Skip to main content

Briefly Brussels

Here we are at the A-Train hotel in Amsterdam after a day on the trains. A long day on the trains.
We said a sad goodbye to Paris, catching a packed metro train and then a RER train up to Gare du Nord station. We were early and there was not much to do but stand around the headers and watch the trains arrive and depart under the canopy.

Our fast Thalys bound for Amsterdam waited next to another decorated with Tintin, in a cross-promotion with the Spielberg movie. The Thalys was very comfortable inside, bright pink and red decor, wifi (free for first class, extra cost for us) and power sockets. After days of blue skies today we left under foggy grey, racing past tenements, then cultivated fields of green dotted with small towns.
Though our tickets were for Amsterdam we had to make a stopover in Brussels to pick up some lost property. We had actually left it in Ghent, but the luggage staff kindly shipped it straight down for us and look after our big bags as well. Not having seen outside of Brussels Midi train station before, while we waited we caught a train to Bourse, the closest stop the Grand Place. The tram stop was underground, next to the regular metro.

Belgium has some stunning architecture, and that includes the aptly named Grand Place. Such ornate buildings!


We made a quick stop for waffles and souvenir clothes, then had to walk down to the famous, but unimpressive, Mannekin Piss. Well, fountains are one of Alex's favourite things.

It was quite a walk back to the train station, where our lost bag and luggage awaited us. We now had to make our way to Amsterdam. Rather than spend money on another Thalys we decided to catch a regular intercity train, taking advantage of our underutilised Eurail Select passes. We quickly ate a uninteresting lunch at a cafe and went to board the train. Unfortunately, the trains weren't cooperating. Amsterdam trains leave hourly and our planned train had been cancelled!
We waited the hour then jumped on board the first class carriage to Amsterdam. It was clean, fairly empty and there were power sockets, though I didn't use one. We cruised out past the outskirts of Brussels, villages and fields before making a stop at Mechelin, which was home to an impressive tower and cathedral.

On we went with Alex watching videos or giggling with us. He was extremely well behave all day, except for when he wanted to break away from us and use a lift.
As we approached Amsterdam it seemed that we were running late. A number of stops, including Schipol, were deleted, but we still seemed to crawl. Then we stopped and the lights dimmed. Eventually an announcement was made that there was a technical fault with the train and it was being reset. It was painful, all we wanted to do was get to the hotel.

We limped into Amsterdam's Centraal station and emerged into freezing cold air. It was misty and chill outside, an ordeal especially for B and Alex.
The lobby of the A-Train hotel is decorated with all sorts of railway paraphenalia, including Australian material. When we entered our split level apartment room Alex's eyes immediately lit up. There were toys! He immediately sat down to play.
We quickly reemerged from the hotel to take a quick walk around the dark city and get some dinner. After passing an "Occupy Amsterdam" encampment we revisited the red light sector, full of marijuana and sex shops, plus a few, mostly empty, red windows. With Alex perched on my shoulders the drug pushers left us alone. He wanted to get down and feed the white swans on the canal.



There were plenty of kebab shops and Argentinian beef restaurant, but we eventually had dinner at a pasta bar. Then a quick retreat back to the hotel.
This is a fun room for Alex. It's a pity that we aren't staying here longer. We would be, but our plans always get disrupted now.
Tomorrow we fly back to Kuala Lumpur, where hopefully we will get a few days rest before heading home.

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

A lazy day at the beach

It's 2am and somebody is still setting fireworks off on the beach in front of the hotel. I can't see the explosions as I have the window shuttered, but I can still hear them. I've wanted to have a lazy day and today was the closest I got. I woke up in the night from a very sad dream. Dreams follow crazy paths, but this one resolved itself as so. An entity had been causing disruption of computer systems around the world. It turned out that this entity had emerged from the computer networks and had been struggling to gain access to more computing power so that it could live. The entity had taken on the persona of a woman. The protagonist who had "defeated" the entity discovered that it was alive, spoke to it. Ultimately fell in love with her. But his prior actions would lead to its death. As a gift to her he downloaded his memories so that she could experience life even as she died. I know it sounds like a pulpy sf or technopunk plot, but dreams are about feelings,

Ho Chi Minh to Hoi An

The easy way to get to Hoi An from Ho Chi Minh City is to fly to Danang then go via car for the final leg. Then there's my way. We had to wake at 5.30 am to get ready for a 6.15 departure from the hotel. A hotel car took us the few kilometres to the domestic terminal at the airport, where we checked into our Vietnam Airlines flight to the central Vietnam city of Hue. The airport was nothing flash, but it seemed functional. Alex had sandwiches (refused banh mi) for breakfast, then we went to the gate. Our blue Airbus A321 was parked at a remote stand, which necessitated a packed shuttle bus ride. It was nice to be aboard a full service airline again, even if the service was just a cup of water. We took off over the hazy skies of Ho Chi Minh City and for most of the smooth flight were cruising over a carpet of cloud. We descended over mountains poking their heads through the cloud, across lakes and paddy fields and over the beach. It was lovely scenery.

The sound of running water

We made it home from Osaka. There is a special feeling that comes when your arrive at your house after a holiday. It is utter relaxation. No longer do you need to worry about other language or customs. There is no need to look up directions, to plan out your day, to journey between sights. Then again, you now need to clean up your own mess, to make your own bed. Rather than eat out you need to cook your own dinner. The shower is weak and the toilet doesn't wash your bum. And you need to wake up early tomorrow morning in order to spend a day at work. You are back to your old routine. Looking back upon this holiday in Japan I've decided that the theme of running water has applied to each of the days. Sunday - Arrival in Osaka - washing ourselves Japanese style Monday - Matsuyama - water from the hot springs at Dogo Onsen Tuesday - Takamatsu - waterfall at Ritsuen-koen Wednesday - Tsumago - streams of water throughout the town Thursday - Takayama - the sounds of rushing water eve