"OOPS! - stende: Oostende by accident " a Oostende Travel Page by acemj

So, it was a Thursday and I decided to leave Gent and head to Brugge. Brugge- the town that I had heard so much about. Romantic canals, beautiful parks, perfectly preserved architectural wonders and cobblestone streets. As I boarded the train in Gent, I was pretty excited about what was waiting for me at the next stop.

However, after sampling quite a few great beers the night before, I had gone to bed quite late and hadn't slept much, so shortly after settling into my comfortable train seat, I started to doze off. The train pushed westward and I sat in a half-sleep, eyes closed, but hearing the chatter around me. Flemish, French, Dutch, English, Spanish and other languages mingled in my head as the train glided smoothly on.

Then, I heard the conductor make his bilingual, double-whammied announcement, first in Flemish knowing that it would be followed by the French version. I knew that in Belgium they don't say "Bruges" as if it rhymes with rouge like we do in the States. So, I listened for the word, "Brugge", the hard "g" and the aspiration at the end of the word.

Nothing.

And, then in French I heard him say Oostende and made out "final stop" and I knew I shouldn't have had that last beer the night before.