To Queen's and Beyond

So last time I wrote I had just finished up my days in Paris. Well continuing on with the tale... I awoke early and made my way to the Gare du Nord, to catch a train to the city of Brussels. Capital of Europe and Belgium, home to tasty waffles and not so tasty sprouts. In Gare Du Nord I went to the international train ticket counter because Trains to and From Paris require reservations. This was annoying because despite buying a train ticket which is good for all of Europe you have to pay if trains require reservations, apparently this can cost as much as 30 Euro. luckily I was able to book a seat for the minimum price of 3 Euro, but to do so I had to catch one of the few trains departing from Charles de Gaulle Airport. A short metro ride later and I was departing the airport on a train.

I must say that the train from Paris to Brussels was probably my second favorite in all of Europe behind the epic Train Boat, but you'll have to wait for that in the Denmark posts. The train a TGV is a high speed train which rumbled a cross the French and Belgium countrysides at nearly 200mph. It was amazing, as long as I didn't look out the window it felt like the Train was standing still it was so smooth, but the second I looked out the window I could tell as i made out green and yellow blurs that was the whipping by countryside. After a little over an hour and a half I found myself in Brussels.

Brussels as I came to discover is quite a strange city, a fact that isn't lost on the people of Brussels. Evidence of this can be seen in the two symbols of the city. First Brussels has it's own version of the Eiffel tower, except its not really a tower, and it kind of is. It's a giant model of an Atom which they constructed in 1956, apparently the 'electrons' or little orbs move and orbit, and individuals are able to walk from one to another, I say apparently because I never actually made my way over to it because it charges and that's not my style. The other symbol of Brussels is a little fountain, about 2 and a half feet tall, made of bronze it's a little boy peeing. Brussels also continues its weirdness as it is the Capital of Europe, housing the EU Parliament, this is weird because Brussels is also the capital of Belgium, which has been without a government for nearly 2 years because the French Speaking people in the Flanders part of the nation and the German speaking individuals in the Dutch part of the country don't see eye to eye on anything, and they have been unable to form a government, mostly because of parts of the Nation wanting independence.

The subway in Brussels is really cool, as there is a line which is a loop, it makes a circle and it stays entirely in the tourist area of old town Brussels. This is handy because as a tourist not knowing which direction to go you can just get on the line going either way and you will eventually get to the stop you need to go. That's not my style though as I'm pretty good with mass transit and I would certainly take the line which had the fewest number of stops, coincidentally it was 9 stops in either direction to my hostel from the train station so lucky me I just got on the first Train. Getting off it was properly rainy in Brussels, now coming from Ireland I'm used to rain, but this was proper rain and I was drenched to the bone by the time I finally got to my hostel.

My first day In Brussels was much like my first day in Paris, I wandered around taking in the sites without really having a plan. just seeing the general craic. I did make a conscious effort not to go see Manneken Pis, the peeing boy statue because I knew it was going to be packed with tourists and Part of my trip was a determination to not look like a tourist if I could help it, mostly because I hated the tourists who I ran into when I lived in Washington. This probably wasn't the best Idea however as I wandered out of the touristy areas, and I ended up in just a boring area of town, I was also turned around and didn't remember where my hostel was in relation to where I was, so I found a metro and rode into the center of town and then back to my hostel. After day 1 in Brussels I wasn't too happy with my choice to stop there for 2 nights, I would have much preferred to spend the extra day in Paris. Day 2 in Brussels changed my opinion of the town as I used a walking map provided by the hostel and put together a massive walk which took me to all the main sites of Brussels, through the Mini-Manhattan, little Africa the Moroccan quarter of Brussels, up to the hall of Justice, the court house which is so massive that its main hall is called the hall of missing footsteps because it is so large that you never hear your footsteps because they get lost in the vast expanse. Into the old town which is dominated by amazing old Dutch style buildings, to the Artsy district of of Brussels up to the European Quarter, and then to the National Museum where I killed a few hours before making my way back to the centre of town for dinner and a night out. I met a couple of people from Brussels and we made our way to this crazy hangout of Anarchists, which I have to say was quite an experience. The cafe has been closed down over 800 times since it opened in the 70's and it was bare nothing to speak of, and no money in the til, it was full of people in various forms of get ups that looked homeless, and with various degrees of facial hair, including a chick who had better facial hair than I did...

Alas I fell in love with Brussels on Day 2, and I was heart broken when I woke up on my third morning in Brussels and realized I would be leaving that morning for Amsterdam, but that is a story for next time...

I'll put a few photos up now, and the rest in a dump like last time, ciao