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Published: December 21st 2023
In August and November 2022 and in April 2023, I had planned retreats and volunteering assignments in two retreat centres in the UK. Since I had a bit of time, I decided to travel by train, which was also the more environmentally friendly way of travelling. Doing the whole trip from Dortmund, Germany, to Colwall in Herefordshire or to Whitchurch in Shropshire, UK, in one go would have taken some 13 hours. So, I decided to have stopovers in Brussels on my outbound journeys and in London on my journeys back home. Brussels on the outbound journey was also a good idea because it allowed me to travel with a little less stress. Deutsche Bahn, the German train company, has become notoriously unreliable, and an overnight stop in Brussels would prevent me from missing the Eurostar from Brussels to London. A good decision, as I was going to find out on two out of three trips.
First stopover, August 2022 My first stopover was on the 25
th of August. I caught a train from Dortmund to Cologne and a connecting train from Cologne to Brussels, leaving Dortmund at 9:45 am and arriving in Brussels with a delay of half
Grand-Place II
Maison du Roi.an hour, shortly after 2 pm. I had booked a hotel just opposite Bruxelles Midi Station so that I would not have to walk far the next morning when catching the Eurostar train to London. I checked into my hotel, dropped off my luggage, and left for an afternoon of sightseeing. My hotel was just a 20-minute walk from the city centre, so I decided to walk. My first impression was not so positive. There were construction sites along the street, and the shops and restaurants looked a bit run down. Hm, I thought, maybe Brussels is not such a nice place at all.
When arriving in the city centre, however, things already looked quite different. There was a nice pedestrian area, and there were cafés and restaurants in well-maintained old buildings. I was craving a Belgian waffle and went to a waffle bakery where I could choose from some 40 different waffle variations with different chocolate and fruit toppings. It was not an easy choice! I ended up with a waffle topped with strawberries covered with black chocolate on one side and white chocolate on the other. I sat down on a bench in front of the bakery
and enjoyed my waffle with a nice cup of coffee. Now I was ready for sightseeing.
Just around the corner from the bakery there was Grande-Place, a square that is said to be one of the most beautiful ones in Europe and that is UNESCO World Heritage. When I turned round the corner, I could not help but say “wow”. This was certainly one of the most beautiful and splendid squares I have ever seen. It is surrounded by richly decorated buildings dating from various centuries. Town Hall was built in the first half of the 15
th century in late Gothic style. It is richly decorated with statues, each of which looks different, and through a big gate one can go into a courtyard. Opposite Town Hall, on the other side of the square, there is Maison du Roi, dating from the 19
th century and built in neo-Gothic style. It hosts the city museum. On one end of the square, there are guild houses, dating from the 17
th century and built in baroque style. They are richly decorated with ornaments and gold. The other houses around the square are just as splendid and beautiful. I spent quite some time
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Building opposite the guild houses. just walking around and admiring the abundance.
Then I walked to Horta Gallery, which hosts several museums and exhibitions. There is a comic museum, which I found cool. However, there was also a Frida Kahlo exhibition, in which one could “immerse” in the artist’s life and work. There were large projections of Frida Kahlo’s paintings and of herself, there was music from the respective times, and step by step her life and her ideas were explained. I was impressed by how strong and independent she was, given all the grief and pain she must have gone through during her life.
After leaving the exhibition, I passed the church of St. Michael and St. Gudula, a Gothic that took 300 years to be finished. Construction works had started in the 13
th century.
Just behind the church, there was a restaurant offering Vietnamese-Belgian fusion cuisine, “Chez Gudule”. I sat down outside in the beautiful evening and had a salad and some Belgian beer. Then I continued my walk past various art nouveau buildings and arrived at a food court. There were all kinds of different cuisines: bowls, pizza, pasta, Asian dishes, with and without meat. I had not had
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Richly decorated houses. any Belgian chips yet, so I sat down for a bowl of chips. The place seemed to be very popular and was crowded with people and buzzing with activity.
I walked the streets for some more time, passed the Théâtre Royal de la Monnaie, the opera house, and more buildings from various centuries, among them a lot of art nouveau ones. Then I walked to Bruxelles-Central Station and caught a train back to Bruxelles-Midi. I had an early night because the next morning I would have to get up before 6 am. I had been advised to be at the Eurostar terminal at least two hours before departure.
I got there at 6:45 am, and I was amongst the first passengers to arrive. One has to go through security check and also through immigration for the UK. The good thing about this procedure is that one does not have to go through immigration after arriving in London and thus can leave the train station right away. The procedure did not take long. The only disappointment was that there was no café or bakery in the terminal. I had been looking forward to a nice croissant and some good
Grand-Place VI
And more richly decorated houses. coffee, but I had to buy some pre-packaged sandwiches and could only get a small coffee. Anyway, I survived, and my Eurostar train departed on time and took me to London, from where I caught a train to Colwall in Herefordshire and then enjoyed a three-week stay at two different retreats with a one-week break in between. But that’s a different story.
Second stopover, November 2022 My second stopover in Brussels was on 13
th of November 2022. I had booked the same train connection as last time: Departure in Dortmund at 9:49 am, arrival in Cologne at 11:12 am, departure from Cologne at 11:43 am, arrival in Brussels at 1:35 pm. The first part of the journey went smoothly, but while still on the train to Cologne, my app told me that my connecting train was cancelled. I asked the train attendant for an alternative. He said there would be a Thalys train (run by another train company, not Deutsche Bahn) just an hour later and that I would need to go to the travel centre in Cologne so that they could book me onto this train. When arriving in Cologne, I did as he had suggested, but
Belgian food I
Selection of different waffles. in the travel centre I was told that it was not possible to book me onto this train and that I would have to wait for the next German ICE train two hours later. So, I had an early lunch and later some coffee at the train station and worked for a bit while sitting in the café.
The platform from which the train would depart was packed with people. All the passengers who would have been on the cancelled train were, of course, going to catch this one. The train arrived with a delay of 30 minutes. It was so crowded that I needed to sit down in the aisle in front of the toilets. It got hotter and hotter, and I felt almost claustrophobic. The next stop was Aachen, and there we were told that the departure would be delayed even more because of a technical problem with the train. Finally, the train departed, now with a delay of 45 minutes. In Liège, our next stop, we were told that due to a technical issue, the train could not continue its journey towards Brussels and that all passengers would need to catch a Belgian intercity train that
Frida Kahlo I
... an immersive experience. The exhibition was taking place at Horta Gallery. was about to arrive. So, everyone got off the train, squeezed themselves up a narrow escalator, crossed a narrow bridge, and squeezed themselves down a narrow escalator onto the other platform. The Belgian train arrived on time, and it was hard to believe, but everyone managed to get onto this train. This time, I could not even sit down, I had to stand in the aisle. Finally, at around 5 pm, with an overall delay of 3.5 hours, I arrived in Brussels.
My plan had been to visit the Atomium, the landmark of Brussels that is shown on so many photos. But of course, I was too late. So, after checking into the same hotel I had stayed in last time and after calming down a little bit from all the stress, I caught a train into Bruxelles-Central and walked into the pedestrian area. There was a street musician playing her own songs, and I stood and listened for a while. Then I walked to Frites Atelier, a restaurant that has Belgian chips in all kinds of different variations and with all kinds of different sauces. I had some Belgian beer with my chips.
When I left the
Frida Kahlo II
Some impressions from her life. restaurant, it was dark already. I walked back towards Grand-Place, and there was another “wow” moment when I entered the square: the buildings were illuminated in various colours, and the colours kept changing. White, red, green, blue… It was amazing to see how the atmosphere changed with changing colours.
I was very tired after the crazy journey and therefore I caught a train back to Bruxelles-Midi and went to bed. My trip to London with the Eurostar the next morning and the onward journey to Colwall went smoothly.
Third stopover, April 2023 Since so much had gone wrong on my previous trip to Brussels, I had planned this trip with net and double bottom. I had booked an early train from Dortmund to Cologne, departing at 7:51 am, so that I had about an hour in Cologne, just in case my first train would be delayed. And there were other trains I could catch to Cologne in case my train from Dortmund would get cancelled. My train from Cologne would depart at 9:48 am and arrive in Brussels at 11:35 am, so in case there were delays, I would still arrive at some point in the early
Church of St. Michael and St. Gudula
... just behind Horta Gallery and not far from the Central Station. afternoon.
The first part of the journey went well. I managed to catch an earlier train than planned in Dortmund and arrived in Cologne on time. However, while still on the train to Cologne, the app was already telling me that the train to Brussels would be delayed by 15 minutes. When I arrived in Cologne it was already a delay of 30 minutes. When the delay arrived at 45 minutes, I was assuming that the train would be cancelled. And it was. This time, I did not want to wait for the next ICE train to Brussels that would depart two hours later. I wanted to be smart and avoid the German ICE trains altogether. So, I caught a regional train to Aachen, which is close to the border with Belgium. The plan was to catch another regional train from Aachen to Welkenraedt in Belgium and from there a Belgian intercity train to Brussels.
The regional train from Cologne to Aachen departed on time. Other passengers must have had the same idea, there were quite a few people travelling towards Brussels on this train. The train arrived in Aachen on time, and I changed to the platform
Belgian beer I
... at "Chez Gudule" where my connecting train to Welkenraedt in Belgium was going to depart. The sign said it would arrive on time. When the arrival time had passed, the sign still said it would arrive on time, and so did the app. But no train arrived. And then suddenly, without any announcement, the sign changed and displayed another train’s arrival, with a different destination.
I went to Deutsche Bahn travel centre and found out that somewhere along the tracks between Aachen and Liège, people had stolen cables, and that there were no trains running on these tracks until further notice. The Deutsche Bahn employee who was standing in front of the travel centre was doing an amazing job. There were crowds of people asking him what was going to happen, which alternatives they could choose from, and so on. He was very friendly, patient, and competent. He could not tell when the next train towards Brussels would leave. This was the moment when I started doubting whether I would make it to Brussels at all. Anyway. The alternative was to catch a bus to the city of Eupen in Belgium and catch a Belgian intercity train there. The bus ride would
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Vietnamese-belgian fusion cuisine at "Chez Gudule". have taken 30 minutes. The problem, however, was that the bus would arrive in Eupen three minutes after the train to Brussels would depart, and the next train would only be an hour later. I was just talking to two women when a third woman and her daughter joined our group. The woman suggested we share a taxi to Eupen or Welkenraedt. What a great idea! There was not much time for bargaining with the taxi driver because it turned out that when we left straight away and would go straight to Welkenraedt, we would be able to make it onto the next Belgian intercity train to Brussels. So, we also did not have time to ask for a voucher from Deutsche Bahn. We decided to carry the cost ourselves, just to be able to make the connecting train. Some 20 minutes later, we arrived in Welkenraedt. The Belgian intercity train from there to Brussels left almost on time. There were enough seats, and we had a pleasant journey and nice conversations in good company. I arrived in Brussels at 2 pm. After checking into my hotel (the one just opposite the train station I had stayed in the last
Food court I
... in historic buildings. two times), there was still plenty of time for sightseeing. Phew.
I caught a subway train to Atomium. This landmark of the city of Brussels was built for the World Exhibition in 1958. It consists of nine connected large spheres that are connected by tubes. It is a 165-billion-fold magnification of the crystalline elementary cell of iron. The day was chilly but sunny, so the silvery monument was sparkling in the sun. I first caught the lift to the top of the building, from where I could enjoy views into all directions. I could also see some of the other pavilions that had been left after the World Expo. They were all scattered around the park surrounding Atomium.
There is a restaurant in the top sphere, and I sat down at a table with the view back towards the city. I had a waffle and a cup of coffee. It had foreseen that the place would be a tourist trap, and it was. The waffle was pretty average and the service anything but friendly, but the view was worth it all. The I started exploring the monument. There were stairs and escalators running up and down the tubes
Food court II
Lot of different cuisines, and lots of people around. that connect the different spheres. In the first sphere, there was an exhibition on the history of the monument, with texts and pictures. Very interesting! Several of the other spheres were used for different light shows. The style and colours made me feel like in a science-fiction movie from the 1960s. They were fun to watch, and a stayed around every show for a bit before moving on. The last exhibition on the tour through Atomium was one where people around the world had taken pictures of the view from their windows. The photos were put up side by side, and it was enjoyable to walk past and look at all the different places.
After leaving Atomium, I took a little walk around the park surrounding the building, which was really nice. Then I caught a subway train back into the city centre and had dinner at Café Georgette. I had one of the best veggie burgers I had ever had, along with fabulous hot chips, crispy on the outside and soft inside. And of course, Belgian beer. The waiter was extremely friendly, so this meal and the entire experience were a pleasant contrast to the dining experience in
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Hot chips with mayonnaise dip, in the food court. Atomium. Then I returned to my hotel and went to bed.
The next morning was a little exciting because I needed to do a Covid test. In case of a positive result, I would be excluded from a retreat where I was going to be on the team. But it all turned out well, the test was negative, and I could continue my journey to the UK and support the retreat team. Again, this will be another story.
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alex waring
Alexander Waring
Travel Stress
Oh my goodness, I felt stressed just reading about your trips to Brussels! The first one seemed so straightforward, but then I read your second and third! I remember similar train issues just travelling in and around Cologne last June, from strikes to delays to cancellations. I can't imagine what it must be like travelling further with them. It seems like you got the most out of Brussels while you were there though, and so glad you got to visit Atomium in the end! Well done, your struggles seemed to pay off!