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Brussels – The Sequel

Sunday, August 12th, 2007

About a week ago my mum and I went to Brussels for the day on the Eurostar. It was a follow-up to the trip we took there last summer for my mum’s birthday. Last time I paid for us to stay at the Marriott hotel for a few days, but this time she paid as I’m rather financially-challenged at the moment.

I prefer taking the Eurostar to flying. I’ve been thinking about going to Rome by an overnight train from Paris. It sounds more romantic to me, like taking the Orient Express.

Orient Express

Anyway, we got the train to Brussels. Then instead of taking the taxi to the centre of town we decided to have an adventure and take the tram. After a few confusing minutes of trying to find the toilet in the station, then figuring out which tram to take we finally were on our way. The trams moved very quickly so we had to hold on very tight to keep from falling over.

signs

So we arrived at Bourse Beurs and found the main shopping road, with lots of clothes shops. We looked around for a while and bought some bits and pieces.

After a while we stopped at a nearby hotel restaurant. We both ordered the 2nd most expensive item on the menu, the small t-bone steak for 16 euros each.

steak

Then on to more shopping. We enjoyed a waffle, some ice cream while people-watching in the square.

Soon it was time to make our way back to the Eurostar station, and then back to London.

When we got to Clapham Junction we were delayed for a while due to a broken-down train. A young guy asked us for money while we were waiting for our train, saying that he was hungry.
“I’m hungry too,” said my mum, sending him packing.

It was nice spending some quality time with my mum. And my wanderlust is stirring again.

Written by PJ | Posted in Uncategorized

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8 Responses to “Brussels – The Sequel”

  1. 1
    Absolute Vanilla... (& Atyllah):

    8:42 am on 13-Aug-07

    Ah, Brussels, the city of food, food and more food! My favourite Belgian meal is always moules et frites. Though Flaamse Waterzooi comes a close second! ;-)

  2. 2
    Nicholas:

    11:18 am on 13-Aug-07

    People joke about Belgium, but it seems you had a great time! I haven’t been to belgium since I was twelve, so it mayhave changed a tad. I don’t know if 16 eurines is cheap or not, but the meal looks lovely.

  3. 3
    Sophisticated Writer:

    2:55 pm on 13-Aug-07

    Sounds like you had a wonderful trip :mrgreen: WB!

  4. 4
    Dr. Monkey:

    11:00 pm on 13-Aug-07

    I am so jealous that you Brits get to hop on a train and visit Europe anytime you want.
    I’m glad you and the mom got to spend some fun time together. Even though I can’t eat them much anymore those steaks looked damn good.

  5. 5
    PJ:

    1:49 am on 14-Aug-07

    It was a good day, but our first trip there was even better, as we had more time to explore the city. We went to the Museum of Chocolate and found the most dilapidated cinema in the world – le Cinema Aventure! I must blog about that sometime. :grin:

  6. 6
    PJ:

    1:52 am on 14-Aug-07

    And Dr M, we may have Europe in our backyard, but you have Central & South America and the Caribbean in yours.

    When I went to Jamaica there were loads of Americans at the hotel who were just staying for the week or a few days as it was just a hop, a skip and a jump away for them.

  7. 7
    Becca:

    11:34 pm on 14-Aug-07

    Sounds like fun! The picture of the mountains was just beautiful!

  8. 8
    PJ:

    1:13 am on 16-Aug-07

    Yeah, I found that pic on google, dunno where it’s supposed to be, but I wanna be there too. :mrgreen: