Blogs from Brussels-Capital Region, Belgium, Europe - page 11

Hopped on Eurostar for an overnight trip to Brussels - which after a somewhat inauspicious start turned into a very enjoyable weekend taking in elements of Belgian culture (beer) and history (also beer). Brussels is famous (apparently) for many things - it has the highest number of comic artists per capita in the world - this is the place that gave rise to Tintin, Asterix and the Smurfs) as well as being the country that invented the stock exchange - but we had to get there first. London St Pancras international is a grand terminus from which to commence any rail trip in the UK and did not disappoint. In particular there are some fantastic sculptures, including my favourite piece of artwork of the trip so far, located on the upper level. An imposing 9m tall, ... read more

We checken om half elf uit bij hostel Louise en vertrekken naar station Brussel Zuid om de trein te pakken naar Edingen/Enghien. Eenmaal daar aangekomen doen we ons tegoed aan de restanten van ons ontbijt en lopen het dorp in. Na een paar honderd meter stopt er een tourbus en de chauffeur gebaart dat we in moeten stapppen. In de bus komen we erachter dat de bus naar een festival op weg is aan de rand van het dorp. Na wat festivalgangers aangesproken te hebben blijkt het om Lasemo te gaan, een spotgoedkoop Zouk festival. De verleiding om op de camping aan te sluiten is groot, maar dit blijkt onmogelijk dus vervolgen we onze weg. We lopen de snelweg naar Doornik/Tournai op en na elkele honderden meters lopen we langs een stilstaande auto. De bestuurder steekt ... read more

Flanders Museum honoring WWI and walking thru the city. The Tour De France goes through this town.... read more

Hello my fellow travellers! Today's exploration of Brussels is at an end. So far me and Andreas are in agreement, Brussels is nice and has a lot to offer, but we both liked Amsterdam better. There is unfortunately quite some graffiti here, including on the monuments and it always makes me so sad to see such disrespect for a nations culture, history and heritage. A lot of the magnificent structures here are unfortunately in a state of disrepair and it hurts to watch such grandeur crumbling. We have seen some though that are being repaired, so at least there is hope for it for the future, perhaps next visit will be better. We started this day by walking from Dimitri's to the massive Atomium, it's a huge structure built in the shape of an atom and ... read more

After the plane landing we found our way to the train, and we bought tickets for the train* heading into Brussels and told us which platform to go to to catch the train. I asked for a map of the metro, and he seemed rather confounded as to why I would need that. Well, this was the train heading into Brussels, so the map did not help us much, except to help us locate at train station that would connect with a train stop, except that there were no stops displaced on the screen telling the stops of this train. We were looking for Gare Midi, but it was not among the stops listed. Just before the stop that we needed to take, I starting asking Thomas about whether we should take Gare Central (since it ... read more