Brussels and Antwerp - Hard to believe they are in the same country!

---

Saturday 13 June:



Up on time and after breakfast, which was okay, we headed out for the day. On the list were the EU Parliament, Natural History Museum, Grand Place/Grote Markt, Mannekin Pis, the Atomium, and Mini-Europe. Rather cold and windy to start although the early morning rain had stopped.



We got off the Metro at the right stop for the EU Parliament and that was where the signposting ended. However, after a false start we got there. It was quite good just to walk around and see where it all happens. Zachary was quite interested by the soldiers who were on guard with their huge machine guns. It was a good teaching moment. Approaching the area we were struck by the incredible amount of rubbish lying around. Clearly people do not use rubbish bins.



From there it was a short walk to the Natural History Museum, which has the largest collection of dinosaurs in Europe as well as other displays. Entry was only €7 for us (free for Z) which was a good price. The dinosaur display was superb and we thoroughly enjoyed it. They also had lots of other fossils, and a section of other mammals as well as insects and a shell collection of 4.5 million pieces. We were in there for over 2 hours and so we decided to have some food at the museum café. Despite having quite a large menu, nothing was available apart from what they had pre-made so we settled for paninis. We then went to the museum shop to buy something for Zachary. Despite it being open from 10 to 6 it was closed. We enquired as to why of another staff member who said they had gone to lunch. Brilliant.



Anyway, next stop the main square, GroteMarkt and the Mannekin Pis statue. We went for the latter first and there was a huge mass of people there. But we got to see it and took a photo. It isn’t anything spectacular, just a rather amusing little statue, but it was good to say we had seen it. We then headed towards GroteMarkt, considered one of the most beautiful medieval squares in Europe. While we were able to get near it and see the palace, we didn’t get into the square itself. There were masses of people blocking the path, as well as security and police. We had found out earlier that boy-band One Direction were playing in Brussels tonight and with the amount of One Direction shirts we saw we wondered if they were making a public appearance. Anyway we had no desire to battle through the crowds, especially with it having now warmed up to the mid 20s, so we abandoned that plan and headed instead for the Atomium and Mini-Europe.



These two are next to each other but by now it was close to 3pm so we only had time to do one. So we settled simply for looking at and admiring the Atomium from the outside, and did not go in and up. It is really is a cool structure and I’m glad the locals decided to keep it – it was supposed to be taken down after the World Expo of 1958 for which it was built. We went to Mini-Europe instead. This was not the first place we have come across where pricing is done by height. Children under 120cm were free so that was good. We got given a comprehensive guidebook with lots of excellent info about the EU and its member states as part of the €14.50 admission and we stopped for photos with the official mascot (we bought 2 at the end – one family photo and one keyring with Zachary. These were only €7 and €6 respectively – much more reasonable than most places that do this). I really liked Mini-Europe. Each country was represented by one or more historic landmarks and it was quite interactive too for the children. It was cool to see some places we had seen for real, some we will be seeing soon, and some we are going to miss out (like the Eiffel Tower!) At the end there was a quiz and some other things you could do but we were hot and hungry so headed for the area just outside which had lots of places to eat. Zachary went on the playground first but that only lasted a few minutes as some obnoxious cow ran him over and didn’t even bother to stop. Heather gave her a stern talking-to – no doubt she got the message even if there was a language barrier! We decided to keep it simple and went to a place called “Quick” which is a local sort of McDonalds. It was fine and cheap and Zachary got given a book (in Dutch) by another patron which was very nice and we read it at bedtime. Headed back for the Metro and saw all the suffering mothers (and in one case father) who were taking their 10-11 year olds to One Direction (the stadium was next door to Mini-Europe), which made me glad I have a son!



In bed and to sleep on time for Zachary. We will head off a bit earlier than planned to Antwerp tomorrow. There is nothing else we feel we want to do here. While today’s attractions were good, overall Brussels hasn’t impressed us. Heather commented that she hasn’t felt it to be at all safe and it certainly is extremely dirty and smelly. The fact our accommodation isn’t really up-to-scratch doesn’t help. So, one more full day in Belgium then before what should be one of the highlights of the trip: De Efteling!



Sunday 14 June:



A bit of a disturbed night but we were all up and something resembling awake at 7:30. After breakfast we finished packing and I made final arrangements to meet Birgitta tomorrow to retrieve Heather’s travel pouch. Then it was off to the Central Station to catch the train to Antwerp. Despite the fact that there are 4 trains an hour from Brussels to Antwerp we had to wait 45 minutes. We just missed one, the next one was cancelled and then the next one was 10 minutes late!



A quick trip to Antwerp though once we finally got underway. A bit of entertainment at the airport stop. As there are no announcements on the train or any screens with stop info as there have been in all other trains, a group of Americans didn’t realise they were there and had to make a mad scramble to get off the train when they realised / were told.



Arrival in Antwerp and initial impressions were much better than Brussels. The station was very spacious and clean. We found the Tourist Info and they were very helpful and it was a short walk to our hotel. We were too early to check in but it was no problem to leave our baggage while we went exploring. First stop was ice-cream and then we headed for Groeneplaats. The architecture is beautiful and the atmosphere on the street was nice. Lots of musicians plying their trade, not big crowds, and relaxed and happy people. We admired the amazing cathedral and had some overpriced and underwhelming waffles and a drink, and then went to the bank of the Schelde river. Another very nice area to relax and enjoy the atmosphere. Zachary contributed to a couple of buskers and I bought a cool t-shirt. We also bought some Belgian chocolate of course – some for us and some for Birgitta.



On the way back to the hotel we got into conversation with an Aussie man. He had asked us “North or South” when he heard us talking – referring to North or South Island. His wife was from Ashburton but he was in Belgium solo on business. We had a good chat before he headed to his hotel, just one street over from ours.



Managed to check in fine. Our room is huge! I only paid $NZ75 and we have 2 queen beds, bath, shower, separate toilet, big screen tv, and lots of open space. They also provide a jug and coffee / tea – something which has been surprisingly uncommon in Europe thus far.



We relaxed to watch some tv / blog / check emails when we realised that the power adaptor which we need to plug in all our devices was missing. I rang the hostel in Brussels and sure enough it was still plugged into a socket in our room. I will have to take full responsibility for that one.



Fortunately we weren’t too far away so I headed back to the train station to get a train to Brussels, leaving Heather to get her and a very tired Zachary some dinner and put him to bed. With it being the weekend they have a deal where you can get a same-day return for €8.20 (it is €7.30 one way) so that was some good news! The ticket machines in Belgium are a bit odd – they don’t take notes so you either have to have a bunch of coins or use a card. The first machine I tried wouldn’t even take cards but the second one proved more cooperative. Ironically, having decided we never wanted or needed to go to Brussels again, just a few hours later I was back! I’d like to report that in those few hours the place had changed dramatically, but sadly no.



Adaptor successfully retrieved I made my way back to Antwerp. I left the hotel at 3:55 and returned at 6:25 so that wasn’t a bad effort. Zachary hadn’t eaten much for dinner – indeed he hasn’t had much all day. He is a bit under the weather but asleep by 7:20 so hopefully he has a good long night’s sleep and we can have a quiet morning tomorrow before heading to ’s-Hertogenbosch where we will meet Birgitta and then catch a bus to De Efteling.

---