Two Bears in Bruges (or Brugge)

Hanley Bear and I have recently returned from our biggest adventure so far of 2018 - a trip to Belgium with our human guardians, Grizzly and Polar.  We went all the way there by train, travelling on the very speedy Eurostar from St Pancras station in London to Brussels Midi.  As he doesn't have as many outfits as me, Polar made Hanley Bear a beret to wear on the journey.

The train we caught to Bruges wasn't like any British trains as it had an upstairs and a downstairs!  We wanted to go upstairs for the view but Polar and Grizzly had heavy bags with them and found it easier to sit downstairs.

We were thrilled when we found our 'hotel' was actually a boat on the canal.  Hanley Bear and I could look out of the window and watch huge barges going by while Polar and Grizzly went out to explore, although we didn't stay in our room all the time.  Exploring the boat hotel, we met two other bears - The Captain and little Albert (pronounced Al Bear) - and they told us how to get into the city without being seen by too many humans or run over by all the bicycles. 

'You will find lots of other bears in Brugge,' explained The Captain.  'The Bear is the symbol of our city.'

We made our way over some bridges and canals and through a lovely park, following the instructions our Belgian bear friends had given us.  When we got to the city centre, we tried talking to some pretty girl bears in a shop, but they didn't reply.  At first, we thought they might speak a Flemish dialect of Bear and so didn't understand us.  Then we realised they weren't real bears but were made of chocolate! 

'We'll have to be extra careful if the humans in this city eat bears!' I said to Hanley, so we kept to the side streets and away from the crowds.  'I wonder why the boat bears didn't warn us?' 

A few streets further on we came to a shop full of bears.  We asked them if they were in danger of being eaten.

'Of course not!' one of them explained.  'We'll be adopted by kind humans, to be best friends to their human cubs and have cuddles, fun and adventures together.  This is a city that respects bears - look up and you'll see bear statues everywhere!' 

The shop bears were quite right - when we got to the city centre we saw carved bears on lots of amazing old buildings.  We also found Polar and Grizzly, which was a good thing, as we were hungry and tired from walking a long way.  

'Come and have waffles and hot chocolate with us, little bears!' said Polar, putting us in her big camera bag.

The next day, we had an upstairs train ride to Ostende, where we saw the sea for the first time and rode in a tram all along the coast, before coming back to the boat hotel. 

We thought we would like to stay there forever as it was so nice and we had made new bear friends, but the next morning we had to pack and catch more trains to get to a town called Ypres (or Ieper), and from there to a village called Kemmel. 

Grizzly explained that one hundred years ago, his father had been in a terrible battle there, in which thousands of humans, many animals and almost all the trees and plants had been killed.  There was going to be a remembrance service the next day and Grizzly, Polar, Grizzly's sister Hazel and her grown up son Rob had been invited. 

Grizzly told us that his father had seen one tiny bluebell still alive in all the ruins and that he wrote a little poem about it.  He and Polar took us out to see the woods which had grown up where the battle had been and they were full of pretty blue flowers.  Polar let us run about in the bluebells and climb the trees but after we had played for a little while, Hanley Bear and I stopped to remember all the creatures that had been killed in that war and other wars, and to wish that humans would learn to live together in peace with each other and with animals.

The next day, while our human guardians were at their ceremony, we stayed at the hotel and made friends with a wise old bear, before exploring the woods again, although we came in before the humans got back because we could hear owls hooting in the trees and we thought they might eat very small bears.  

The following morning we had to leave Belgium, although we had time on the way home for a visit to the Grand Place in Brussels where I had another delicious hot chocolate drink and Hanley Bear tried a sip of Grizzly's beer, which was quite strong and made his head spin.  Soon we were back on the Eurostar train and going under the sea to go home.  I was sad to be leaving Belgium and our bear friends there, but Polar said we might be able to go back one day.  I do hope so!

As soon as we got home, Hanley Bear took off his beret and put his Stoke City hat and scarf on.  He was very happy because his team had drawn against Liverpool, which he says means they are a better side than Roma and so definitely won't be relegated, but I am not so sure, I'm afraid.