After we found our way out of Koln (there's NO WAY OUT), we actually
found our way on back roads halfway to Genk until we got to Aachen, then it
got too confusing. After asking a mailman for directions we took the highway
which soon  had speed limits as we left Germany. Some time later we took the
"Genk" exit from the highway. After following signs to Genk Zuid for a while
and finding nothing but factories, we asked a lady with a baby in a carriage
waiting at the bus stop for directions. Sigh, we really do this, a lot.

     It took a while for the lady to understand and longer for her to think
of the English words, but she gave us perfect directions to town. This is
when we found out the the signs for "Centrum" mean the town center. All the
towns have ring roads around them, many, a ring, like a by-pass, around the
outside and another ring in the town to take you to Nord, Oost, Zuid or
West, whatever part of town you want.

     We found a parking spot and started looking for victims to spring our
interrogation technique upon. A guy was checking us out from a restaurant so
Tony talked to him and got directions to our next hostel. It was about 12 km
from where we were and we wanted to check in early in case we didn't get
back from out afternoon excursion till late. The directions took us farther
and farther out into the country, just when the road got speed bumps, we saw
the hostel sign, kind of a leaning tree over a bench.

     It looked like a school and nobody was there, but there was about 35
pairs of kids shoes in the lobby, so we took our shoes off and looked around
but nobody was there. There didn't seem to be any rooms, it certainly didn't
look anything like our accommodations in Germany, but there was a check-in
area and a sign that said 1700 hrs for getting a room. They are all on that
24 hour clock over there, no AM and PM.

     So we figured we would try later and we went back to town to drink some
Belgian beer, after we put our shoes back on of course. We passed an
entrance to a big park on our way in and out but we didn't know what it was,
found out later it was Bokrik, a provincial outdoor museum that has lots of
old buildings from all the different provinces in Belgium, showing how the
people lived in past history. It had parking for about 200 and a train
station just up the road. It looked neat, there was a bar and restaurant
right at the entrance.

     When we got to town we parked where we had stopped before and we went
looking for a bar. Most of the bars were "connected" to one of three major
beers, Stella Artois, Jupiler, or Primus. They are tied in financially, as
explained by Jim Anderson in his cover story in Beer Philadelphia this
month. Zeke wanted to go into a Primus bar because "Primus" is one of his
favorite bands.

     This is what led us to the Genker Pub.

     Next time.

Pictures - Alternative energy, Genk