According to a survey result that was released in March 2008, Brussels gained the unfavourable tag of being the ‘Most Boring City in Europe’. (I even learned that a synonym for boring is somniferous – handy if you want to use a big word instead!). The finding influenced me to only schedule in one night in Brussels during my trip and have two nights in Bruges instead. After spending a day here, I realise that Brussels is not boring at all. The fact that there’s a schizophrenic feeling in the city due to the dual names for everything in Dutch and French (or Flemish and Walloons, if you wish), adds to the quirkiness of the city.
I arrived in Brussels at about 1pm after taking the train from Maastricht. I checked out from the hotel (Hotel LeRoi – great location but very pricey) at about 9.50am and headed to the train station. On the way there, I saw that there was a fleamarket at Stationstraat so rather than taking the 10.12am train, I stored my luggage in the locker and spent some time in the fleamarket. It was a perfect morning – the sun was up, the atmosphere at the market was warm and friendly. There were sellers selling the usual porcelains and bric-a-brac, as well as a gramophone seller playing music of the yesteryears. I didn’t buy anything as I would have to be careful with my luggage allowance, besides, there are still a couple of stops that I will make before Adelaide. I didn’t have breakfast at the hotel, because it would’ve cost me €16. Instead I had two delicious kroketten and some frites along with a glass of nice koffie verkeerd (an equivalent of caffè latte) at Restaurant Le Guide in Stationstraat, all for €10.00. My friend Sjoerd in Amsterdam suggested that I should try the Limburgse vlaai – a cake from the Limburg area. I didn’t see it in the menu unfortunately so I will have to try it in Amsterdam perhaps.
The train stopped at Liège and hearing things in French took a little bit of getting used to, after hearing instructions in German or Dutch. Brussels is also predominantly French-speaking, even though it is located in the Flemish region. Not having any Brussels map with me provided me with a challenge of getting to the hotel smoothly. I did some Googling before I took the train and some articles suggested that I should stop at Bruxelles-Nord station. I used my instinct and headed towards an area with greater concentration of buildings. The first person who I asked for direction didn’t know where it was and referred me to a large city map 500m away. Unfortunately it doesn’t have the street that I was looking for (Boulevard d’Anvers). I asked more locals – most could only speak French. Thank goodness I still remember some basic French so with my probably-incorrect French, I did my best in asking for directions and understanding the steps. At the end, I found the hotel, after several attempts. I had actually passed it before – duh – I should’ve looked up and saw the signage. As I mentioned before, it can be confusing with everything having French-Dutch name. For example, Boulevard d’Anvers is also called Antwerplaan.
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