So day 3 in Belgium started very sunny. As usually I hunted first breakfast. Today my was European Parliament. The parliament has 2 free tours per day and I went to the first one 10 am. I was there early so after getting my visitor tag I had time to walk around the Léopold Park which next to the parliament. When I got back there was some other visitors already waiting. After security check they gave us small video guides. Video guide told the route we should follow. The tour only visited in 3 rooms: the lobby, some room where you could see a statue and the hemicycle. Video guide was in a language of your choice, all official EU languages were available.
After the disappointing tour (but because it's free I recommend it) I walked to the Royal Palace. The palace was more bigger and grand than what I expected. I had a walking break at Parc de Bruxelles where I watched how immigrant women were taught how to ride a bicycle. The ladies seemed to be very happy to learn this new skill. I also checked the Federal Parliament of Belgium building next to the park.
From the center I took a metro to see the Atomium. Atomium was also bigger than what I expected. Sun was shining bright and I could just wear a t-shirt - nice! I was also surprised of the Expo 58 buildings near the Atomium, they looked interesting. I had a lunch at the cafe under the Atomium - not the cheapest cafe but it was under Atomium so I had to do it! I took a small at the Parc d'Osseghem and then I took a metro back to the city center.
I came back to the surface at Schuman station which was located to my surprise next to the European Commission building. It isn't that fabulous looking but I just didn't know it was located there. My reason to come here was to visit in Parc du Cinquantenaire. It was lunch time and the sun was shining bright so people were enjoying their lunch break at the park. It was full of people. And highlight of this park is the triumphal arc which is huge! I loved it! There was a pop-up restaurant on top of it at the time. Because this was the last must-see for me in Brussels I took a metro to the old town area where hunted down many comic strip walls and took sunny pictures of Grand-Place. I decided walk to the Hans' place from the center. On the way I saw lots of small lovely parks and many churches. I also visited inside of the Palais Justice which looks amazing inside! I bought some African food from a market in St Gilles which was good! Fried bananas were quite blaah but the goat meat and the super spicy sauce were great.
I checked if Hans or one of his room mates were home but they weren't so I took a metro back to the European Parliament where I was supposed to meet my friend Mira and her friends. I was at Place du Luxembourg hour too early so I had time to watch people. The bar terraces around the square were starting to get full quickly. Soon Mira came and we went to buy beers from a supermarket. Then we went back to the square and we hangout there almost until 10pm with all the Eurocrats who enjoyed evening sun after work. As me and Mira had early wake up tomorrow as we were leaving together to student meeting in Netherlands we didn't stay later. And metro also stops working around 11pm and I really didn't want to walk back to Hans' place from there.
Unfortunately Hans wasn't at home when I came back to his place. And even more unfortunate was that his room mates also weren't at home. Hans also didn't answer my text messages. I waited some time behind the door while eating chips. Then I went to sit in a bar across the street where I could see the door of the house. I ordered one beer and started to read some papers which I had in my backpack. Soon I saw one of Hans' room mates coming back home and I run to the door and got inside. When I was getting ready to sleep I got a text message from Hans saying that he was part of an accident that day in Antwerp and he couldn't come back to Brussels. He provided his room mates numbers and apologized everything. I answered that I already got in and wished luck to him. Weird finish to my visit in Brussels.
Next morning I left Hans's place, walked to the Midi Station, bought some breakfast, took a train without ticket to Central Station and there I met Mira. And then started our trip to Netherlands which is a different story.
No comments:
Post a Comment