Spreek vous Brussels?

Last weekend was a long weekend in the UK due to a Bank Holiday on Monday. Unlike the States, they don't really name their national holidays like we do (Memorial Day, President's Day, etc); they're simply called 'bank holidays'. Sure there are days with official names, but it's got nothing to do with time off from work. Anyway, this post is about our trip on the Eurostar, through the chunnel to Brussels.

When we priced out return tickets to Brussels (it's not cheap!), we realized it was about $200 more total if we wanted to go first class ($300 versus $400 each). What that means is that you get bigger seats, a table, a nice meal, and all the wine and champagne you can drink! So, realizing that this is something we probably won't do again (at least not for a very long time), and this being our first vacation together since we were married (apart from family visits) we went for first class.

To get to the Eurostar train, we had to get to St Pancras Station, which is a brand new and really nice station. We took a train from Oxford to London Paddington, then the tube from London Paddington to St Pancras Station. It was pretty easy, even though the tube we were on had some problem and we had to get off it after one stop and switch to a different one. St Pancras Station is the nicest train station I've ever been to. Usually, when you think of a train station, you imagine a dark place with dirty floors and, if you're lucky, a takeaway coffee shop or McDonalds. But since this is a new station, and because the Eurostar station is there, they can get all kinds of things from France and Belguim on a daily basis. That means they have some great shopping and excellent food choices.

Here's a picture of me in the station


Getting on the Eurostar was like getting screened for an airplane, but way faster. You didn't have to take off your shoes, and you didn't need to take laptops, etc out of bags. Plus, you can take all the liquids you want! The waiting lounge feels like a first-class lounge, with wooden floors that keep it pretty quiet, and modern comfy chairs/benches all around. There's even a wine bar, and you can take your wine with you to go read or whatever in the lounge.

The ride to Brussels takes 2 hours from London. The train goes through the Chunnel, through France, stops in Lille, and terminates in Brussels - at 186 km/hr. Here's me still at the St Pancras Station showing how I thought I would react to traveling at that speed.



Here's the spread they put out for us. Paul had the lamb, and I had the vegetarian option.


They give you champagne as soon as the train takes off, then bring you your food a little later, and some more wine. By the time you're done eating, you're nearly at your destination.

We booked a cheap hotel through Hotwire, so it only cost us $100 per night to stay in a Sheraton hotel on the North side of Brussels, about 20 minutes walk from the center, and 5 minutes walk to the station for Bruges.

Our first day, we went to Bruges. This was a pretty last-minute trip, so we had bought a guidebook at the train station in London, and charted out where we wanted to go.

Here we are on a bridge at Minnewater, which apparently used to connect Bruges with the sea.


They keep swans in the canals after Maximilian of Austria was imprisioned and his adviser beheaded. The adviser's crest featured a swan, so when Max was freed, he declared that there had to be swans there all the time. Here's one of the swans that looked pretty friendly


The architecture in Bruges is really beautiful. They claim to be the Venice of the North (though Stockholm may argue with that one).


Since it was a bank holiday, and the weather was gorgeous, there were people everywhere.


After touring a couple of museums (we bought a day pass), we stopped for some beer (and OOH is it AWESOME beer!)...


and some mussels...


We toured the old town hall in Bruges


And came across this random flag dancing thing...


The next day we toured Brussels. Here's their town hall


The Royal Palace...


And their Cathedral...


And here's me getting ready for some serious chocolate shopping!



And of course, a trip to Brussels would not be complete without a picture of Mannekin Pis


What was strange about being in Belgium, especially during a bank holiday weekend, is that we never knew which language to speak. Flemish sounds a bit like a mix between English and German (which both Paul and I kind of speak), but French (which I speak, brokenly) is also their official language. With all the English tourists around and speaking English to shopkeepers and waiters, we knew it was OK to use English, but it still seems rude not to ask first in French. So often I'd get tongue-tied with all these languages floating around.

The other strange thing was more just a commentary on how touristy it was. Like I said before, the weather and the bank holiday really added to it, but Bruges seemed almost Disney-esque with chocolate shops and museums everywhere (not that that's necessarily a bad thing), and Brussels was overflowing with overpriced restaurants (we're talking $30 for a personal size pizza on a side street). Luckily for us, some of our relatives had given us cash in Euros as wedding presents, so we were much better able to tolerate the prices!

In all, the trip was just what we needed. Some time away from school and work to just be together and enjoy being married.