*Continuing the random style of this blog, I will not type this entry in 3rd person*
After a lovely ride on board the Thalys, we made it to Brussels Midi Railway Station. We had done our homework and so we knew that we had to take Subway line #2 in the direction of Simonis and get off at the stop "Hotel de Monnaies". Having bought a ticket for Euro 1.30 each we made it very easily to the station.
Surfacing to street-level in Brussels, we found the city chilly but not too cold. After a quick consultation of the map we trudged off in the direction of the first hotel of this odyssey - Hotel Les Bluets. With unerring accuracy we found the hotel. It was just 150m from the subway stop and the area looked clean and safe - yay!
We buzzed the security intercom, and heard the voice of our hostess for the first time - " Les Bloooay", she cried! We introduced ourselves and made our way in. We found ourselves face to face with a stocky looking, middle aged, red faced, bespectacled Belgium woman. Another fascinating conversation was surely in store -
Hari: Bonjour, hello, my name is Hari Krishnan and I..
Mrs. Bluet (dont know her name, so this will have to suffice): Hello, the window in our top floor room is broken and so we cant occupy it and rent it out..the man broke it off, and they no longer, how do you say - fabric it? We cannot close the window and so we cannot give you that room. You must walk 1, 2,3..4 roads and take a left at Le Boucherie Carlos and take a left...find 4, Rue Capouillet and thats your hotel room. Climb to teh 2nd floor and you will find your room. Thank you, now give me one passport!
Hari: Uh...cant we get a room here?..
Mrs, Bluet (Redder in face): The window is broken...etc, etc. Heres the key, off you go, thank you!
Hari: No, thank you!
Well having dashed the hopes of a hotel 150 m from the subway, we trudged about 4 blocks down to our new abode. It was a deserted looking house in a quiet lane. Climbing the steep staircase ( a trend to come) we made it to our room. It was spacious and clean. The shower room, sink and toilet were in the same room. Each was in its own section closed only by a curtain from the main room :)
But it was quaint and full of cute artifacts and painting....plus we had free Internet access on the ground floor PC.
Getting around Brussels was very easy indeed...the subway was a gem and was clean and fast. The train got us to diverse sites in this quiet little ville - lovely churches, beautiful palaces and huge gardens. We saw the European Parliament and everything was uncrowded. The low season is awesome! The tempearature was definitely low, but Maya has been fantastic. Considering her susceptibility to cold, she has fought thru it all!
The second day in Brusells saw us eating breakfast around the one large dining table at Les Bluets. About 10 people sat around the table - germans, french, spaniards and even a quiet japanese girl. A hearty breakfast of juice, cereal, yoghurt, toast, coffee, fruit and a dozen different jams made for a great start to that (and every) morning. Entertainment was in the form of Mrs. Bluet scolding the guest - "you, sit here", "If I am busy, make hot cocoa for yourself", "The black man took the chair without asking yesterday and you will not take it today"...were some of her gems. Whats with her, anyway? :)
Having eaten heartily, we decided to take a day trip to the quaint little village of Bruges. It is known for fine lace and quaint streets. A 2 hr coach ride later, we found ourselves in Bruges. Our friendly guide is a 50ish frenchman who speaks good english. He shows us around the beautiful streets and takes us to a lace shop.
A proud little Belgian then proceeds to tell us the intricacies of Bruges lace. To all of you, remember this one thing - If you dont have Bobbin lace, you dont have good lace! There were several other details I wont bore you with, but he broke down why his lace shop was a dying breed. It seems that most shops in town didnt do their own lace. They had it made in the factory of the world - China! Thus, he effectively showed us that his lace was better than the rest of Bruges, and that Bruges lace is better than Brussels lace (non-bobbin lace). Anyway, enough on the lace...
Maya ran off and bought us some Belgian Truffles Chocolates and we immediately dug into them - yummmmmmy! We had a great day walking around Bruges, but i was really, really cold...brrrrr.
The next morning found a new victim getting their scolding from Mrs. Bluet. Good morning to you, Mr. Late for breakfast!
Anyway, Maya and I roamed the streets of Brussels. The belgian version of a hot-dog stand is a Waffles truck...they smell divine in the sub-5 degree C weather. Promises were made from me to M that we would partake in waffle eating before we left town.
Overall, the city was like a poor cousin to Amsterdam (our next port of call). It was cute, but more than the 3 days we spent would have been unadvisable. The good news is that our passable French and English were more than enough to get us around. We seem well on our way to becoming those Indo-europeans we will be soon.
However, lovely bleak churches with ancient and modern stained glass cover Brussels and it is quite a cute little town. The fact that I am currently reading the awesome "Da Vinci Code" and am in Europe is definitely augmenting this trip. I recommend the book to anyone who has not read it yet. Maya has dibs on our copy though, and she will read it next.
Well, Brussels has wound to a close and we find ourselves waiting for the Thalys again - destination Amsterdam! Maya will likely take over for the next entry, but this has been fun and our dream trip is definitely off to a great start!
Link to our photos from Amsterdam and Brussels:
http://www.ofoto.com/I.jsp?c=35mf8y.cpxykm7f&x=0&y=-b33eer
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