We arrived at St. Pancras station in London about 1pm on Thursday March 27th, excited at the thought of travelling on the Eurostar train through the Channel Tunnel. This being the first time we were not sure of procedures, hence our early arrival at St Pancras for a 14.34 departure. Having passed through the electronic ticket gate and security and passport control we found ourselves in the departure lounge, it would be a lengthy wait, but it would be worth it. The lounge area was full as there was also a train for Paris scheduled to leave just after 2pm. The gate for that train opened at 1.40pm so I knew our gate would not open until at least 14.15.
And so at the appointed time we were called to board the train, my first close up view of a Eurostar train. It looked extremely long; we were in coach 18, right next to the lead engine. Boarding the train we found our seats were two of a facing block of four, and when our fellow passengers arrived and were seated it became obvious that there was insufficient leg room; the journey would be an uncomfortable one.
The journey itself was quite interesting. After a quick glimpse of Kings Cross station to the right we then went underground and basically remained underground until just before the Dartford Bridge where we went down again under the Thames. Being a new line my hopes of seeing lots of beautiful Kent countryside were somewhat dashed because of grass banking, concrete bank supports and tunnels, but I was impressed with the speeds we were attaining. Just 30 minutes after leaving St Pancras we entered the Channel Tunnel. The excitement of travelling under the sea soon turned to slight boredom as there was nothing to look at, and knee joints were starting to ache through the lack of leg room. However, 20 minutes after entering the tunnel we emerged into France. Not too long after we arrived at Lille station where some passengers got off and on and where the Eurostar track divides into the Brussels and Paris lines. After a 10 minute stop we once again set off for Brussels and at just after 5.30pm local time the train pulled into Brussels Midi station.
Having looked at a map on the internet in the previous days, I knew the hotel I had booked was somewhere close to the station and to the right of the direction we had entered the station. Quickly getting out bearings we emerged from the station and to my relief the hotel was directly opposite – next door to a building site! The general area looked a bit run down with groups of men with cans of beer dotted around. So it came as a pleasant surprise to find that the hotel was modern, clean and smart and the man on the reception was very polite. The Hotel Ibis is part of an international chain and first impressions were good. There was no disappointment with the room either. But we were not there to wax lyrical on the state of the hotel and room; there was a city to see!
We returned briefly to the station to study a city map to decide which direction we should head. It was clear we should head north keeping to the left of the railway track. So with light rain falling, we eventually picked a road to follow. As it turned out we were not on the ideal route, we were walking along the Ring Road, but eventually we came across a junction with traffic lights and there we took a right turn. This was a good move because within a few minutes we found ourselves in the heart of the old city. Daylight was fast fading but we wanted to have a quick look around before finding somewhere to eat. The Grand Place certainly looked grand in the diminishing light, so we decided to make this our first port of call in the morning. But for now, the need for food was increasing, so we called into a restaurant we had passed on or way to Grand Place.
The Grand Café was a bright welcoming place and we were soon sat at our table and ordering some beer, we chose Hoegaarden beer as we wanted to try Belgian beers, also the waiter took pity on us and asked if we would like a menu in English; we gratefully accepted. Hoegaarden beer is a cloudy one, but does taste fine. After traditional Belgian meals we headed back to the hotel. We walked down the road that ran south from outside the Grand Café and once we were in the area of the hotel we could see which road we should have taken to come into the city centre.
On arriving back at the hotel we headed for the bar and spent a few hours there sampling the beers and wines it had to offer. It had been a long but interesting day.
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