Easter weekend in Brussels

Bier, Chocolate & Waffles......

Thursday

Having a train to catch is a fantastic incentive to get off work on time! It was a bit of a mad rush day at work, but once I'd left work on time and made the train at Billericay, I definitely felt relaxed and ready for a great weekend. We took the Eurostar again having got a pretty good fare, had our packed picnic of chicken sandwiches and a coupla beers... yum!... and were in Brussels before we knew it.

The train arrived in at Midi Zuid, so we needed to work out the Metro in order to get to our hotel... We didn't have too much trouble though it would have been a bit easier if we weren't so tired!. Little things like looking at a map and working out line we had to go on... getting down to the platform and realising that neither of us had remembered which station we needed to change at! Still, after a couple of very helpful directions we were on our way!

The transport system itself is a mixture of undergound tram network, metro and buses... Services are really frequent though I found most of the stations felt dirty and smelt a bit...

Our hotel, The Royal Windsor, was in a fantastic location, right between Grand Place and Centraal station. There are heaps of restaurants, bars etc right round the corner. The casino was across the road, but we didn't venture in there.

I would say there was about a 10min turnaround between check-in and sitting down for our first bier!. Even though by this stage it was about 11pm, most things were still open and there were still heaps of people about. The little street that we had headed down had heaps of Greek cafes and the pubs advertised the prices of their biers in their windows... Where was the cheapest Stella?,,, that's where we headed! After I had had a coupla Duvels (one of my favourite beers), & Matt had 1L of Stella (!) ... we were both practically sleeping sitting up!

Friday

Early (well, not really but it felt like it) wake up call at 9:30 when housekeeping banged on the door! ... Still glad they did otherwise I think I could still be sleeping!

We headed out for breakfast (no way were we paying the 29 Euros... each... for the hotel breakfast!!) mmm pancakes!!!.... then just wandered around for a bit ... through the Gallerie St Hubert (a glass roofed arcade), through the Tin Tin Boutique... and, of course, lots of chocolate shops... so so so many! And they all offer you a taste! mmmm... though by 12 I think I'd had enough!

We went through a little chocolate museum that was just off the Grand Place, which had a history of how chocolate came to Europe, where the cocoa bean is grown and the process from bean to chocolate bar... and, of course..., some free samples! It was quite a good little museum actually, I think it cost about 5 Euro each to get in...

After a walk past the Manneken Pis (yep, as it sounds, it's a statue of a little boy emptying his bladder.. have since tried to find the history of the statue... but there seem to be quite a few different stories....).. we then decided to head away from the main square and jumped on the Metro out to the Atomium.

The Atomium is a huge sculpture (height 102m) that was built for the World Expo in 1958... kinda strange really. Though you can get a lift to the top and get great 360 degree views around brussels. They had a flying fox set up from the top of the Atomium... for one thing, I'm not that into heights... but it also really didn't look all that safe which is my main reason for not giving it a go!... It was hooked up to the front of a truck.. and the only thing stopping you from hitting either the front of the truck or slamming into the ground was the reliance on a couple of guys who "at the right time" would pull on a rope connected to a stopper thing and run in the opposite direction... No thanks!

I would not call the Atomium itself a 'must do', but it was a great way to spend the afternoon. Some of the spheres are set up as exhibition halls - the more interesting ones were the ones on the expo itself. There was one bit on 'interesting expo facts'.. how many visitors, how many beers etc.. but also that 20 people gave birth and about 4 people died... was a strange mix of facts!

We had a late lunch nearby at a pub 'La Leon'. I had a lovely Flemish Carbonade (like a goulash i guess) and matt had some snails and crayfish. Was a great, sunny and warm day and it was great to just sit with a couple of beers and watch everyone go by (there were some strange ones!)

We decided to have a walk past the European Parliament and the Royal Palace before heading back to Grand Place... the Royal Palace was not guarded at all... which I would have realised had I done any research before heading off... The Royal family don't use it as a residence anymore, it's mostly used for large receptions and to accommodate any Heads of State...

Had a late dinner tonight, at a pub off the main square... Matt had a huge pot full of Mussells (I had a couple, just to say I'd had some Mussells in Brussels... though I just don't get the fascination in them)... I thoroughly enjoyed my Schnitzel and Hoegaarden.... what was even morrree yummy were the waffles we had from a little kiosk... mmmm...

Saturday

Another pretty relaxing day today... went to Autoworld, which is a museum housing, well, cars! The collection was quite extensive, though I have to say, I didn't get as much out of it as Matt did. Specially the Citroens... I still think the way the lowered the back and covered the rear wheels is fairly ugly.... still Matt seemed to think they were quite well... oh well, the world would be a boring place if we all liked the same things!

The actual building and the parks surrounding the museum where really quite nice though!

From there we headed somewhere more my style... the Cantillon Brewery, apparently the last functioning brewery in Brussels. The beer has a very distinctive taste - quite acidic and more like wine than a traditional 'lager'. Quite refreshing though not something I could see myself drinking regularly. The brewery is still run by the same family that established it, and you actually meet the family, including the brewer which is quite unique.

The area the brewery is in is definitely not the nicest part of Brussels... and when we decided to walk back to our hotel, we definitely saw another side to Brussels! still we stumbled across a really nice little piazza which had a cool little pub serving really nice burgers (and frites in little terracotta garden pots)... I noticed across the road was Comme shez soi.. or something like that... which is one of Brussels' best restaurants.. well outside our price range!

We had a mini pub crawl for the rest of the afternoon / evening trying lots of different biers. (Affligem, Judas, Jupiler, Kwiek, Kwak, Maredsous, Chimay, etc etc!).. sat at a bar on one corner for a while, watching the little community of buskers and beggars operate... quite amazing what you see when you just sit and watch for a while! ... quite the little operation!

Sunday

- Quick breakfast and last wander round the shops before heading for our Eurostar back to London... damn!

Monday

- diet starts !! ... and we saw Fast and the Furious 4 - a welcome return to the good ol FF (but still plenty of those cheesy lines)!

Greensted Church - Essex

Oldest wooden church in the world (though only in part cause a lot of it has been restored - though things like Leper holes still remain)

Day out in London

Brick Lane...

Boundary Restaurant... Really nice! Combination of French and British Food

Spittalfields Market

The Alwyne - Islington - Last Catch up with Sal

Paris - Day 3

Lazy morning again today though were very conscious that we made it down for breakfast before 10! Today we had a ‘culture day’ first stop Notre Dame… The spires and the stain glass were really impressive… It was Sunday, so there was a service on which was really nice as well…

Outside there was this guy walkin round with an ‘ugly’ mask on. He just kinda sidled up to people and took their hand or put his arm on their shoulder – was quite funny watching the reactions – specially when they screamed… I was wondering how often he got punched though!

From there we wandered through the Latin Quarter and had a light lunch in a Patisserie. There was a bike stand on the corner, so from there we rode along the bank of the Seine to the Musee de D’Orsey. Not being huge art fans, we knew we didn’t want to go in both the Louvre and the D’Orsey, so we took the advice of the majority of people we asked and went to D’Orsey. The collection is really nicely laid out, and the huge ceilings in the centre let in lots of light. The building itself used to be a railway station. Lots of Renoir and Monet… an also a room of Vincent Van Gogh which I like. Matt’s favourite was “Whistler”… cause of Mr Bean.   

It was quite tiring walking around… plus the legs were a little sore from all the riding… Least I felt I was working off a little of the good food we’d been having! Didn’t have a lot of time left before we had to be back at the hotel for the bus to the train station. Plus we had to get our train supplies… ie cake from the Patisserie.. YUM! and some beers… for some reason Matt bought some Amsterdam… horrible! Took about an hour to finish a can… good thing I spose… and had to give away the 2^nd one… that’s how bad it was!

Train ride back was quite fun… few of the group were getting quite drunk… luckily I think our tour was taking up most of the carriage so I don’t think we annoyed anyone too much. 

Paris Day 2

As expected, we were up late this morning! Made it down for breakfast 2 mins before 10 (parently breakfast shut at 10, we thought it was 10:30) The lady looking after the breakfast started yelling at us in French – no idea what she was saying… then a couple more people came in after us and she just started yelling at everyone and turned the lights off! Twas quite funny… but we got some croissants and coffee which was the main thing!

Spent most of today just wandering around… took the Metro over to Galleries Laffeyette… planned to do some shopping but with the Euro : Pound exchange rate… it was really too expensive… above the shopping centre was Tour Montparnasse – a 200m tall tower with a viewing platform on the roof. We went up, but unfortunately the cloud was quite low so it was quite difficult to make a lot of things out… but Matt managed to make out a bike stand just round the corner…

Can’t remember the last time I rode a bike… cept in the gym… but they just stay still… but after an extremely wobbly first 50m I was alright… First thing we had to do was cross 4 lanes of traffic! The bike system in Paris is excellent. You pay 1 Euro for a 24hr pass and you can pick up a bike from one stand (there are stands everywhere) and drop it off wherever you end up. Don’t have to worry about locking it up or anything. It just automatically locks itself on the stand… Really handy and a great way to see the city.

From Montparnasse, we rode up near the Champs Elysees and had a coffee (should have had a hot chocolate) and a yummy choc brownie from a Chocalatier.. spensive but had to be done! Had a wander up to the Arc de Triomphe and went to the top…. Great view from up there… don’t know if it was cause the weather had lifted, but it was a much better view from there than Montparnasse.. It was right on 6 o’clock too so we were up there for the sunset. They also stopped the traffic for a procession to walk up to the Arc de Triomphe…. It was quite funny to watch the traffic once they let everyone go… the policemen had to run for their lives! Everyone was going everywhere….

But still no accidents… we were up there for quite a while and didn’t see one – but apparently there’s an accident every 15 mins on average…

We were heading down to the Seine for our River cruise… but stopped off for dinner at one of the bistros… food was quite yummy.. and the service surprisingly good! Matt had some escargot (I don’t get the fuss really!). So with full stomachs we went on the cruise – the view was great, pity it was FREEZING!! 

My Chrissy Present - a Long Weekend In Paris - Feb 20

Sometimes I really don’t know why we do it… I mean obviously to make the most of time off… but yet again… we set off super early to get to Kings Cross Station for our Eurostar trip to Paris. So, so, so much easier than flying. For one thing, no carry on limit and you can take drinks from outside the terminal on-board and the whole check-in and immigration thing is just so much quicker. 1 min exiting the UK… walk 5 m and you officially enter France. The passport stamp is kinda cool too.. has a little train in the corner. This is one good thing about having a non-EU passport, getting all the stamps!!- Small downside was that the train (a designated train) to Eurodisney was also leaving at about the same time… so eaps and eaps of kids around… but I spose it wasn’t that bad, plus they had a little 4-piece band playing some Disney songs in the waiting area which was alright. Both trains were leaving off the same platform and I’m sure some people must have gotten on the wrong one…

Matt had arranged our trip through Andersen Tours, which made everything really easy – got our boarding pass and a map handed to us on checking in with the tour leader (who happened to be the same as the tour leader we had on our Top Deck tour through Europe in ’03... though Matt already knew this was going to be the case …) and then straight onto a Bus for a quick driving tour of the city.

The train trip itself was pretty uneventful… which is a good thing surely…

Having been to Paris once before, the driving tour we had as soon as we arrived didn’t really show us anything new, but it was a good way to get our bearings again, plus getting a recap on the history of the city is always helpful. After a couple of stops at the usual places for photos we headed to our hotel…

There was a great little Patisserie on the corner which we managed to avoid until our last day, groceries and a few little shops were all really handy. Best of all we were about 20m from the entrance to the Metro station, Marcel Sembat. It was only a couple of stops from the end of the line… but only about 15/20 mins to all the attractions. As soon as we arrived we got a bite to eat and got some beer, wine and nibblies from the supermarket (plus I threw in some bananas for good measure) We bought a 15 pack of Heineken – I thought that’d be plenty to last us the whole weekend and the train trip home… how wrong was I!. Buying the fruit there was a little different… Kinda like a deli counter, had to select the fruit I wanted then go to a counter to get it weighed and a sticker with the price put on it. Obviously I didn’t realise this until I got to the front of the queue, so had to go back – and all just for the fruit I thought I ‘should’ get!.

Back at the hotel we decided to have a couple of drinks before heading out for a Cabaret show… Matt and Jude (who was looking after our tour) managed to polish off all the beers rather quickly! For once I was the sedate one!. Given all the beers they’d had and the couple of roadies they took with them… it made for a fairly interesting metro ride out for the show! Plus when we got out of the Metro we couldn’t quite work out what direction we needed to head! Still, we made it just in time for the start of the show. To be honest I wasn’t overly impressed with the show, apart from the trapeze artist/flying acrobat… that was quite cool cause the rope and swing went right across the crowd. I’m sure Matt got more enjoyment out of the rest of the show than I did!

The Metro ride back was a lot quieter, with both Matt an Jude sleeping… luckily by this stage I kinda knew where I as going! Only thing open for dinner though was Kebabs – was a really nice kebab, but it still felt a little wrong to be eating kebab in Paris!