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Noyelles Travels 2017
Saturday 13th May
Myriam & Herman arrived at 10 & announced that they were taking us to the hotel in Brussels, which was a pleasant surprise to us, as we thought we were going to the local station to catch the train. When we arrived we stored our luggage, said good bye to them & walked around the area to have a coffee as we couldn't check in until 3pm. Jenny rang Francoise, who she was to stay with & it was agreed that she would meet Jenny at the hotel also at 3. We walked up to the cathedral & Jenny & Jane went in, whilst d*** waited, as his legs were aching.
Returning at 3 we met Francoise who invited us all to her place for tea, so off we set for the central station & took a metro train to her suburb. She lives in a 1920s, 3 storey, house once owned by a famous Belgian painter who had his studio in a large room, which filled the top floor. After a pleasant tea Francoise & Jenny walked us back to the metro station & we returned back to the hotel exhausted. We went straight to bed & slept well.
Sunday 14th May
Had a great breakfast at a smart cafe across the square & then walked up to the Fin de Siecle Museum about 2km away to see an exhibition of Belgian surrealistic art from the 1920s & 30s which we found very disappointing.
After this we walked down to the Musical Instrument Museum, in a wonderful Art Nouveau, steel framed, building which had a collection of 1200 instruments. This was quite fascinating as, in the entry price, an audio tour was included so that examples of their music were played as we inspected them. The range was incredibly comprehensive & the music was wonderful. Here we spent 3 hours on 3 floors of instruments & we couldn't recommend it highly enough for all ages.
It was after 3pm that we left & walked back towards the hotel & on the way we had a meal at a tiny Vietnamese restaurant. Talking to the lady in the place about our visits to Vietnam we were amazed to hear that she had a brother living in Tuyen Quang, where we had visited our friends working there two years ago.
We turned in early again after a hard day's sightseeing.
Monday 15th May
After breakfast we walked to the Central Station & caught a Hop-on-Hop-off bus which took us on a loop around the south of the city & on completion took the second route which went around the northern suburbs including the Atomium, a group of stainless steel spheres from the 1958 exhibition.
The general impression was not very memorable for us & we decided to have a feed before walking down to the Gare du Midi to check on where the Eurostar leaves for London. This was a longish but straightforward trek along a wide boulevard but tending to become a bit seedy as we neared the station.
We found the station but then had a problem locating the Eurostar terminal which was at one end of the complex but very poorly signed. We decided that it would be too far to drag our baggage over all the cobbles so bought metro tickets to return to our hotel & for our journey back to the station tomorrow. With some difficulty we determined the correct line & direction & took the metro back.
We surfaced at a huge square most of which had been excavated to become a worksite without any signage which seems to be quite a Brussels speciality.
To our surprise we were on a street of familiar shops & in C & A bought a couple of shirts for d*** & a top for Jane. A few turns later we were back at our hotel.
In the evening we had a great dinner at one of the local cafes.
Tuesday 16th May
After an early breakfast we checked out at 9.15 & walked to the local metro station where, after some discussion, we caught the train to the Eurostar terminal which of course was at the far end of the station. An elaborate ritual was performed at the passport control where we lined up, the officer asked me to wait & then went off to another booth & returned with a 'Closed’ sign which he placed in front of him. We moved to the other side where a female officer sat but showed no interest in us, before the first officer removed the sign & waved us forward to check us through. This was followed by a similar but less complex, ritual at the UK border post 20 m further on & so we farewelled Belgium with mixed feelings.
Myriam & Herman arrived at 10 & announced that they were taking us to the hotel in Brussels, which was a pleasant surprise to us, as we thought we were going to the local station to catch the train. When we arrived we stored our luggage, said good bye to them & walked around the area to have a coffee as we couldn't check in until 3pm. Jenny rang Francoise, who she was to stay with & it was agreed that she would meet Jenny at the hotel also at 3. We walked up to the cathedral & Jenny & Jane went in, whilst d*** waited, as his legs were aching.
Returning at 3 we met Francoise who invited us all to her place for tea, so off we set for the central station & took a metro train to her suburb. She lives in a 1920s, 3 storey, house once owned by a famous Belgian painter who had his studio in a large room, which filled the top floor. After a pleasant tea Francoise & Jenny walked us back to the metro station & we returned back to the hotel exhausted. We went straight to bed & slept well.
Sunday 14th May
Had a great breakfast at a smart cafe across the square & then walked up to the Fin de Siecle Museum about 2km away to see an exhibition of Belgian surrealistic art from the 1920s & 30s which we found very disappointing.
After this we walked down to the Musical Instrument Museum, in a wonderful Art Nouveau, steel framed, building which had a collection of 1200 instruments. This was quite fascinating as, in the entry price, an audio tour was included so that examples of their music were played as we inspected them. The range was incredibly comprehensive & the music was wonderful. Here we spent 3 hours on 3 floors of instruments & we couldn't recommend it highly enough for all ages.
It was after 3pm that we left & walked back towards the hotel & on the way we had a meal at a tiny Vietnamese restaurant. Talking to the lady in the place about our visits to Vietnam we were amazed to hear that she had a brother living in Tuyen Quang, where we had visited our friends working there two years ago.
We turned in early again after a hard day's sightseeing.
Monday 15th May
After breakfast we walked to the Central Station & caught a Hop-on-Hop-off bus which took us on a loop around the south of the city & on completion took the second route which went around the northern suburbs including the Atomium, a group of stainless steel spheres from the 1958 exhibition.
The general impression was not very memorable for us & we decided to have a feed before walking down to the Gare du Midi to check on where the Eurostar leaves for London. This was a longish but straightforward trek along a wide boulevard but tending to become a bit seedy as we neared the station.
We found the station but then had a problem locating the Eurostar terminal which was at one end of the complex but very poorly signed. We decided that it would be too far to drag our baggage over all the cobbles so bought metro tickets to return to our hotel & for our journey back to the station tomorrow. With some difficulty we determined the correct line & direction & took the metro back.
We surfaced at a huge square most of which had been excavated to become a worksite without any signage which seems to be quite a Brussels speciality.
To our surprise we were on a street of familiar shops & in C & A bought a couple of shirts for d*** & a top for Jane. A few turns later we were back at our hotel.
In the evening we had a great dinner at one of the local cafes.
Tuesday 16th May
After an early breakfast we checked out at 9.15 & walked to the local metro station where, after some discussion, we caught the train to the Eurostar terminal which of course was at the far end of the station. An elaborate ritual was performed at the passport control where we lined up, the officer asked me to wait & then went off to another booth & returned with a 'Closed’ sign which he placed in front of him. We moved to the other side where a female officer sat but showed no interest in us, before the first officer removed the sign & waved us forward to check us through. This was followed by a similar but less complex, ritual at the UK border post 20 m further on & so we farewelled Belgium with mixed feelings.
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