BRUSSELS

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We started very early this morning, alarm at 5 am, so we would not miss our 8:04 Eurostar train to Brussels. We had planned to spend a good 7 hours in the city, enough to get a good overview. Well plans don’t always work out as intended. We arrived to St Pancras international rail station just at the cut off time to board the train. We got through passport control and security quickly enough and still had plenty of time to comfortably board the train without rushing. Trains in Europe pretty much leave on time. We had a 4-seat table seat, booked with the thought we may have it all to ourselves, which we did not. That however turned out to be a bonus because we sat next to a wonderful couple (Jack & Sara) and had a good conversation the entire way to Brussels.

The train left on time and proceeded through the channel tunnel in no time. When we came out of the tunnel we were at Calle, where we then got to sit for about 45 minutes. There was an operational problem with the track just outside of Brussels, so all trains were being held. While at Calle, we got to know Jack & Sara, they were on their way to Amsterdam to spend the New Year with friends. Sara (sorry if you spell your name Sarah I had to pick one and went with the least amount of characters) told us a lovely story of how at Calle the refugees often climb the fences in order to board the trains so they can get to London. It was pretty cold, we weren’t’ headed for London and we didn’t’ see any refugee camps so this wasn’t a problem today, but not an overly comforting thought for our return trip.

We finally started moving again and were traveling through the French countryside towards Ille and major transfer station. About 15 minutes later we stopped again for another 30 minutes or so, this time not at a station but in the middle of the Brittany Farm Land. Our conversation with Jack & Sara continued, they offered us a Mimosa, they brought their own prosecco (our kind of people) I took them up on the offer, Jerry passed. We discussed a bit of everything, travel, British US cultural differences and yes even a bit of politics (I apologized for Donald being our President, they were simply in shock that it actually happened.)

The train finally got the go ahead and we proceeded to Brussels without further delay. We were about 2 hours late so we now had less time to explore the city, we opted to cut the museums. We said our goodbyes to Jack & Sara and we proceeded to the Metro. It took us about 30 minutes to figure out which one to take and to purchase our tickets. On the way into town we made one bad connection and ended up going in the wrong direction. This was easily rectified and we finally arrived to the center of town. The Metro’s is cleaner than New York, not as clean as London. Also, tourists don’t seem to ride it and we got several looks from the other passengers as we were clearly out of place.

Once we were up on the street, it then took about 20 minutes for Jerry to figure out which way to go. I suggested we just go towards were the people seem to be, he didn’t think that was correct, guess what, I was right this time. The day was now going to consist of lunch and a walk by of some of the city highlights. We first headed for Manneken Pis, a famous statue and fountain of a little boy peeing on a corner. There are numerous legends that surround the statute, but you can discover that for yourself. The statue was created in the 17^th century by J. Duquesnoy the Elder. It has been kidnapped by the English (1745) and the French (1746 & 1817).

From there we walked towards the city’s central square for lunch. We had lunch at a cozy tavern with a fire place. It was very cramped space but they served Belgium food. Jerry had a beer I had a glass of wine. I had stoemp with sausage and Jerry had Chicken with Belgium pastry (the Belgian version of a chicken pie). Both were decent. Stoemp is something like a combination of stuffing and mashed potatoes.

After lunch (now 4) we walked the city square walked by Hotel de Ville (City Hall) then up the hill to the Belgian Royal Palace. This took us by the several museums and the Coudenberg (site of former Palace of Coudenberg, which is now all underground.

From there we headed back towards the center of time to purchase some famed Belgian chocolates (we had a sample at the store, yum yum) and to get a traditional and world famous waffle. The waffle was far better than I can make and fresh off the griddle.

That is about all we had time for and we were back to the train station for our return trip. We made it back to the station without getting lost and were about 90 minutes early, but we didn’t want to miss the train. Turns out we had tons of time because the train was delayed 90 minutes. We ended up getting back to London at just before 11 instead of 9 as we were supposed to.

The train ride back was torture, unruly American children running up and down the aisle, parents oblivious to their behavior. I had to go to the bar car to get a drink. Jerry managed to get some sleep.

Our overall impression of Brussels was somewhat bleak. While it is a traditional European city, both old and knew, it left Jerry with much of the same impression we had of Budapest, while I beautiful city, still pretty depressed and dark. The people seemed very depressed and not overly friendly. But if you’re under constant guard by the armed military that could impact your mood. My impression was more a comparison to Victoria, in the Basque section of Spain. Cold, damp and depressing. We are both glad we went, and I am sure there is much more to see and experience, just not sure it will be high on the return trip agenda since we have so many other places yet to see and visit.

Dinner was a pretty mediocre pizza from room service. Because we were so late getting in, we decided to cancel our day trip for Saturday to Kent. I was looking forward to it, but I don’t think we could take another 5 am wakeup call and I am fighting off a cold. So, the only plans we have for tomorrow is New Year’s Eve Dinner.

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