Brussels

Rochester to Brussels

We met at St Pancras station at 5.20 for 6.40pm train.  For dinner we bought some scallops, prawns, focaccia, olives, dips, tortillas and a bottle of wine to eat and drink on the train.  The food and drink lasted us for most of the journey.

Brussels Midi station was reasonable nice and we came out of the best exit for where we wanted to get to.  It was a reasonable distance to the hotel on foot, allowing for getting lost, which we did.  The hotel was easy to spot when we reached it, lots of colour.

Our room at The Pantone was nice, white with splashes of colour, bright pink and yellow toilet rolls and a balcony, with bright coloured seats, overlooking a square of sorts.  The wall above the bed was a light, pale violet colours.  In the morning it was a completely different colour, vivid blues, that was completely different from the lit version.

We spent ages getting ready in the morning and then went downstairs to check out and get a cup of tea.  Everything was quite quirky: brightly coloured sugar, tea bags made out of what looks like net curtain, everything white with splashes of bright colour.

We put our biggest bag in a locker at the Gare du Midi where we would catch the train later, had a calzone pizza slice each and a bottle of juice, then headed for the Atomium.  This had a very fast list to the top ball (atom) then stairs and escalators to the other balls.  After the Atomium we walked to the Chinese Pavillion, which was being renovated/refurbished and where we hoped to find a cafe.  There was a coffee machine and some tables in the shop area and we had a drink and played Chinese chequers (there was a selection of far Eastern games for people to play).

We walked out to find the metro station, which was quite a way away.  We were walking around the edge of the Royal Palace.  On our left were some strange structures in the ground, covered with netting.  We could hear running water and, on closer inspection, found that they were watercress beds.  Behind these was a tram stop and we took the tram to Montgomery and then a metro train to Merode.  From here we walked through the arches, past the museums and on to the European Parliament buildings.   Our last stop was at the Grand Place, the cathedral and the city centre, with all its chocolate shops and lace shops.

Finally, we headed for the station to buy food for the train, pick up the locked bag and go through passport control for the train.  As we had on the outward journey, we spent most of the journey eating.  I managed this time to watch as we sped over the Medway Bridge and when the train made an unexpected stop at Ebbsfleet we quickly gathered our stuff and hopped off, meaning that we got an earlier train home.