Blogs from Brussels-Capital Region, Belgium, Europe - page 4

After a great night's sleep in our cool, comfortable room, Alex and I got up at 0900 and went to breakfast at hotel's Cafe OO! (The exclamation point is part of the name.) We had eggs, bacon, pastries and fruit, but the real star of the show were real Belgian waffles served from the old VW van parked in the dining room! They were really great, and Bloom! certainly knows how to make breakfast fun! After breakfast, we came back to the room to relax a bit before starting our day. We ended up falling asleep til almost noon. Part of it was the cloudy, rainy morning, but the fatigue of travel and constantly going is really starting to hit us. The rain stopped although it stayed cloudy, muggy, and a little too warm. A 20 ... read more

Paula and Harry took us for a tour around Brussels. Paula had made up an itinerary which allowed us to walk to a good variety of sites without collapsing, and she built in a stop at the quint historic pub connected to the TOON marionette theatre where she introduced us to the local red beer. Later we walked across to the other side of the river to have dinner at a restaurant in a Project sponsored by the government. Their son-in-law Simon had initiated and developed a huge garden in the unused space between two long buildings, and Harry had helped get things going by reassembling a secondhand greenhouse for it. The garden now supplies fresh vegetables to both the restaurant and the Food Hub shop within the Project.... read more

Poor Brussels. I'd never had much interest in it as a destination in its own right, just in using it to get to Bruges. But I ended up being pleasantly surprised by this city. Brussels was much bigger and more metropolitan than I had realised. Arriving at Charleroi Airport I travelled through the south of the city to get to the centre. The bus drove through many deprived areas and areas heavily influenced by immigration. The South train station was insanely huge and illogically laid out and I got hopelessly lost. It wasn't quite the shiny veneer I'd envisaged for the home of the EU, or the easy-peasy destination for my first solo trip that I'd thought it would be. Once I eventually found my hotel near Grand Place, I set out to see this most ... read more

Tag 341 – Im Bus nach Amsterdam Gegen halb sieben kamen wir nach London, und ich blinzelte immer wieder, um ein bisschen was von der Stadt zu sehen. Überall die hübschen alten weißgeputzten Hausfassaden entlang der Straße! Ja, das war England. Kurz nach sieben (anstatt von 8.15 Uhr) erreichten wir die Victoria Coach Station. Hier musste man erst mal die Straße überqueren, um von dem Arrival-Part in den Departure-Part zu gelangen. Auf der Anzeigetafel sah ich unter Amsterdam „8am“ und „Check-In“. Ob das ein anderer Bus war, oder die den Check-In hier noch früher machten? Naja, ich stellte mich zu den anderen vor das entsprechende Gate. Da sah ich, dass man irgendwie zum Check-in für Amsterdam zu einem anderen Gate musste. Wieso das denn jetzt? Ich erfuhr, dass man wohl sein ausgedrucktes E-Ticket gegen ein richtiges ... read more

Gus woke up and moaned about having a headache. We can only put it down to dehydration caused by the long flight and will refute any allegation that it was due to the 8 pints of local beer we guzzled after flying for 22 hours. We walked up the street and bought some ham at the butchers and a French stick for breakfast. The bread in Europe seems so much tastier than that in Melbourne. After breakfast we a walked in to the city centre for a bit of sight seeing. places of interest included: Place de Saint Catherine, built over the foundations of a 14th century church and consecrated in 1874. Grand Place. Magnificent square surrounded by old buildings. A UNESCO World Heritage area and for good reason. Obviously a hub for tourism. Gus and ... read more