying I was traveling for 2 weeks and don't have a mobile w/ me, gave them my home phone number and asked them to phone me on or after my return on May 4. Thought that was the end of things -- but 5 days later I get an e-mail including "The partial refund we can offer you would be 50% of the ticket cost. In your case, this would come to $82.50. I have refunded this amount to the card you used for payment and the money should show in your account within the next 5 to 7 working days.". . . and before I got home the credit showed up on my account . . . no scanned documentation, no phone call needed. )

My Eurostar booking included onward train(s) to any station in Belgium so there was no problem re missing a particular train. I could have caught a train to Brugge just a few minutes after arriving but by the time I figured out the snazzy display kiosks I had to wait for the next train but it was only about 20 minutes.

I stayed at the Hotel Bla Bla (don't laugh - that's its name) in very central Brugge -- a very clean 2 star w/ super helpful staff. Not a darn thing wrong w/ it . . . but quite a come down from my suite at St Pancras I'd be happy staying there again. €80 for 2nd floor walk up room. Was maybe a 15 minute walk from the station. A nation-wide rail strike is scheduled for tomorrow and I'm only booked in for one night. They are totally booked up tomorrow night but the manager and I decide the best course it to wait til morning to see if there are any cancellations - due to folks not being able to get TO Brugge. Since I didn't know where I'd be tomorrow or if I'd be sleeping on a park bench, I didn't unpack.

Spent what was left of the day just wandering around Brugge soaking up the atmosphere and went to a beer bar the hotel recommended - Brugs Beertje just a few blocks away. They have 400+ different beers. Every type of beer has its own shape/type of glass. It was literally a forest of beer glasses. I tried 3 and I think my very fave was a Gulden Draak -- a very smooth dark triple ale.

Had dinner at Belle Epoque - a sort French/Belgian Brasserie. I honest;y do not remember what I had -- I think it was fish but I can't find my notes. I do know it was tasty since I considered eating there again the next night but didn't.

Brugge is really lovely in the evening when there are no day trippers around.

Next morning - no luck, they had no cancellations. The manager called a couple of nearby places and both were full. He then asked if I could pay more (guessing since I had booked a 2 star I must be on a budget) -- I said budget wasn't really an issue -- I just need a bed

So then he called B Guest, a very posh two room B&B about 8 blocks away. They DID have a cancellation. It cost about 2.5 X more than Bla Bla but what a lovely room. It is owned by a young couple who bought the small house next to theirs and converted it to a sort of stand-alone B&B annex. Open plan chefs kitchen/sitting room/terrace on the ground floor and one guest room on each of the top two floors. Truly gourmet breakfasts.

I left my bag and explored all over Brugge for about 6 or 7 hours. During the day I walked over to the station -- it was closed due to the strike but the tourist info office was open and I wanted to ask if they thought it would be a zoo tomorrow and if I should come really early. While I was there, a 20-something backpacker was trying to get to Amsterdam for a flight that night. She spoke halting English but not French or anything else the TO staff could figure out. They tried over and over to explain there was no way she could get to A'dam since long distance buses weren't running either. "I must get to Amsterdam. My plane is at 8 tonight!!" . . . "You can't get there -- unless you take a taxi to the Netherlands" . . . "I must get to Amsterdam. My plane is at 8 tonight!!" . . . "You can't get there. No trains are running" . . . "I must get a train to Amsterdam today!!!." . . . repeat. Very sad.

Went back to the B&B in the late afternoon to rest up a bit and change into warmer clothes -- yesterday was summer and today is winter again. Then back out - took a boat ride and stopped in a very posh hotel lounge bar for drinks and snack. Then dinner at one of the indoor/outdoor places around the Market Square. It was cold but there were very good heaters and I opted to sit outside - very pretty and not too too touristy.

Back to the B&B and slept like a baby.

Next: Trains to Trois ponts, African Safari bedroom in Stavelot, and my day with Henri Mignon -- a real gem.

Last edited by Moderator1; Jul 15th, 2020 at 05:26 PM. Reason: removed broken html
janisj is online now  
Old May 27th, 2015, 01:54 PM
  #16  
 
Join Date: Jan 2003
Posts: 24,834
Received 4 Likes on 3 Posts
janisj (and others), did you know you can request your father's military records from the National Archives?

http://www.archives.gov/veterans/mil...e-records.html

http://www.archives.gov/veterans/mil...rvice-records/
Jean is offline  
Old May 27th, 2015, 02:30 PM
  #17  
 
Join Date: Feb 2003
Posts: 2,552
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes on 0 Posts
Enjoying your report and following along!
welltraveledbrit is offline  
Old May 27th, 2015, 02:51 PM
  #18  
 
Join Date: Jul 2006
Posts: 17,989
Received 22 Likes on 4 Posts
Jean, thanks for the link. I do have my father's discharfe papwr with militaey record, bartles on it bit perhaps there is more info in those archives.
Enjoying your trip, janisj.
HappyTrvlr is online now  
Old May 27th, 2015, 02:56 PM
  #19  
Original Poster
 
Join Date: Oct 2005
Posts: 72,630
Likes: 0
Received 50 Likes on 7 Posts
Left out a few of the things I really enjoyed in Brugge -- several museums, especially the Arentshuis. It is one bldg devoted to the career/art of one man - Frank Brangwyn. Talk about a Renaissance man. British but born in Brugge. Worked in oils, watercolors, murals, woodcuts, furniture, stained glass, architecture and worked w/ William Morris. Took a boat trip that was terrific and a way to see a lot of the inner city. And a couple of churches - Saint Salvator's and the Church of Our Lady.

But really -- the star of Brugge is Brugge itself. Just a lovely place to walk around w/o an agenda.
janisj is online now  
Old May 28th, 2015, 04:31 AM
  #20  
 
Join Date: Aug 2006
Posts: 1,332
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes on 0 Posts
Janisj, good work on guiding your Warriors to victory last night! Looking forward to your next post on this TR.
29FEB is offline  

Thread Tools
Search this Thread

Contact Us - Manage Preferences - Archive - Advertising - Cookie Policy - Privacy Statement - Do Not Sell or Share My Personal Information -