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Got up early in the morning and made my way to the Grand Palace. The Grand Palace began as a medieval market square, but with the completion of the town hall in 1444 it became the civic heart of the city. As well as the awe-inspiring kings house, it is flanked by the city hall and the Maison du Roi which houses the Musee del la Ville. During the summer months there is a small-scale flower market which takes place every day except Sunday. Also every couple of years a beautiful floral carpet known as the Tapis des Fleurs, covers much of the square with 20.000 sq. ft of begonias. Surrounding this there are many little cafes and restaurants with lots of outdoor seating under big umbrellas.

Made my way to the central train station to get on the Brussels sightseeing tour bus. The tour went for almost two hours and started off at ……., passed the theatre royal de la monnaie, Brussels opera house, the palais du Roi at Parc de Bruxelles.

After the tour finished I made my way back to the grand palace and wondered around soaking in the atmosphere. The sun was out and was getting quite hot. I found a little café where I stopped to have some lunch. Had spaghetti bolognaise and a couple of Belgium blonde beers. From here I wondered down the road passed all the little shops. I stopped in at a liquor shop and bought a selection of blonde beers. The selection of beer in Belgium is rather overwhelming. Also stopped in at a chocolate shop and bought an assortment of chocolates. Belguim has the best chocolates ever!!!

Time to go back to the hotel to check out, walked back up the road lugging my bags to the train station and got on the next train back to Paris. Made my way back to the terminal and waited outside the Iceland air check-in. If the flight was going to be full I had no idea what I would do. Got there early and waited around…..good luck I managed to get a seat. Yay!!! Off to Iceland!!! The flight departed at 10:00pm and although the sun had just gone down, half an hour into the flight it kind of came up again, it never really set and was like that all the way to reijkavik.

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