Tuesday, 4 May 2010
Brussels, Belgium
0500hrs alarm call. There’s only one 5 o’clock in my day. This isn’t it. Television bursts into life as the alarm. Scares the life out of me. Think I’ve got intruders in my room. Was expecting a phone call.
Grumpy little ogre.
No sleep you see.
Heave 22kg rucksack onto my back. Short walk down Euston Road to St Pancras for Eurostar to Brussells Gare du Midi.
Reserved seat 61 in recognition of The Man in Seat Sixty-One. Probably the best website dedicated to rail travel around the world. Check it out www.seat61.com. Invaluable in planning this journey.
Arrive Gare du Midi in Brussells. Had the unfortunate pleasure of doing this route just over a week ago. Working in Frankfurt, Germany, when the European airspace was closed due to volcanic ash in the atmosphere caused by a volcano erupting in Iceland. Colleague and I were stuck so took the train from Frankfurt via Koln, Brussels and London to Nottingham to get back home for the weekend.
Make my way to Heysel. Scene of ugly football hooliganism in 1985 when Juventus played Liverpool in the European Cup final. Not here for football though. It’s the location of Atomium (www.atomium.be). A scaled up version of the atoms in a ferrite crystal. Scaled up 165 billion times that is. At over 100m high it was built in 1958 for the Expo. Escalators take you up the structure in the tubes between the ‘atoms’ and each ‘atom’ has an exhibition on different aspects.
Back at ground level catch the first tram that comes along. Can’t find anywhere to buy a ticket. Jump on anyway. Will do my little lost foreign tourist act if ticket inspector pops up. No idea where we’re going. Am on a magical mystery tour. Spontaneity is the order of the day. End up in some dodgy suburb. You think Britain has immigration problems. Bloody hell. You should come to Brussells. It’s startling. The Lesser Spotted Taurean beats a hasty retreat.
Eventually find my way to more salubrious surroundings and find an open top Hop on/Hop off Red Bus. Seems like a good idea. There’s a red bus at the roadside. Waiting. Pay the EUR20 but then told I’ve got to walk 10 mins to the start and wait for a red bus. WHAT?!? What’s wrong with this bus? It’s always the same isn’t it. They lull you into thinking that it’s the bus where they take the money off you. Got wise to that over the years, dear reader.
Sadly, the lack of sleep last night takes its toll.
Nod off on the bus.
In so doing camera drops off my lap.
And smashes on the bus floor.
It’s only day two.
The sole reason for checking in to the Euro Capital Hotel (http://euro-capital.hotelsbrussels.net/en/) is that it’s across the road from the Gare du Midi station and suitable for an early start tomorrow.
Five star it is not.
