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Stadhuis
This is one angle from the Grand Place in Brussels. So far, the itinerary is holding up. After a night in Cork, Ireland, Jay and I headed back to Dublin Monday evening. Cork is a nice little city, also building and feeling the boost of the recent boom. As a result of the newfound prosperity, the island is also experiencing a tourism boom. When we got off the train late Sunday afternoon, Jay and I met five raucous Welshmen, who sang an impressive version of John Denver's "Country Roads" when Jay told them he lived in West Virginia. They were with a man from Surry, England, who works for oil companies diving to repair their rigs.
Monday we hiked around the city a bit, checking out the downtown area and a random sculpture museum that featured Irish sculptors, and some photographers. Most of the works were casts based on other statues, though. The first one we saw, a naked toddler clutching a goose by the neck, finally motivated Jay to get batteries for his camera.
We headed back to Dublin in the late afternoon so we could get the latest bus from downtown to the airport. By midnight, we were in the terminal, outside security, waiting for check in.
Botanical Garden
This is part of a huge botanical garden near our hostel in Brussels. Staying there seemed like a good idea at the time, but the employees of the random restaurants walked around now and then and woke up the roughly 100 people trying to wait out the night. Both of us were rather pissed by the time 5 a.m. rolled around and we could check in for our flight to Brussels.
It took off at 730, just on time, and we got to Brussels by 10 a.m. -- the Continent is an hour ahead of Ireland and the UK and six hours ahead of the East Coast -- then caught a bus to downtown. It let us off at the Midi train station. We caught the metro to our hostel, but by the time we got to the stop our train was pretty crowded. When we saw the name of the stop we wanted, we jumped up, threw on our bags and tried to push out, but I couldn't get through in time. Jay got a helpful push from some people at the door as it closed, but I was left inside to the next stop. It wasn't far away, so I got on the next train back, which came moments later, and Jay had waited for me on the platform.
So far, all the hostels have been nice. No real horror stories, though Jay heard the ones in Italy will be sketchy. The one in Brussels was the van Gogh Hostel, built in a space the painter worked when in Brussels. I didn't think to ask if our room was the one where he cut his ear off. Unless that happened in France. We still may wind up staying in that room. We were both incredibly miserable when we got back, but a shower helped me out immensely.
Brussels also has a beautiful botannical garden, and luckily for me it is located right across the street from our hostel. Jay took a nap, then met our roommates while I took a walk through this garden and down a pedestrian shopping street. The garden was fantastic, with a huge fountain, lots of paths, all kinds of trees and flowers and a huge stone building at the entrance. Later in the evening, we walked to the Grand Place, an incredible town square with buildings over 300 years old.
The high speed trains out of Brussels into France required reservations, but none could be made Tuesday because of a national one-day train strike. It was over today though, so we checked out of the hostel, stowed our bags in a locker there and made it to Midi by about 1030 to reserve a train to Lyon, the first leg of the trip to Barcelona. About halfway there on the Metro, I realized I forgot my Eurail pass, and had to leave Jay in the train station to wait to make a reservation while I ran back.
It took about 40 minutes for me to take the Metro back to our hostel, get the pass and get back to Midi. The number we pulled for the queue was about 40 in front of us, but it moved very fast and Jay was at the window in five or so minutes. He waited outside the booking area and said we didn't even need the pass to make the reservation. We just needed €3 per ticket as a reservation fee.
In the four hours we have until we leave, we got some fresh oysters and had a big lunch at a restaurant. Mostly, our diet has been bread, cheese and apples, with some other stuff thrown in, but all the recommendations we got about Brussels told us to eat. So we did, and the dinner was amazing. I got a chicken and fettuccini dish with a slightly spicy sauce, and Jay had mushrooms, basil and penne in an olive oil sauce. Washed down with cheap local Hoegaarden and you can't get anything better.
And while Europe is full of beautiful women, Jay and I agreed that Brussels is the clear winner. At least so far. We couldn't trip over a beauty without finding another. It was incredible. And we'll be making a return journey later in the summer for another viewing.
So after another walk through the garden we're off to Lyon tonight, then Barcelona by tomorrow night. We plan to stay there until Monday and have our reservations set. After that, don't know. Probably Madrid, but maybe Pamplona or Salamanca. Our train will have us in Lyon by 8, just in time to catch the European Cup between Manchester United and Chelsea, two English teams. Now all we need is a hostel in Lyon....
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