A Collection of Daily Wisdom by Dennis Sylvester Hurd since September 2003.

We figured that we'd done Brussels and it was time to move on. We got up, ate breakfast, and walked down the hill to the North Station. We had looked at a map and decided we were ahead of our own schedule which exists only in our heads. We didn't need to run to Luxembourg. Therefore, the map showed that Frankfurt, Germany wasn't too far away.

If you've got the cash, travel by train is a snap. We had to go into Cologne, Germany to catch an ICE train to Frankfurt. It's probably the fastest I've ever travelled on land. It's too bad that rail doesn't make sense in North America. You'd think, now that air travel is such a burden due to security that some routes would work. How about a Montreal --> Boston --> Hartford --> NYC --> Washington DC high-speed line?

We got into Frankfurt in the late afternoon. Wouldn't you know there's an automotive exhibition going on. Hotel rooms are more than double normal prices. We're paying more than I care to convert to Canadian dollars. Plastic will hold everything until we can sort out back in Vancouver at the end of the month. Just gimme another German beer.

Labels: Brussels, Eurotrip 2005, train

We had a fine breakfast at this hotel. We're staying in the Hotel Albert. Right after, we walked down to the North Station and took the Metro to Central Station. There were competing companies offering city tours. We got on the upper, open deck of a bus. It had audio commentary through headphones. We just had to select English from a list of many. The tour was designed with 10 stops where you could hop off. We didn't and were on the bus for more than an hour and a half.

We ate lunch down near the area in yesterday's photo. I'm still full. We spent the afternoon sightseeing.

Belgium is an interesting place. Around 40% of the population speak French and a larger number Dutch. As we are staying in the north quarter, we also hear a lot of Arabic and Turkish on the street. The country considers itself the capital of Europe. Except for its chocolate, lace, waffles, and beer, I think knowledge of Belgium is a bit low key.

Labels: Brussels, Eurotrip 2005

These entries aren't too insightful. It's more difficult than I thought to distill the events of a trip while it is going on. Maybe the paper journal I kept in Sri Lanka last year worked more efficiently. I don't know.

Today we left the Netherlands. We went to Amsterdam's Central Station and bought tickets to Brussels, Belgium. On the map it looked so far, but in a train marked as International, it didn't take long. We disembarked in less than three hours. I love flying along on rail. It's a real shame that rail doesn't seem to work in North America.

We came to this city without any reservations or plans. Wouldn't you know there is another international exposition that is filling all the hotel rooms. Well, not exactly all as we managed to get one for tonight. I don't know if we'll be able to extend here or have to look elsewhere.

My feet are tired as we walked around Grand Place which is very far from where we're staying. It was very cute and almost magical in a Disney sort of way. Food and most things seem cheaper here than in Holland. We ate in one of many Turkish restaurants for lunch. They gave so much food we just did sandwiches for dinner.

Labels: Brussels, Eurotrip 2005, train