For a while now, Jens and I have been talking about an extended weekend trip to Brussels. It's near by and easy to get to. This month I have 4 days off in a row so we took the opportunity to fly out of town for a new experience. And we used this opportunity to pre-celebrate our 25 years of legal marriage.
There is of course a rich history regarding Brussels of which I know nothing about. And that will be lucky for you as it makes for a short blog story. My whole reason for going to Belgium was because for years now, I have been wanting to visit Brugge, a beautiful village on the list of UNESCO world heritage sites. And besides....... I took a look on the computer and when I googled Brussels, nothing interesting came up. It was mostly pix of the EU parliament - how boring can you be? But Jens corrected me and told me that there should be an overwhelming number of charming buildings to check out. Friends of ours, John and Birthe, were there a few years ago as well and they too said it was nice. So ok, I booked a room in the center of town and just a 3 minute walk from the train station.
There is of course a rich history regarding Brussels of which I know nothing about. And that will be lucky for you as it makes for a short blog story. My whole reason for going to Belgium was because for years now, I have been wanting to visit Brugge, a beautiful village on the list of UNESCO world heritage sites. And besides....... I took a look on the computer and when I googled Brussels, nothing interesting came up. It was mostly pix of the EU parliament - how boring can you be? But Jens corrected me and told me that there should be an overwhelming number of charming buildings to check out. Friends of ours, John and Birthe, were there a few years ago as well and they too said it was nice. So ok, I booked a room in the center of town and just a 3 minute walk from the train station.
As usual, we start our tour with free food and free booze in the airport lounge.
It's free for airline employees.
Free if the airline employee has a company Diners Card.
At least that's how it used to be.
Now anyone can come to the lounge for 25 bucks.
Yes, now I have to pay too.
Still.... it's cheaper than any of the restaurants and bars in the "normal" part of the airport. And if you are a pig or a boozer, then this place is really a steal !
The sign says go to gate C3. When I see C3, then I know automatically that we have to go to an escalator leading downstairs to the bus terminal - bla.
This part of the airport, I tell Jens, is called the windmill park. This is where all the planes with propellers park and the only way to get there is by bus. SAS has phased out nearly all of their propeller planes with the Canadian made CR9 - as if anybody cared.
In just an hour and a half, we land at Brussels International. We make our way to the train station which is located right in the airport terminal so it can't be any easier. We buy our ticket for just a few € and in just 15 minutes we are at the central station.
We know we are going the right way to the hotel because as I was doing research on Google Maps, Jens notice the name of the street from the central station to the hotel. We laughed because it translates to Fart Street in Danish.
Seriously - the hotel was so close to the station, we had to stop to finish the smoke.
We check in and un-pack and off we go to a very nice restaurant.
The restaurant was recommend from the woman who checked us in. It was only 4 minutes away and located in this rather famous long passageway with lots of shopping. The passageway is called Galeries Royales Saint - Hubert. Click the link to see more.
After making like pigs, we do lots of window shopping in the passageway.
Click this link to see all 20 pix from day one of our tour.
and don't forget to read about our city walk on day 2 of our holiday - click here.
