An early start for a train out of London to Brussels. Only took about two hours to get there, so I had arrived by 11am to some rain and overcast conditions. For the first two weeks of this trip I'd decided to try something different - since I was coming and going from London, I'd leave my big suitcase there for Amir to look after and just take a backpack with enough for five days, plus a smaller bag with my laptop. This would allow me to walk around much easier before the hotel checkin opens, usually at 2pm, to prevent losing half a day of exploring when I was only in each city for two days.
 |
| Tintin at the Brussels train station. |
This was a great idea, until it started raining and the bags started to get really heavy after half an hour. I didn't factor in how much work it would be to carry around a big backpack as well as another bag - which was nearly as heavy due to the computer. So I had to carry around two bags, while holding an umbrella and trying to look at a map. This was made more difficult by the old streets of Brussels following no sense of order, and my map wasn't detailed enough to show all the street names.
While battling the conditions I managed to pass by the Bourse stock exchange building, then the Grand Place square. The photos probably don't describe it well enough, but it was amazing to walk into this square for the first time and see the detailed old buildings on all four sides. Or maybe I just hadn't seen anything other than Melbourne for the last nine months.
 |
| One side of Grand Place. |
 |
| Another side of Grand Place. |
Since I was ahead of time I decided to stop by the small Manneken Pis statue. I really don't understand why this is such a major tourist attraction and one of the symbols of Brussels. It was a bad move taking a detour though, as I passed by the Palais De Justice next, then suddenly I'd gone in a circle and was approaching Grand Place again. This time I stuck to the script and headed roughly in the direction I felt I had to go in, reaching Brussels Park which meant I was near the hotel, some two or three hours after I arrived.
 |
| Manneken Pis. |
 |
| Some street artwork that isn't Tintin. |
After dropping off my bags I was able to go exploring again, much lighter this time. I stopped off at the Tintin Boutique store to see what they had on sale, then headed east of the city to see the Palais Royal (Royal Palace) and the European Parliament. I think they only run one tour a day for that, so I only got to see it from the outside.
 |
| Congress Column, don't know what it's for, it was just near the hotel. |
 |
| Some street artwork that is Tintin. |
Next I went over to the west side of the city which seems more modern. Purchased some famous Belgian frites which were just like any other fries you've ever had, then to the supermarket. In the supermarket they have a self service bread slicer, which is a monstrous silver thing that looks like an accident waiting to happen.
By the time I was done for the day I already had a blister on my right foot which would hang around for the rest of the trip :( The television options were quite miserable as everything was in French, or German. I had one BBC channel which meant I was able to watch Eggheads followed by...Celebrity Eggheads.
No comments:
Post a Comment