Trip Day 34 – Road to Brussels

Well no photos for today, after returning my rental car at the airport, having done a full tour as there are no signs to tell you where the rental cars are, it is off to the terminal to do a reverse run so as I have an idea of what I need to do when I fly home.

The trip from Heathrow to St Pancreas takes about 1 hour on the Piccadilly line, upon arriving I find the euro rail ticket office and by my ticket to Brussels, I had the choice of a rush to catch the 12:54 or get on the 2:45 so I take the later giving me time to book some accommodation before getting on the train.

The train is pretty empty which is surprising, you get a high back comfy seat and there is a food car on the train, a salmon sandwich and Pellegrino is purchased and I settle down to watching the countryside fly by. The ride is very smooth considering how fast we are going and it isn’t long before we hit the Dover coast and drop down into the tunnel to Calais. Just like a plane trip the pressure starts making my ears pop and the world outside goes black for quite awhile, as I sip on my Pellegrino I suppose I can now say I have drunk water under water.

We emerge into the French countryside, rolling fields of corn and cows fly by outside my window, dark storm clouds float by only barely staying above the ground. It isn’t long before Brussels is reached and it is now that I find out that the train pulls into the Midi station and I need to get to the central station for my hotel, It is when I depart the train that the realisation that I am really in a foreign county is apparent, as there is no clear directions on how to get from one station too the other to be found, and there are no information desk either. Fortunately I find some locals who put me on the right track and after a short train trip and some more direction asking I finally make it to my hotel. So tomorrow I will be exploring the center square and the Cathedral so i will definitely have photos to post tomorrow.