Zur-ick

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One of my main reasons for getting up to Brussels early, besides all the extra sightseeing, was to visit the King Leopold II's Central African Museum. Technically outside of Brussels (it's in the Flemish city of Tervuren which completely surrounds Brussels), it is nevertheless served by Brussels public transportation. Tran 44 takes a 45 minute journey past embassies and through forests. I not-so-secretly wanted to walk it, but the distance and downpouring rain made it a very bad idea. So I settled for the tram.

One would think that a museum of high stature would have signs indicating its direction from public transportation stops. This museum, after all, is the largest of its kind in Europe and contains the world's second largest collection of tree samples (after a museum in Madison, Wisconsin). Yet there were no signs. I nearly walked into an office building when I discovered a tiny sign pointing towards "musum." I followed it...and 10 others. Getting to the entrance was like going through a maze!

The museum itself was very well-done. It naturally focused on the peoples, cultures, and interactions with the present-day Democratic Republic of the Congo, but information seamlessly spread into Nigeria and Tanzania as well. My favorite part, however, was the small four-picture exhibit displaying the colonial legacies in the Congo and Belgium today. I only wish it was bigger.

When I finished with the museum, I returned to Brussels because there is nothing else to do in Tervuren. I decided to grab lunch by getting a warm Belgian waffle smothered with chocolate. It tasted even better than it sounds. Through my 24-hour experience in Brussels, I realized that I potentially see myself living there in the future for non-superficial reasons. While New York and Washington are "global" cities and nearly effortlessly mix everyone together, I honestly believe that Brussels takes its position as the leading city of Belgium and as an important city in Europe very seriously. I liked it...a lot! 😊

Brussels National Airport is small and initially comes across as highly inefficient. For example, Brussels Airlines, which operates few of its own flights (it relies heavily on codeshares) has an entire row of check-in desks while Swiss Air has one. And check-in for 5 flights (2 to Geneva, 2 to Zurich, 1 to Bern) all opened at the same time. Mind you, these planes were tiny, but still. The line stretched around the corner!

Miraculously, once through immigration (I got an exit stamp!) and security, the face of the airport changed. My flight of 100 people boarded and pushed back within 20 minutes, making us 10 minutes early. Even though the flight was only 50 minutes, we were served drinks, sandwiches, and chocolate soccer balls (for Euro 2008). I'd fly Swiss again!

Despite taking off at the scheduled departure time, we arrived in Zurich late because we had to avoid some bad thunderstorms. The lightning would have produced amazing pictures had my camera been out, and the thunder penetrated the plane. However, we did manage a smooth landing. Since the terminal closes and my next flight wasn't until the morning, I needed to leave and go to Zurich city center. Taking the train would have been better if only there were some signs in English/French, but all I saw was German. At least when spoken slowly Dutch is intelligble. German remained, well, Greek to me.

The city of Zurich itself was nothing too spectacular. I will admit that my view was probably tainted by the intermittent drizzle, the seeminly German-only policy, and the fact that I was there from 10 to midnight. But even in daylight, the construction cranes would be working and the cigarette butts would be piling up on the streets. Maybe I'll return to Zurich one day to give it another shot, or maybe I'll make Geneva my first real Swiss city (at least they speak French).

I spent the night in Zurich Flughafen, sleeping on a couch outside Starbucks. There were dozens of other people there as well. It seems to me that Swiss Air strands a lot of passengers overnight in Zurich. Maybe other airlines/cities do it too, I don't know. I do know, however, that this seemed like a ridiculously hig number.

The flight to Tanzania went very well. The views of the Swiss Alps and the southern Italian coast were priceless. Yet it saddens me that I can never reasonably expect to travel to some of the countries we flew through (namely Libya and the Sudan). True, the Sahara would be a boring vacation (I got tired of looking at it for several hours), but that's not the point. I would still like to venture into these regions some day.

And that, my readers, concludes my journey to Europe. All entries for the next two months will probably concern Tanzania. I'm actually in Dar-es-Salaam right now, but the first impressions will come in a few days (along with all the descriptions). Thanks for reading and I hope that this recounting of my adventures did not bore you!

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