Photos : Belgium Brussels 2006
Lorentran Trip/Country Ratings
Eurostar Virgins
On March 30 we headed to Brussels for Ken’s 30th birthday. This was our first trip on the Eurostar so we weren’t the ‘seasoned’ travellers on the train but thought it would be smart to get food and refreshments prior to boarding. This was a good idea and the girls bought beer for Mike and myself and wine for them plus dips, bread, chips, etc.. Chris and Dee had thought of everything, almost. The one thing they fogot was the plastic cups for the wine. They could have walked to the food carriage but that seemed like too much of an effort so since the wine was in a glass anyway what else would you do but…Chris and Dee. Such toffs! Our train left around 7pm and arrived around 10:30 so didn’t get a chance to see much except lights flashing by.
Brussels
Brussels is described as many things and confused could be one of them I suppose. Personally, the fact that it is a conglomeration of 19 communes
We did a hop on hop off tour of the city which was interesting for 2 reasons. Reason 1 : it told me all the things that I should have read before I went. Reason 2 : the onboard audio was not in synch with the bus route which meant that right was left, left was right, up was down etc.
Brussels is one of the three Regions of the federal Belgian state. It is the bi-lingual capital of the Kingdom and has two official languages: French and Dutch, neither of which I speak but to order beer you can use English. Brussels is home to the European Commission and to the Council of ministers of the European Union (EU) bit the most popular part of the town is the Grand’Place (Grote Markt). The square has guild houses and a Gothic looking Town Hall plus chocolate and beer streets all around. Its a great place to spend an afternoon over a Leffe or Kriek 🙂
Belgium produces 172,000 tons of chocolate per year in over 2,130 chocolate shops. There are over 400 different types of beer in Belgium covering all types including white, raspberry beer, wheat, blonde. Most beers have their own glass in which only that beer may be served and No I didnt have anywhere near that amount of beer!
Atomium
We spent the afternoon at the Atomium that was built in 1958 for the World Fair and was intended to be a temporary structure. It represents a molecules nine atoms magnified 165 billion times. You can access the 9 atoms via connecting escalators and staircases.
When in Rome well when in Brussels you have to have 3 things Beer, Chocolate and Waffles. Not wanting to insult the local folk we did all 3 and I can report that all are gooooood.
On the Sunday Chris and myself did a city walk by ourselves until we met up with Mike and Dee for a light refreshment before heading back on Sunday night. The trip back was during daylight so finally got to see some countryside albeit from the train at high speed. Much prefer the Eurostar to the airplane for ease and speed to nearby countries, it wont be our last trip. It was great to catch up with our friends again.