A Knights Tale in De Haan

Following a week of holidays in the south of France, me and the GF celebrated our `jubilation` by sneaking away still for a few days to the Belgian coast village of De Haan.

I had booked at a bed and breakfast, Elly, and we found ourselves with a very lovely dutch hosting family.

Lying in the back of the village, it was calm and quiet, a certain requirement for Chu to get some decent sleep in the hunongous (porn?) bed we found there.

The first evening, we went for a walk to the village itself and a short stroll across the beach.  But what followed was rather immense.

First of all, there was this `little` icecream Banana Split we grabbed at Mano`s...

In the nearby village of Klemskerke, we went to grab a bite.  I had accidently seen the restaurant on route to our destination, so we drove the 3+ kilometres back.

It was what we call overhere the likes of an `afspanning`, a real village restaurant, and I went for the roasted ham...

Day 2, the intention was to go to Wenduine, but getting there we found out the whole beach was next to impossible to access and we decided there and then to drive along the whole coast to Oost Duinkerke, the village Chu had been on holiday a lot in her youth.

It would turn out to be a God`s, or better, Lego, gift, but that is for a bit later.

Driving there, we went for some stops in between, the first halt beeing Bredene.  Located right next to De Haan, this is the location of the nudist beach in Belgium, and Chu now has gotten the idea in her head we should go there sometime.  Let`s say it `remains open for debate`...

But like the ham, everything looks big here...

The next stop we did was Nieuwpoort, a bit of a shopping village, but then we reached our destination.

Oost Duinkerke, with it`s large amount of dunes still.  We went for a walk, failed to find the bunkers she remembered from her childhood days, and went for a little snack. 

But then, she revealed an old toy store she remembered from 20 years ago, Bazaar Cri Cri.  What i found there was rather awesome, some really old boxes of Lego, still at retail pricing.  The Ferrari pull back that goes 60+ on BrickLink?  I payed 22.  The Ferrari podium you don`t see under 30?  I payed 8.  The Duplo dino trap, which only has a single one listed on BL at 80 euro?  I payed... 22!!!

Add to that some action figures of Draco (which Chu now has in her cabinet) and Frodo that the shop lading turned up, and I got the Friends display for free on top... this has been a most excellent find.

Also, for those now wanting to rush to Oost Duinkerke, don`t bother, I cleared the store out of treasures...

The only sour note came on the last evening, as we went to eat at Strand Hotel in De Haan.  Chu wanted to watch the sunset, but this place was a pure tourist trap.  The service was rude, not even letting Chu finish her question before she ran off, and the cook managed to totally overboil... mussels.  That is quite an achievement if you ask me...

But as the sun set down, so did our holiday period and now we are back home, with some fond memories (and a lot of bricks ;-) )