In 2014 we were supposed to take the Eurostar from Paris to London with the kids for a day, but the booking got messed up. Since then we have traveled on Amtrak plenty in the US, but we always heard the European rail was so much more. Today we were up early and ubbered to St. Pancras station to take the Eurostar to Brussels. It was so well-marked and easy to figure out.
We were booked in Eurostar plus with a table for 4 in car #8. We did wind up being joined by a young woman, but there was still plenty of room for our bags, us, lapstops out for working, etc.. I thought I would be freaked out about the Chunnel. The Official name which is the Channel Tunnel is 31.5 miles long and sits 23.5 miles under the English Channel. But the Eurostar is going 100mph through it, so I hardly had time to think about it. We also got a continental breakfast with tea, coffe, and juice.
We arrived into Brussels Gare de Midi. After we disembraked we noticed people everywhere carrying flags and dressed almost like circus people, but all in a matching burgundy guiding people and answering questions. It would be a couple of hours until we figured out that one of the, if not the, largest Music Festival in Europe was getting ready to start weekend #2 in Belgium, Tomorrowland.
Since in just over 24 hours we will need a rental car I got us a room at the hotel/hostel Meininger Gare du Midi which was less than a 5 miunte walk from the station. With the festival, even though not in Brussels, the place was packed. Our room of course was not ready, so again we crammed our bags into 2 large lockers and hopped the Metro to the city's center and walked to the Grand Palace. Wow, just wow...love, love that everything is pedestrian. Chocolate shop after chocolate shop lined the streets as well as eateries. And the architecture was beautiful with lots of gold. In the plaza was a podium in the center with a DJ deck and it was set-up like a concert. We thought perhaps they were tearing it down from something earlier or preparing for something later. After all the festival itself is not in Brussels.
It was such a beautiful day we opted to get an outside table at Le "Roy d'Espange" and our first Belgium pints. Built in 1697 it was originally the baker's guild headquarters. Force, wheat, wind, fire, water, and security, all needed by bakers are prepresented from left to right by statues high up on the buildings facade. Above the entrance is Saint-Aubert, patron Saint of Bakers. During and after the French Revolution it went through a few iterations, before returning to a cafe in 1952. Here we would enjoy our first Belgium Beers and chat with some of the festival attendees. The Spainards next to us mixed up their AM and PM and told us there was to be a welcome set in the plaza at 3AM, which makes sense as the festival itself goes until the wee hours of the morning. But we soon found out that was 3PM and we would wind up dancing in the plaza for 90 minutes.
Alec was beyond happy as he purchased a DJ deck to take to school and has been working hard to master it all summer. And there were even songs, which the DJ duo called "old school" mixed in that Andy and I knew. It was a lot of fun and a pleasant surprise. Just like our trip to Europe 10 years ago with the kids when we wandered into a cheese festival and had our 8 and 10 year old out dancing to EDM tunes late into the night.
Exhausted we wound our way to the famous Manneken Pis. Literally one of the top sites in Brussels and yes, it is a statue just over 2 feet tall of a little boy pissing in a fountain. There are all kinds of stories about what he presents, but ultimately he was done like Cupid with no big story behind it. Since then a girl version called Jeanneke Pis has been erected as well for equal rights. And then someone thought they needed a pet, so a pissing dog refered to as Zinneke Pis was erected. Then we hopped the nearest metro back to the station and walked back to our hotel to check out the new digs for a night.
Much larger than our last one...Andy and I have the classic singles pushed together. And Alec is in a bunk bed again. But this time we have a desk and all the normal bathroom amenities that we did not in our last location. Hair dryer, soap, towels (were a charge at the last location)....we even have a TV. We ate at a not very exciting place near the station and are now settling in for the night. Tomorrow will be a long day with a 4 hour history and food tour in Brussels before getting our car and heading south for 3 nights of glamping at the F1 race.
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