This is a personal diary note of my trip to Bruges as we say in England. If you speak Flemish, it is Brugge. So, my second away VIP trip with Birmingham City FC and I’m in Belgium. I left home at 7.45am on 19 October and unlocked the back door at 2.15am on 21 October.
This time I had not pre-booked a parking space and was relieved to find plenty of spaces in Long Stay 1. On opening the car door, I had my first cold blast of Birmingham air. As it was a nice sunny day, I didn’t mind as I was dressed for the occasion.
Into the airport and quickly found Adam and Ollie from the club. Bag was soon checked in and instead of hanging around, I went upstairs for hot cuppa. I spotted two chaps wearing blue and sat next to them and had a natter. The retired Dad had supported the club since the mid 50’s and his son Simon naturally followed. As you do! To prove it is a small world, Simon lives in Totterdown, Bristol. Unbelievable!
Now one thing I hate about airports is delayed flights. You would have thought that as it is a private charter plane for the Birmingham City team, you would not have any delays. Wrong! The plane did not arrive on time, so we had a 50 min delays. Not too bad, but nevertheless, somewhat annoying.
So we finally landed at Oostend Airport around 3pm local time and then a 30 min coach trip to the hotel. So I’m finally in my hotel room around 4pm having left home at 7.45am (UK time). And it’s only a 40 minute flight. Given it was a nice sunny day, it was dump bags and go for a walk to get my bearings before darkness fell. I’m glad I made the effort as the sun was in the right position to get some good pictures around the main square in Brugge.
Nice shop window display
And again
Lots of lace in Belgium
Having walked down a few side streets, I soon stumbled across a bunch of Blues fans in their early 20’s. It was about 5.30pm and they were already drunk as a skunk. They thought I was a local which I thought was agreat compliment. I showed them by badge and we put arms round shoulders whilst having a good sing. With that, I made my excuses and left. It wasn’t long before I was in the opposite direction seeking out the locals!
Think you should have the idea by now that beer features quite a lot!
The most astonishing fan I met on the trip was a 17 year old from Brum. He had travelled over all by himself having locked his back door at 1.30am. Ouch! What an enterprising young chap.
One of the buildings in the main square
A grande building on the main square
small part of the main square
I soon found a nice place to eat. it was outside, but under a canopy with infra-red heaters. So I was nice and cosy and md well sheltered against the cold evening. There was no language problems and the waiter was taken aback that I did not need a menu! I said I was after traditional local food and settled for a beef stew. I then ordered my favourite Belgium beer, and the waiter smiled and gave me the “thumbs up”.
My Favourite Belgium Beer
I have never really understood why we brits order beer by the litre and then spend all evening in the loo. Slowly sip a beer of around 10% strength and enjoy the evening. You are rocking and rolling after 3, a wreck after 4. Well, I am at any rate!
So it was then back to the hotel, watch a Champions League match and off to kip. It had already been a long day, and I knew Thursday would be equally long and tiring.
The hotel breakfast was excellent and I went for the cooked brekkie. I decided to give what looked like to be a local black sausage a go, only to find out it was black pudding. My word, what a find!
A quick peruse of the hotel then followed and to my dismay there was a Brit drinking a litre of booze in the hotel bar at 10.30am. Oh my god, get a life!
So out for another wander round the side streets and you stumble on these things:
C&A remember them??
So it's not just us with red post boxes then
Just like Holland, this place is so flat it makes the Broads look hilly. Bikes, bikes and more bikes
I have my own bar and Happy Hour is avaiable as well
I then went to back to the main square to take pictures and videos of the fans and the flags. A good time was had by all. The local Police got it right and they were mainly on push bikes and aged 50 ish. Mind you, they all wore truncheons and carried a side arm.
All the Police wore trunceons and side arms. They also posed for pictures and handcuffed a few fans for the pics as well.
As far as I could make out, there was no trouble at all in the square. In fact I did not see any trouble at all during the entire trip. Boystrous yes, but that was it.
small part of the main square
The famous Belfry Tower. Still in full working order and very nice chimes
View of Belfry Tower viewed from the far side of the square
So it was then back to the hotel for all the VIP’s to gather together and off for the pre-match meal in a small out of the way restaurant. Very nice to and great banter from all concerned. Wonder why I am always on the loudest table?!!
Kempinski Hotel where I stayed. A very grande building about 4 mins walk to the main square
And so onto the game. Lots of security for the 5.5k faithfull. It’s a nice looking stadium as well.
Very basic seating at the stadium
Jan Breysel Stadium, the home of Club Brugge KV. Free Wi-Fi at the ground as well. Fab
As for the game, well highly entertaining and astonishingly, history repeated itself. Blues were caught cold and went 1 down in 2nd minute, the got back into the game and started dominating. Final score Brugge 1 Blues 2. That was Brugge’s first loss at home in the 2011/12 season, and first ever home defeat to an English team in European competitions. Stunning.
The crowd must have been around 27k, and there were 5.5k Brummies singing their hearts out, putting the locals to shame. Utterly fantastic.
One of the treats for me was the number of Blues fans late taking their seats. This led to a bit of chaos and virtually everyone stood throughout the game. Standing up for a Europa League match is fab.
And then the trip to the airport where all the Blues players were applauded as they entered the departure lounge.
Chris Hughton, the Blues manager is never off duty
I managed to have a 5 minute conversation with Paul Trollope (Assistant Manager) whilst waiting to board. What a nice chap.
The plane landed about 30 mins late and Brum airport was a shambles. The electronic passport machines were down and at least 3 planes had landed at the same time. Monster queues and a few snarly comments made. Despite to 20 mins to clear passport control, the bags had still not arrived at the carousel, so more waiting. And then I just missed the courtesy bus, so had a 15 min wait outside to get back to the car.
And then the car parking charge works on the 24 hour clock, not the time parked. So I had 3 days of parking charges. Thankfully the M42 and M5 were devoid of traffic, so it was an easy drive home. Finally hit the sack at 3am and woke up naturally to bright sunshine at 11.30am.
Next stop, Braga. North Portugal late in November.
All the videos are on You Tube and I hope these links work. If not, go onto You Tube and plug my name in and they should appear on my channel. I posted these videos about 24 hours ago and the viewing figures already stand at 2,062!!
Final whistle & fans singing http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XR8LrE13A6k
Jan Breydel Stadion http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XR8LrE13A6k
Fans singing “Keep Right On” http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5wqNRAJL088
Players warming up http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q-EXW-4ytvY
Brugge main square, day before the game http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lKtjiiILVlg
Brugge main square, fans kicking football http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SL36eCagXpQ
Brugge main square, fans and flags http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pE-4ydWAKKE
Players at Oostend Airport awaiting flight back http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dvq6llCkIVM
A selection of fans flags:
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