Tournai

The drive to Tournai would have been quite uneventful if it wasn’t for Julie’s determination for poppies. On this one particular back road, Julie was spotting poppies left and right. When I pulled over for her to get the poppies she was already out the door and near the ditch. I figured she could easily jump over the ditch but Julie disagreed. However, before she could even attempt anything, she slipped into the ditch which was about as deep as Julie is tall. I helped her out, and it was here that she started complaining that she has fallen in a patch of stigning nettle. She rushed back to the van started applying sting relief and took a tablet of an anti-allergen just in case. Julie broke out in bumps and a rash, but was fine by the next day. The campsite we stayed in Tournai was very poorly labeled, if it wasn’t for seeing another campervan, it might just as well have been someone’s driveway. The campsite itself is a three kilometer walk into town, so we ventured in that day, found a shopping mall, grocery store and a store just like Rona. It was at Hubo (the Rona like store) that we picked up an outdoor table and chairs at ½ price, we also picked up an umbrella, but it wasn’t part of the summer sale. The downtown square took us longer to find, about 1hr or so due to reading maps incorrectly. We didn’t mind though, because the day was warm and sunny, and we got to see more parts of the town. The square seemed to be divided by the large belfry at the entrance. We took a stroll through the square, took some photo’s and it was the first time I really wanted to sit out on the patio at one of the restaurants. Because eating out is very expensive, and the market restaurants are more expensive then a typical restaurant, Julie and I ate at the campsite snack bar, and enjoyed a hamburger, fries and a beer each (all for 14 euros). Tournai was a nice small town without many tourists, which made it a great visit, the fact that the campsite and its owners were really nice helped out too.