We arrived last night (Friday 29th) and although the plane left Dublin 30 or 40 minutes late, the pilot put his foot down and we only arrived 20 minutes behind schedule. After spending the afternoon in the Aer Lingus lounge checking the evaporative qualities of Jamiesons and Guinness, it was probably good to calm down for a couple of hours. The bags turned up on the conveyor (always a blessing) and we trundled into the Brussels arrivals area and headed to the coffee stand. Not for coffee mind you, but it’s where our driver was supposed to be lurking. We’d searched online and found a good company doing private transfers from the airport to the city (and with excellent reviews). The private transfer (including trolley pushing, luggage assistance and door to door service) was, surprisingly, not much more than the train+tram+walk for two people - a brilliant investment altogether for €41. Especially since we were stuck in multiple traffic snarl ups once we reached the city. We didn’t realise it was opening night for most of the Christmas markets and festivities - so a taxi meter would have been diabolical to watch. It was only when we arrived at our apartment that the fun really started...

There were two lockboxes for keys for two apartments owned by the same person. We had a code and it worked on the 2nd box. Woo hoo!!! There were 4 keys on the ring and after a huge amount of trial and error and both of us trying the same keys in the front door locks over and over again... we got in the front door. Remember - we had planned to stay in this well priced apartment for 14 nights - but due to the forthcoming Paris transport palaver and our French owner needing us sooner, we’d cut our non-refundable stay down to 3 nights. So eventually we were in. Then into the lift. We knew we were on either the 5th or 6th floors... but only the buttons 1-4 worked. OK. Went as far as we could (coming on to 11 pm at this stage). Turns out button 4 took us to leval 5 - and that was that. Then we found 3 doors on the floor (the info was that there was only 1 apartment and the key should work). None of our 4 keys worked in any of the doors - though admittedly one door was a funny little exterior bathroom - loo/basin/shower... hmmm - that wasn’t in the brochure. Eventually (and we hated to do it - how hard could it be?) we rang the owner - lovely bloke - just enough English to help my tortured, tired, somewhat hungover French. We eventually did a Whatsapp video call... as his description of our keys just didn’t gel. We held up each key - and keys 1-4 he said ‘non’ - Then he said stay there - he was driving over. Not as though we had anywhere else to be (we reitierate... it was supposed to be a 14 night stay... in a 1 bedroom apartment... for around €58 per night... in the city - 10 minutes walk to the Grand Place and right next door to St Catherine’s church and Xmas market). We were so wishing we had a hotel by that point. Then the lovely bloke turned up and was just. so. sorry. His new wife (literally... wedding was 2 weeks prior) had to do one job that day. One job. And it was to put the correct keys in the correct lockbox. Ahhhhh... In any event it was midnight by the time we gained entry, dumped the luggages and headed out for a bite of dinner (bless the late night kebab joint just down the road). The christmas market was 90% closed by midnight which was fine - the crowds were all but gone and the coloured lights were beautiful. We accidentally ordered 4 meals instead of 2 at the kebab joint (darn that foreign language) but it worked out superbly and we had the 2 extra sandwiches for Saturday lunch and Sunday breakfast.

We eventually collapsed back at the pad and slept pretty soundly until 9 am the next day. Right. Time to start our weekend in Brussels!

We were off to a fine start when we remembered HEMA (based in Amsterdam) could be relied on for a good, cheap petit dejeuner. For a 2 week stay we would have proivisioned at the supermarket - for 3 nights (and with one night already down), it was definitely time to buy breakfast in the semi-real world (HEMA is a bit otherworldly when it comes to their special breakfast). For a mere €3.50 each we could have a choice of 5 items off the breakfast selection, including a cappucino. As a for instance, we had a breadroll, cheese, yoghurt with granola, a boiled egg. And coughed up another 50 cents for some jam. Might not be a breakfast we’d usually choose... but in Brussels, €3.50 might get you a cappucino. HEMA of course hopes you’ll come back for lunch and perhaps buy some homewares... But such a good deal and a crying shame they’re closed on Sundays.

When we were coming for 2 weeks - we had grand plans - day trips to Bruges, Ghent, Antwerp, free day visits to the major galleries, all sorts of things. With 2 days that was all scrapped and we decided to let the mood take us and we wandered happily all over the central city soaking up the beautiful decorations and the Christmas vibe. And the chocolates of course.

It’s a cliche for sure, but the Belgians do make lovely chocolates. The best place in Brussels to try them out gratis is undoubtedly the Royal Galleries just off the Grand Place. Quite aside from the odd free chocolate and hot tea, the galleries are a dream for window shopping and lovely to pop in and out off on a chilly day - we were lucky with fine weather and the sun was out - albeit purely for decorative purposes. We headed back to the hobbit hole for lunch (last night’s over-ordered Turkish food) and a much deserved afternoon kip - (that late night really caught up with us). We were woken by ethereal Christmas music driifting in an open window - a choir at St Catherine’s was in full swing. We were feeling exceptionally Christmassy by dinner time on our first full day in Brussels - impossible not to when a city is drenched in twinkling lights, christmas trees and festive music.

Rejuvenated, we also redressed (it was about 2 degrees) and trundled off to the Grand Place and it’s massive and beautiful Christmas tree. Daytime photos were a wash out with the glare of the sun and the hordes swamping the square however the magic of the night was well underway as we headed through the square on a mission to find the most traditional of Belgian food - Greek!

We have a general rule of thumb to avoid eating anywhere within a block of any major tourist site (think Eiffel tower, Colloseum or for that matter, Brussels’ Grand Place). We had scoped this place out thoroughly prior to arriving and as one of 4 Greek places along the same short street, we figured Little Greece would have sorted out any overpricing issues amongst itself We ate early and were stunned to see this hole in the wall restaurant fill up around us - until it was bursting at the seams. Fabulous food - hot, fresh and phenomenal turnover all dished up with excellent service and many smiles. It was a grand dinner and we rolled out into the freezing evening and headed back to the Big Square - just in time to see the stupendous sound and light show projected up on the buildings around us - utter magic - frantically taking photos, video and absorbing as much as possible. We explored various Christmas markets and popped in and out of assorted chocolate shops for brief warm ups and sample chocolates. We returned to our neck of the woods in St Catherine’s to enjoy our very own Christmas market - even bought some additional sheepskin boot inners - seemed like a good investment given the constantly droppping temperature. Saturday was one of those days that just went on and on - but in an exceedingly good way. We spent an hour or two at the Christmas Market, browsing and taking in the light projections on the church, the vintage style carousels, the chalets laden with sparkling lights, decorations and general Christmas vibe. Eventually we hit the sack.

Sunday saw our second ‘overordered’ Turkish meal devoured for breakfast It’s unusual for us as we’re used to 7 day trading - but Brussels still seems to have quite a few stores shuttered on a Sunday - in particular, HEMA - no bargain breakfast available - so lucky the bargain leftovers were in the fridge - and delish. Our entire life is one spontaenous travelling circus - so when we find something good, we stick with it. So it was back to Plaka for lunch and dinner - though we left our dinner run a bit late and ended up queuing for 15 minutes or so when we turned up at 7.30 pm. We were officially recognised as ‘locals’ by this point which was nice. We meandered home the longest way possible and avoided buying many things - the ‘joy’ of having our luggage at exactly the right point of chock-full/airline weight. We enjoyed anothing viewing of the Grand Place sound and light show - this time without taking photos or doing anything other than standing there.

We were up and at ‘em early on Monday - packed and luggage ready to go before we trundled down to HEMA for our bargain start to the day - amazing to have breakfast with a cappucino... for the same price as a cappucino. We walked and walked and soaked up the fine weather. We nipped into Plaka for a final Pita sandwich lunch - perfectly timed to allow for a downpour while we were inside - then dawdled back to the apartment, psyching ourselves up to call an Uber and head to Gare du Midi for the super fast train down to Paris. Everything was going swimmingly... right up until I was trying to recharge my Irish SIM card online - for some reason the website fell over and the transaction didn’t go through. We found the modem, thinking we just needed to TOTO (turn off, turn on) - but there was no power to the modem... or, as it turned out, to the apartment, or in fact the whole block of apartments. Could have been the street, the city, the universe for all we knew. We’ve lived with blackouts - sometimes for days - but this was a different issue altogether... Remember - 5th Floor!!! Spiral staircase (narrow, concrete, enclosed and dark). Arrrggh! - No elevator. We waited patiently for half an hour and then gave in and hauled our massive bags down the killer steps. Thankfully survived that ordeal and the Uber went off without a hitch.

We visit airline lounges whenever we can swing it - and from our last departure from Gare du Midi - remembered it was grimy and dire (on a good day). So, in the interests of living the lifestyle we have become accustomed to, we joined Thalys’s loyalty programme ‘ThalysTheCard’. Free to join and provides free access to lounges on the day of departure... free coffee, free juice, comfy sofas, spot to plug in phones etc, clean toilets... We figured there’d have to be a catch - type of ticket/time of day/phase of the moon - but nope. Turned up, flashed card and train tickets and whiled away an hour or so quite happily quaffing coffees and relaxing. Eventually strolled over to the station and were delighted to see it was just as dire, grimy and crowded as we remembered. Really love the Thalys brand now - we can be bought so easily.

The train (with wifi!) whizzed us to Paris - truly - 300km / hour! We were there almost before we left - trip time being only 1 hour 20 minutes. It would seem we have almost become locals in Paris as we were only approached by one taxi tout at Gare du Nord, which is the equivalent of none really. Paris, we have arrived.

(PS - On an explosively positive note, our Brussels apartment owner agreed to make the 11 unused nights of our prepaid stay refundable! Win win... He agreed in principle even before we got there and had the multiple issues involved in getting in and then getting out of the apartment. After our stay, when the funds hit the account and it was all official - it was like Christmas had come early. So... even if you have a non-refundable booking, you never know. The answer to the unasked question is always ‘no’).

(PPS - Separately, our original train booking for 13 December was also non-changeable-non-refundable-non-everything. In order to arrive early on 2 December we had to pay twice the price for 2 brand new tickets. Once the French transport strike got underway on 5 December, and it was clear that travel was going to be strike affected on 13 December, we phoned the helpline and the lovely folks at Thalys came to the party and refunded our original tickets - infinitely better than a poke in the eye with a sharp stick.)