Brussels 1st Day

Mark & Annette’s Travels

The day began with us both really wanting another coffee and almond cake before our train ride to Brussels but it was not meant to be, the coffee shop we went to the day before was closed. I guess we will just have to come back some day soon. We both really enjoyed our time in Brugge and after a short walk to the Crown Plaza we got a cab ride to the train station. It was a rainy day so we did not want to walk.

We had a wonderful cab ride with a gentleman that was from Brugge. Having a chance to meet people and connect even if it is quickly and in a very superficial way is one of the things I enjoy about travel. Our train ride was beautiful, even if it was rainy and gray. Europeans really are fortunate that the infrastructure was built for train travel.

We arrived in Brussels Central and had to have some coffee since our morning coffee run was unsuccessful, the first spot for coffee at the train station was Starbucks of all places. It really is amazing how many American companies have a presence in Europe.

After being properly fueled with caffeine and sugar we made the long and challenging walk to The Grand Place, 450 meters later (5 minute walk) we were in the Grand Place. What a beautiful, stunning, magnificent (insert your synonym of choice)  scene that we walked into. Words really do not do justice to describe the Baroque guildhalls.

After another 1 minute walk we checked into our Air BnB. What a great location and lovely place we found, we were fortunate enough to find it and get a reservation as this place is booked almost all the time.

We spent the rest of the afternoon walking around the area just exploring Brussels and getting a feel for the place we would be for the next several days.

Belgium was playing Morocco in the world cup as we had a little bite to eat for lunch, Annette was in her happy place watching Soccer. As we walked around later in the afternoon we started to hear commotion in the area. We heard what sounded like tear gas canisters being fired, well that was in fact the case. Morocco beat Belgium and the local Moroccan population decided to “celebrate” and it quickly turned violent. The police were dispatched in riot gear and water cannons were used to try to quell the riot.

We stayed in The Grand Place and watched the Christmas light show which was amazing. Even with the riots being so close we very comfortable as were other locals as we watched a light and music show that was just as impressive as anything this central Florida boy had ever seen at Disney World, and that is saying something. We then had a bite to eat and called it an early evening as the riots continued.

Our Air BnB was in a perfect location, a police station was a few hundred feet from us and  we asked some police officers if there was any need to be concerned, they replied that all was contained but not to venture far from the area.

We enjoyed a very comfortable evening in and looked forward to exploring the next day.