Brussels, With Some Antwerp On the Side

November 8th--The day started off lazy and ended with some hints of true adventure to come.

I woke up and had breakfast with Caroline, and then we took the Metro to a market a little outside the city center. It was a true open air market, with cheap knock-offs and fresh fruit. We wandered around for an hour and I bought 10 AA batteries for 1.50 Euro (more on that later).

After the return to Caroline's apartment, I packed up all my stuff and headed to the train station, Brussels-bound.

The train to Brussels was only 40 minutes long, and passed in a flash as I arrived a little after 2:00. I planned to catch the 6:24 train to Antwerp so I would have some time to explore Brussels. I grabbed a free tourist map from the information booth, bought a Metro day pass, and I was on my way.

The first thing I noticed about Brussels was that it was apparently unprepared for my visit. As it's the tourist off-season, a number of the big landmarks were undergoing renovations, including the old Palais de Justice. It sort of glowered in a grand, faded way at my camera like it was upset that I woke it up for a photo shoot in the middle of the night.


Then it was on to a couple of large museums joined in the middle by Belgium's answer to the Arc de Triomphe in Paris. On the way, I passed the EU consortium.


As I walked up to the large park in front of the museums, my camera batteries failed. Not to worry, I thought, I bought that huge pack of batteries this morning! After trying six or seven of the completely useless batteries, I had to toss them and go buy some more at a small store. So much for budget pricing.

The building really was impressive, one of those things that doesn't always come across in pictures. The day had turned fairly blustery and chilly, blowing the fallen leaves all across the paths.


I caught the Metro back into the city and found several more picturesque views, lots of graffiti, and was completely taken aback by the beauty of the main city square.

I mostly took this because of the kids and the graffiti--I was surprised not so much that there was graffiti, but that it hadn't been cleaned up on a big monument.

Again, all kinds of construction

A cool random building, one of many in the city

Grand Place

Incidentally, that bag on my back is all I have for two months. Admit it, you're impressed.

Soon, it was time to head back to the train station. I resisted the urge to gorge myself on Belgian chocolate and arrived in time to catch my train, which put me uneventfully into Antwerp at 7:30. It was raining on my arrival, a light drizzle that was more a welcome change than an annoyance.

My friend Alex met me there with her Belgian boyfriend Ward, and we made our way back to the apartment they shared with two other people. I met Alex at camp, both as a camper and as a staff member--though American, she has lived in Switzerland and is taking a semester off before continuing college in Paris.

Alex, Ward, their roommate Charis, and I had a long political discussion after dinner, then went out for a drink at a local pub. As we talked, the rain began falling again, harder and harder, till it was a steady downpour. We ran back to the apartment and Alex pulled up some interesting news online.

For those of you too lazy to read the article, Holland and South Britain are getting locked down because of the risk of the worst flooding in decades in the next days. As I write this, the wind is howling and screaming by the window, pushing torrents of rain with it. This is, I suppose, one of the risks of traveling at this time of the year. I've been spoiled with remarkably good weather, so now I guess I'll get paid back with catastrophic flooding.

C'est la vie.