The Cubicle is empty!!!

Where: Brussels, Belgium
When: Monday, Sept. 26, 2005

Got up early to a beautiful day. For some reason I heard the birds chirping even though there is not a tree in sight from my window.

After breakfast, went to see the Fine Arts Museum and it was closed. Next to the Museum is the Royal Palace. The Palace is not open to tourists.

Then headed to St. Micheals Cathedral and spent 2 hrs there. This cathedral I think is much better than the cathedral I saw in Vienna. The little treasures museum they have within the church was spectacular. With items dating back hundreds of yrs. ago. I did not climb the 560 steps to the top. Getting out of shape I guess or I’ve just climbed way to many steps in this trip. The last 30 min of my visit, I just sat at one of the pews and admired the art, stained glass and the quietness of the Cathedral.

After the Cathedral I picked up a baguette for lunch and went to the cental square to eat and people watch.

Did two loads of laundry lunch. The two ladies in the laundrymat helped me learn to operate the washing machine. Neither spoke english and my french really sucks! oooppsss, pardon my french! That took less than 2 hrs to do and I should not have to do laundry for the rest of the trip.

Went across the street to log-in and chat with maria and update the blog.

The rest of the afternoon was spent shopping for presents for Maria. Very successfull and can’t say here çause she’ll probably be reading this.

For dinner, went to a place Chef Tony at restaurant row (Rue Bouchers) and had their special. Bread, Shrimp salad, Beer, Fries and a big bowl of Mussells. When in Brussels, must have mussels. It was a delicious dinner to end my stay in Brussels. All that for less than 20E.

Talked to a guy traveling a bit. He’s been travelling for 2 months and he’s from France. He’ll be travelling for about 6 months he says. Short conversation as he was ending his meal (the same special) as I sat in the next table.

Brussels is a beautiful city, one of the best I’ve visited! Maria would have loved this city çause she could have practiced her french here.

Anyway, to A-dam tomorrow!

Au Revior!!!

Where: Bacharach – Cologne – Brussels
When: Sunday, Sept. 25, 2005

Got up early to take the 6:21 train to Cologne. Walking to the train station was eerie as I was the only one walking the streets. So I had to take some pictures to show the deserted streets of Bacharach as it is only this time of day that it is not full of tourists. While waiting on the platform 2, the gentlemen that helped me out with the tickets made a special anouncement in the speakers that the train to Koblenz was coming. Very nice of him to help out.

The train ride to Koblenz was uneventfull as it was still dark outside and I caught up in some sleep.

Made a transfer in Koblenz to another train to Cologne. An inter-city express double decker train car. Sat on the upper level. From this vantage point, I had a great view of the Rhine river with it’s shipping traffic as the sun was rising. There was heavy fog at some areas.

Got to Cologne Haupbanhoff with no problem and got tickets to Brussels on the ICE. Only a 3 hr ride. Stored my heavy backpack in a locker and went to look for breakfast. I have to say that the Cologne Haupbanhoff is by far the best for looking for food, shopping and taking care of personal needs. Had to pay 0.60E (no more Euro sign since I’m using an American style keyboard) to do the no. 1. 1.5E for a no1 & no.2. Saw this great place for Breakfast. It’s 830 in the morning and they are already grilling………………………….chicken! I ordered the no. 4 menu which consisted of 1/2 grilled chicken, sauerkraut and drink. I figured if I ate this I can skip lunch and just have a decent dinner in Brussels. Yummy breakfast, I gulped it down as I was really famished. Did not eat supper the night before.

As I exited the Station, I looked to the left and there it was, the Cologne Cathedral! What a sight as it towers towards the sky. The exterior is blackish as a result of pollution. But they are in the process of cleaning the exterior as evident of the scaffolding around the church. Service was going on so I went to the pedestrian only strasse and did some window shopping. Baught some postcards and other souveniers. Went to the internet cafe to update the blog which took 2 hrs. After that was done, I went inside the cathedral and took some pictures and sat at a pew to listen to the mass going on. It really is a big church.

I left the Cathedral around 12:45 to retrieve my bag and board the 1:16 train to Brussels.

The train ride was unsignificant except for a few things. After a stop at Aachen, the lady next to me realized someone had taken her luggage. That’s all I can surmise from the situation as they were talking in French. Later on, while she went on a bathroom break, she forgot to lock the door and someone openned it and she just let out a scream which seems to last a long while. Now these bathrooms have really wide doors to accommodate the handicap and it takes a while to open and close and they are all done automatically. You can’t just manually open and close it. Earlier, when I went to use it, after openning and closing with no problem, the red light kept blinking. I did not know what that meant and did not push it. Only when I was doing the business that I thought that you have to press it to lock the door. I did not press the button and just hurried doing my business. Luckily no one came to open the door. Unlike the lady across the aisle from me. The second time I went, I did press the blinking red button and felt more relaxed doing my business. Could have read war and peace in there. A few moments after she came back she moved to a different seat since the guy that openned the door sat 3 rows behing her. She was feeling a little embarrased I guess.

I wonder if this is where they filmed the scene for Mission: Impossible when Tom Cruise was trying to get the bad guy outside of a travelling ICE train. The tunnels and the terrain looks very familiar. I’ll have to watch the film again. Anyway at it’s fastest the train was doing 250 km/hr. It was really flying.

Got to Brussels in time around 3:32 and got on the subway to get to Central station. The train dropped us off at Midi or the Sud Station. Got to Central Station with no problem and got the tickets to Amsterdam for Tuesday.

They had no TI at the station and had to rely on my guidebook for navigating to the hotel. The first thing I spotted as a location pt. is the spire of the city hall. Since I knew my hotel was only two blocks away from the city center I headed for the Spire. The streets are busy with people as it was beatifull weather. Once I got to the square, there was a celebration going on with childrens medievil games and stories the depicts important events in Belgiums history. It was fun to watch. Walk around for 1/2 hr. soaking it all in.

By this time the backpack was getting heavy and proceeded to the hotel. Found it after getting lost by two blocks. Checked in and rested a bit. After washing up, I went back to the square.

The first thing that interested me once I got to the square is a Escargot stand. So I ordered since I’m feeling a little hungry. I haven’t had any escargot d’or in a long time. I tasted really good! The Belgian guy who was standing next to me told me that this is a traditional Belgian snack. There were 10 escargot for 3E. While we were talking and eating a British family looked at us and what we were eating and asked if it was good. I said yes and that it does not taste like chicken but more like boiled squid. They tried it and the ladies did not like it by the grown son and father seem to like it but probably will never try again. She mentioned that she now can say that she tried it. I said good for her.

After some sightseeing around the square, I picked a seafood place for dinner and had paella. Very good Paella!!! muy extraordinaire!!!

With my tummy filled, I went to the Grote Markt square and lo and behold there was a band playing music from Mexico. These guys were using bamboo flutes and other home stlyed instruments. They were playing favorite top 40 tunes along with traditional tunes from Mexico. I sat at a bench listening for about 45 min. Of course, one of the guys was hawking their cd’s.

Now, I saw these same guys earlier in the morning at Cologne in front of the Cathedral. They were either following me or vice versa. Just coincidence I guess as they mentioned that they’ll be back next week.

I took a stroll around the center square and got some water at a grocery store and called it a night.

It’s been a long day.

Bonjour!!!!

PS- They speak more French here instead of Flemish. Like I said before, Belgians are French wannabees.

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