Enjoying some winter wonders in Brussels… COMPLETED - Page 2 - PassPorter - A Community of Walt Disney World, Disneyland, Disney Cruise Line, and General Travel Forums
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When I think of my time in Begium two words that immediately come to mind match two of yours - waffles, chocolate!
Add a third word....Biere! They do have some good ones, but don't like those you add an orange slice to! Yuck! Like my standard ones and ales!
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October 6, 2017-Enjoying an amazing dinner at Victoria & Albert's with PP's Dot and Drew
My TR from my most recent trip is now underway. Includes: Universal Studios Florida, Disney World and Sea World Orlando Trifecta TR -Updated December 10th! TR is now COMPLETED!
Last edited by SuperDave; 12-07-2014 at 09:54 PM..
Saturday 6 December – part one: a surprise for Mark!
Once again, for the second Saturday in a row (after our Longleat visit last weekend) the alarm went off at the 5:45am time that we’re used to on weekdays, not weekends. We got up, had breakfast, watched Elementary (can you see how much time we had? I voted for a later alarm call, but I was over-ruled by someone else… just saying!
We were all ready to go just before 8:00am as planned, and my goodness, the forecast was right, and it was cold out. It looked beautiful with frost on the ground, and it’s days like this I am so glad we paid extra for the quick de-misting on the front windscreen of the car. It has the same sort of technology you get on the back, as you know that always literally takes a minute to defrost, and now it’s the same for us with the front as well. Of course, the side windows still need doing, but it certainly makes life a lot easier.
We were quickly on the road, and had a nice, easy journey over to Ebbsfleet International Station, encountering very little traffic and certainly no delays.
We were pulling in about 25 minutes later, and went for a different car park, as our usual one was packed. Although this one isn’t quite as close as our usual, we would’ve ended up parked much further away in the other car park. In this one, we were literally right next to the disabled spaces, so we were as close as you can get.
Mark was moaning at me to get myself ready, as he didn’t have a coat with him when we got out of the car, but I was going to get carefully layered up, as I wasn’t going to get cold for anyone. Eventually I was ready, and we set off. It was certainly going to be a cold day, but so long as it stayed dry, and the forecast said it would, then that would be fine.
We scanned our tickets, and this time got our laptops out of our carry-on luggage, having learnt from our Disneyland Paris trip that, if you don’t, your bag will be subject to a nice special search. No such problems this time, and we were quickly through the French police passport check (interestingly, no British checks today, which is different to the last time we were here a few weeks ago) and we headed into the waiting area.
There was plenty of space, despite the fact that there was a Paris train scheduled in very shortly, then ours. They opened up the doors for people to go down to the platform for the Paris train a few minutes later, and we lost quite a few people at that point. My goodness though, it was absolutely freezing all the time the doors were open! I guess I’ll be getting all those layers back on when we head down to the platform then…
I decided to get some photos from the waiting area of the Eurostar for Paris arriving, as I’ve never seen that before, as usually we’ve just turned up for our train, and there’s never been one due before ours, so it was neat to see it from a different angle.
About 20 minutes later, the doors down to the platform were once again unlocked, and we headed down. Although it was cold, with my jumper, sweatshirt, big furry coat, gloves and hat, I was Ok.
Soon our train was pulling in…
… and we boarded into Standard Premier – something Mark didn’t know we were doing on the way out, as I’d done it as a surprise for him. He knew we were booked on the way home, but not on the way there.
We were greeted by a Eurostar worker, who told us that the table of four opposite the table of two that held our seat wouldn’t be occupied, and would we like to move over there? Well Ok then! It certainly gave us more room to spread out, which is always welcome.
It was quite funny, because a guy very quickly then took the seats we’d originally been allocated, so I guess we were all happy.
They served us breakfast very quickly, and once we got underway, I could see why, as we were hurtling along at quite a pace, and I can imagine that serving up breakfast at high speed probably isn’t that much fun. Mark had a dairy free version, after he’d nearly ended up with a cheese meal on our journey back from Disneyland Paris last month…
… while I got the standard version, which included yoghurt not fresh fruit (just as well, as I couldn’t eat the fresh fruit, as it had apple in it, which I’m allergic to ) and butter, instead of margarine.
After we ate all that, we were then offered the option of almond croissants, and heck, it would be rude to say to those!
Of course, I got some photos of the countryside we flew through…
I commented to Mark that it was the first time I remembered being on this side of the train on the way out. I know for Disneyland Paris and then Paris for the day with my friend Debbie in October ( that’s right – three times on the Eurostar in three months, not bad going! ), we were on the other side for each journey.
Better to be safe than sorry when it comes to cold! Once you get cold, it can take a long time to warm up.
Love the premier seating, that's definitely the way to go. And on the other side of the train to boot!
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Tanya
Every click helps feed .6 bowls of food to rescued animals. Give a quick click every day and help animals in shelters! www.theanimalrescuesite.com
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Saturday 6 December – part two: a massive faux pas
Soon we were into the tunnel, and not long after we came out of there, we stopped at Calais-Frethun,which was a first for us. It was a bit surreal, as the place was pretty dead.
However, the staff still opened up the doors, just in case anyone wanted to get off…
No-one did from our carriage, but I saw about three people walking along the platform, so I guess this is used then…
Then we were off and hurtling through the countryside again, and seeing some wonderful scenery with amazing colours in the skies.
It wasn’t long before we were coming into our final station, before Brussels that is which was Lille. Unfortunately, as it’s inside, it was very difficult to get photos of it...
However, it was a different story as we left, as it was perfect photo taking conditions as we pulled out of Lille station….
I didn’t take any other photos until we were approaching Brussels, firstly because it really didn’t take that long and secondly because I was engrossed in a WDW Radio podcast all about Epcot, learning lots of new things about World Showcase, and thirdly because I was busy with trip report writing and peer reviewing the latest WDW PassPorter.
The time flew by, and before we knew it, we were slowing down, and approaching Brussels Midi station.
It’s a massive place:
There were some real idiots around, who decided to congregate around on the narrowest part of the platform, yet just a few steps down, they could’ve easily found somewhere out of the way.
We were finally at the front of the train…
… and the station itself…
We both commented that neither of us could remember coming into this station at all, and yet we’d taken the Eurostar over here, although it was back in 2001, so I guess a) a lot could’ve changed in that time and b) heck our memories probably aren’t the greatest from back then…
We got some glimpses outside…
… and then we were outside.
Now here I will admit to a massive faux pas. I thought that we were coming into Gare Centrale or the central station, which is logical, so it’s an easy mistake to make, but you come into Brussels Midi, which is the south station. Ok, so it went from me thinking that this would be an easy walk over to our hotel to me realising with horror that walking just wasn’t an option.
As we were near the taxi rank, we decided to get a taxi. I have no idea whether there is any official system here, but the way it seemed to work was that a driver saw someone who might want a taxi, and he made a beeline for you. Ok, works for me then…
We headed out of the station, and immediately into traffic. We soon found out why. You had to stop at a main road, then take your chances to get over it to turn left. A friend I used to car share with once told me the worst drivers in Europe are the Belgians and in that taxi, those words came back to me. Oh my life, to have cars coming at you from all directions is a scary thing. Brussels is not a place anyone outside of Belgium should drive in.
Fortunately, once we were over that junction, we seemed to join the ring road around Brussels, and we were up and down roads into and out of tunnels constantly, although we saw some neat sights on the way.
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Sounds like a safe arrival and a not-so-safe taxi ride! But you didn't really have a choice, so oh well!
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Tanya
Every click helps feed .6 bowls of food to rescued animals. Give a quick click every day and help animals in shelters! www.theanimalrescuesite.com
Saturday 6 December – part three: look at this for service!
Finally, we saw our hotel…
I paid the taxi driver, while Mark got the hand luggage out of the boot (trunk) of the car. I nearly had heart failure at first, as I thought the driver told me €49, but thankfully it was a much more reasonable €14.90 ($18), so I settled up and got out, and look at this for service!
As Mark said, you don’t even get that in a Disney hotel! Inside was just as plush…
We headed up to the front desk to check in and here I have to say that I was not overly impressed by the customer service. We were standing there for a good couple of minutes, while staff behind the desk didn’t once look up to serve us. Not good.
When they did, in fairness, the guy couldn’t have been more charming, and he told us that we were lucky, and our room was now ready. All sorted, and with keys in hand, off we went, and came across this amazing cocktail bar area, although sadly it looked as if it was in use by a company later, but I was still able to snag some photos of it…
We headed up in the tiny elevator, and when we arrived on our floor, I just loved all the little touches. As I’m an architecture lover, there was plenty for me to photograph here.
When we threw open the door to our room, I think this was my reaction - Look at the size of it!
I think we’re going to enjoy our stay here, even it is only for the night.
We spent a bit of time in the room, then we headed back out again, as we wanted to make the most of the daylight – oh and the best of the dry, if the forecast for tomorrow is right. I absolutely love this hotel, and on the way out, got lots more shots of it…
I couldn’t resist another look in the cocktail bar…
In this area, they were advertising some of their suites… I bet you pay a fortune for these!
… then I got some shots in the lobby…
… and Mark told me I needed to see this – oh I did need to!
The lobby of the Metropole looks much as I remember it, but the room! I think when they renovated they must have made one new guest room out of two of the older ones. I remember the room as being lovely, but quite small, like most European hotels, and the bathroom definitely did not look like that! Too bad you're only there for the weekend!
Wow. I'm sure I'd be doing the same thing. This is quite the hotel! Nice pick, Mark!
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Tanya
Every click helps feed .6 bowls of food to rescued animals. Give a quick click every day and help animals in shelters! www.theanimalrescuesite.com
The lobby of the Metropole looks much as I remember it, but the room! I think when they renovated they must have made one new guest room out of two of the older ones. I remember the room as being lovely, but quite small, like most European hotels, and the bathroom definitely did not look like that! Too bad you're only there for the weekend!
Maybe they did, because as far as I know it was a standard room, nothing special.
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I will be doing a full trip report when I get all the photos sorted - bear with me while I get those done. 
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Pixie Dust
They do have some good ones, but don't like those you add an orange slice to! Yuck! 
Like my standard ones and ales! 
We got up, had breakfast, watched Elementary (can you see how much time we had? I voted for a later alarm call, but I was over-ruled by someone else… just saying! 
Eventually I was ready, and we set off. It was certainly going to be a cold day, but so long as it stayed dry, and the forecast said it would, then that would be fine. 
) and butter, instead of margarine. 
that’s right – three times on the Eurostar in three months, not bad going! 
A friend I used to car share with once told me the worst drivers in Europe are the Belgians and in that taxi, those words came back to me. Oh my life, to have cars coming at you from all directions is a scary thing. Brussels is not a place anyone outside of Belgium should drive in. 
More please! 
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