We missed all of the morning ICE trains (Inter-city trains, aka fast ones) and were forced to take slower and more local trains. Just over the Belgium border in Liege we had a little time to explore the city and I got to practice using my french (very few people at the station spoke English! sacrebleu!).
Finally at around 3:00 in the afternoon (yes, that is 8 hours after we first began) we finally reached Brussels. We were met by my good friend Rachelle (who has been working in Brussels all summer), Nina and Jessica (who are both in Germany near me), and their friend Julius.
Rachelle gave us the quick and dirty tour of Brussels including the Grand Place and the Manneken Pis. The former was incredible--a huge Medieval square with hand-carved marble statues and gold filigree (just wait for my blog and pictures), the latter was small, surrounded by a mob of tourists, and rather unimpressive compared to the beauty of the Grand Place. The Grand Place itself remains one of the most important areas in Brussels--during the Middle Ages the buildings that make up the Grand Place were the major political centres in Brussels--the Guildhalls and the Town House. Occasionally the Grand Place is decorated with a massive flower carpet that stretches across the square--I only saw pictures but it looked incredible.
Dominique and I were feeling the weight of the day on our backs and so Rachelle and our friends got us on a bus and on our way to their housing...To Be Continued
