Carnaval et "Mouvement Social"

After a rather tame weekend of going to a movie (suprisingly difficult to do if you're not familiar with the fact that this particular theatre is in two different buildings, one where you pay cash and one with credit) and the comic book museum, I spent today celebrating Carnaval. We had a school holiday today, specially for Carnaval, so we went to the (somewhat) nearby town of Binche for the festivities.


It started off with a bit of a journey, as trains were detoured because of yesterday's head-on collision between two trains a little outside of Brussels, and the regularly one hour trip became two and a half hours. That was well enough, we arrived with plenty of time to join in the various tiny parades around town where men in costumes and clogs marched around with a drummer and dropped off some of their likewise costumed friends at their houses (we guessed so they could have some lunch). We then lined up along the streets to wait for the bigger parade, where they all returned with large feathery hats and baskets of oranges. There was confetti everywhere, children with silly string, and a few interesting hats and costumes scattered through the crowd.



At first the paraders lightly tossed oranges to the crowd as they passed, but after awhile they full on chucked them into the air. All the houses lining the streets had cages over them just for this event, because, as a couple of my friends found out, oranges are rock hard when they hit you.

So the parade part was pretty neat, and I'm glad I got to experience a bit of Mardi Gras celebration, but the real adventure started on our way home.

At about 3:30 we decided to go back and catch a train home. We were prepared for it to be complicated and involve a couple of transfers at different stations, but that was fine. Of course we arrive at the station and there's absolutely no one there, just a sign saying that, due to the "mouvement social," there will be no more trains today. Great, strike.


Luckily we were with Bertrand, the main organizer for our exchange activities, and he had a plan B: take the bus to the next town. But first we went back to the parade area to alert other exchange students so they could come with us if they wanted. We managed to find about 50 of the 100 of us that had come. So we had a giant group waiting for the bus which, after an hour or so of waiting, just never came. No explanation, the schedule said it should be there.


Ok, plan C: flag down one of the shuttle busses which had been driving by almost empty. That didn't work, all the drivers just honked at us and kept going.


By this point many people left to hitchhike their way home, or at least to Charleroi, the nearest city with a likely connection to Brussels. So with a group of 30 or 40 we moved to plan D: call for some taxis. They said no.


Then we tried a more desperate plan E: walk the hour or so it takes to get to Charleroi. We only got about 10 minutes in and some people found busses which may or may not have gone to Charleroi. The rest of us, now closer to 20, tried calling taxis again. This time they said they'd come get us in 15-20 minutes! But after probably half an hour of waiting, none came. Now crowds of people were coming from the direction of Binche, presumably after discovering there were no trains, and we were getting worried they'd take our taxis.


Finally, Bertrand got a number for a private shuttle company that could send us 8-seater vans to take us directly to Brussels for 20 euro each. Not too bad for getting us to a main station in Brussels. After that the trip home from Gare Midi by metro and tram seemed short and simple, and I arrived home at the lovely hour of 9 pm. Only 5 and a half hours after we'd initially tried to leave Binche!


So today I learned I can't rely on any sort of transportation here, and I got an orange.