Andrew and I decided to venture to Brussels (1) because he hadn't picked up any chocolates from Bruges and (2) Brussels is one of those places that you just have to visit; right? Absolutely.
As probably all of you know, there was a huge train crash the Monday of this past week with two trains colliding in Halle near Brussels. We were going to go to Brussels that Monday, but we were exhausted, so we decided to go Tuesday. Thank goodness. But the question was then: would we even be able to get to Brussels? On Monday all trains had been cancelled due to the crash, and I know trains are the main means of traveling here but still. It was a big crash. So we decided to get up early Tuesday morning and see if we could find some way of getting to Brussels for the day. Fantasticallly enough we were able to find something! Keeping in mind we needed two transfers for what should have only been a half hour train ride...which was now 2 hours. But hey - who cares - we were going to Brussels! So the plan was to go from Lille Flandres to Cortrai, transfer and go to Gant St.Pierre and then transfer again to go to Brussels. Beauty. We were on top of things, and once everyone finally figured out the 2 transfer thing, we were set. It was not bad at all going there - we followed the heard of people who were doing the same thing and we didn't have to wait more than 5 minutes for any train. It was clock work. Today was turning out to be perfect.
We finally got to Brussels around 1ish, which was fine because we were ready to go! We managed to get some food quickly from Paul (an amazing French pastery shop that seems to be everywhere) and we were off. We walked tons that day. Venturing through the streets and trying to take in as much as humanly possible. We were able to venture into a Frida Kahlo type exhibit, which was free, hence very nice but just loving the architecture and everything around us.
A nice fact to know was apparently Brussels has a huge EU building there? Headquarters I believe. Yeah....oops. We had no idea. We don't remember seeing it either, and really only found out about it when we got back. Damn. But everything else was gorgeous!
A little side note; I collect magnets from everywhere I go. So we went in to get Andrew a souvenir shot glass and myself a magnet. I start to notice that on every single magnet is this image of a little boy peeing...ummm pardon? I asked Andrew if he knew what that was and he had no idea. Mannekin Pis was written on it. And literally it was on every plate, magnet, shot glass you name it. We figured it was kind of important then, so we asked for directions. We ventured and found a cute little chocolate shop for Andrew. The guy was so nice and we taste tested chocolates and ended up buying a little box for Andrew to take home. We once again had to ask for directions but we finally found it....and Mannekin Pis is the smallest, dinkiest little statue you have ever seen. We were dying laughing. There were chocolates in the stores that were bigger than this statue. Unbelievable. Either way we snapped our pics and were back on our way to find the metro and head home.
First stop: Waffle. We finally did it. A waffle. We got the plain one with caramel which ended up being the stickiest thing you have ever seen in your life. Lucky for me I got Andrew to hold it - so he got the worst of the caramel on the hands. Unfortunately for me, I got some and out of impulse whiped my hand on my jeans. Idiot. Clearly caramel stuck to my jeans and well, they were just lovely looking after that. We were in desperate need for a washroom to wash our hands and when we finally found one it was a bar - shock. While he washed his hands I ordered a fruit flavoured beer. Delicious. Mine was rasberry, and when Andrew got back he ordered a peach one. I preferred the peach and he preferred the rasberry, so we swapped. Apparently Belgium is famous for their fruit beers? Who knew. We know now, and I agree they are delicious.
Finally we were ready to venture back to the metro and go back to Lille. We knew it was going to be another 2 hour train ride if it was anything like the way there but that was fine. Once again we had walked enough that we were exhausted. Oh boy we were in for one hell of a ride back. We made it from Brussels to Gant St. Pierre and from Gant back to Coutrai. But then we were all out of luck. All trains had been cancelled going back to Lille. Super. You have got to be kidding me. It was like 8 or 9pm and all we wanted was to get back home to Lille. So I asked someone and he said a bus outside would be taking us to Mouscron, and from there they would tell us where to go. Basically...they were handing us off to another station. Super.
So we go outside and I'm reading the bus labels and all of a sudden people are swarming around a bus that says "Special". Right. That was ours. So we hop on and it takes us to Mouscron. Now what? The drivers had no idea either. It looked as if this was as far as they were taking us. We were still in Belgium, and we had no idea where to go. So were sitting on this bus keeping warm for what seems like another 1.5 hours, because of course the train station there is closed. Of course. Waiting and waiting and waiting. I stopped to get a coke across the street seeing as we hadn't eaten in hours and we hear that some cabs are coming. I was informed by my roommate who had been calling me wondering where the hell we were that we were close to a metro station (CH Dron) that I could take all the way back to our place. Fantastic. I am clearly not going to walk 4km to the metro, but I will take a cab. Brilliant. We are back on track. Wrong. 50 people are swarming around cabs and of course its a huge fight to get into one. It is past 10:30 and we are freezing outside. I'm 2.5 seconds away from killing someone for a cab and Andrew was afraid I was going to be hit by a car the way we were trying to call cabs in. Hells no. Ridiculous. Finally I sprinted for one and we got it. Another couple jump in and I tell the driver I only need to go to the metro station. C'est tout. 10 euros a person for 4km or 15 euros a person to take me all the way home. Ummm all the way home please. Holy frig was I cold. A warm car has never been so comforting in all my life. We were finally on our way home. Amen.
25 minutes later in the cab we finally arrive at the train station close to our place and its a 3 minute walk. Woo! So close. What a day. Exhausted and starving we went to bed. Just thankful we were finally back. But hey - we made it to Brussels and that's all that mattered! Right? Right!
No comments:
Post a Comment