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Post by kerouac2 on Aug 2, 2017 16:39:07 GMT
I suppose I could add this to my other thread A bit of Brussels which is already 4 years old, but times change so it's probably best to start all over in a different year. Since I royally allowed myself to spend two nights in the city this time, I was not quite as frantic as in past visits, but of course I also learned that Brussels deserves even more time, and I will have to up the ante at some time in the future.
In any case, Brussels is only 1h20 from Paris when you take the Thalys TGV. I was surprised to see that I had obtained tickets in the 1st class carriage at a very low 2nd class fare (20 euros each way) due to the time of year and the lack of businessmen. However, the carriage, as comfortable as it was, did not receive any 1st class service -- newspapers and breakfast. I have had real 1st class service in the past, which I very much appreciated, but at the same time I remembered how much better 1st class used to be before the TGV. I had to go to Brussels on business once with a colleague on the old trains which took a bit more than two hours (maybe not, but naturally considerably longer than the current travel time), and we had a magnificent and leisurely breakfast wilh silver tableware and coffee pots and fantastic croissants and tartines. Not possible anymore in modern times!
And so, in the blink of an eye, I disembarked at the Bruxelles-Midi/Brussel-Zuid station.
s19.postimg.cc/gr8kc3hjn/BRU-1_013.jpg
Just about everywhere in Brussels benefits from embellishments by the famous comic art characters, and Bruxelles-Midi is no exception.
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s19.postimg.cc/x3im1tvv7/BRU-1_015.jpg
Then it was into the metro, actually the tram, to get to my hotel. We foreigners are a bit confused by the difference, since both of them run underground in the centre. (Maybe I'll get a chance to explain the pré-métro later.)
s19.postimg.cc/q1kofms9f/BRU-1_016.jpg
It fascinates me how the underground world of various cities can have so many of the same shops and yet look so different.
s19.postimg.cc/ont1kbt03/BRU-1_017.jpg
I quickly arrived and disovered that my accommodations at the Adagio could absolutely not be any closer to the De Broukére station. It was all in the same building.
s19.postimg.cc/ud9a4mz6b/BRU-1_018.jpg
After an amusing episode at check-in, where I was given a room that turned out to be still occupied by a sleeping person (the staff were mortified when I returned to reception to tell them), I got a new room, probably better than the first one, on a higher floor. This was my first time at Adagio, which is a suite hotel, and I was frankly amazed by how well equipped the kitchen was -- I could have had a dinner party for at least a dozen people (well, maybe I would have needed a bit more silverware). I was really sorry than in my two-day stay, I was only able to use the microwave and the refrigerator. I wanted to boil pasta, chop vegetables and create fabulous salads. Maybe some other time.
Then I was out again in a few minutes to see the quirks of the city. Some of the fake façades could have been faked a bit better.
s19.postimg.cc/hkucw72c3/BRU-1_019.jpg
s19.postimg.cc/n1d0qkvpv/BRU-1_020.jpg
Here is my building again, the former Galeries Anspach department store, the main department store of the city until it went bankrupt in 1983. Now it is a hotel, shopping mall and casino.
s19.postimg.cc/83vcy33pv/BRU-1_021.jpg
Just a few steps away along the pietonnier (the recently created pedestrian zone in the centre of the city) is the old Bourse/Beurs.
s19.postimg.cc/ilq07ktxv/BRU-1_022.jpg
more very soon
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Post by kerouac2 on Aug 2, 2017 18:17:16 GMT
Just in case you were wondering where to find the Andorran tourist office and consulate.
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Post by bjd on Aug 2, 2017 18:25:44 GMT
Nice to see all these pictures, Kerouac. I like Brussels and find its reputation for being a dull place completely undeserved.
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Post by kerouac2 on Aug 2, 2017 18:37:51 GMT
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Post by kerouac2 on Aug 2, 2017 20:32:51 GMT
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Post by tod2 on Aug 3, 2017 5:38:33 GMT
Super interesting Kerouac - I love the artwork on the buildings. Now you have me wondering why have I not been to Belgium, let alone Brussels! Maybe next year this oversight should be remedied.
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Post by whatagain on Aug 3, 2017 7:56:51 GMT
Can't see your pic on my iPhone. Maybe later. Glad you like Bruxelles
Per your question about Thalys service I'd say service is down but you get some at certain times. I took the 6 am Thalys yesterday in first class and had a breakfast. If you take the train around 20 am you get nothing. Around noon you get a lunch. Nothing to be excited though.
I actually find second class quieter on Thalys. Since they don't enforce a no call policy like on TGV a lot of businessmen talk over the phone. Loudly if they are Dutch ;-)
Getting on the Thalys in 17 min. If I catch it.
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Post by amboseli on Aug 3, 2017 8:16:55 GMT
If you take the train around 20 am you get nothing. I got a little snack on the evening Thalys Paris-Antwerp in 1st class (which, during the X-mas period last year, was cheaper than 2nd class). I would never pay extra for a 1st class seat. The Centenaire was indeed built to celebrate 50yrs of Belgian independence. It's a large complex with museums, Autoworld, monuments, etc. It is used for exhibits of all kind.
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Post by kerouac2 on Aug 3, 2017 9:55:55 GMT
My ticket was clearly marked 2nd class, but I was in a carriage marked 1st class with a "place isolée," which 2nd class does not have. Probably just something they are doing during the low summer business period.
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Post by amboseli on Aug 3, 2017 10:03:17 GMT
Probably, yes. I also had a "place isolée" which was cheaper than a regular 2nd class seat. I was in a first class carriage (which was at the far end of the platform, both in Antwerp and in Paris Nord).
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Post by kerouac2 on Aug 3, 2017 12:38:16 GMT
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Post by mossie on Aug 3, 2017 13:22:51 GMT
You make Brussels more exciting than I found it to be, when I visited about 20 years ago. the Berlaymont looks much the same, absolutely ready made for faceless bureaucrats. The press centre raised a smile, we have a saying "People who live in glass houses, should never throw stones"
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Post by kerouac2 on Aug 3, 2017 14:12:49 GMT
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Post by bjd on Aug 3, 2017 16:49:50 GMT
The first time we went to Brussels we stayed in the Ibis Sainte-Cathérine. I liked the area and especially the Nordsee/Mer du Nord seafood place. And I have a photo of that peeing dog from the time afterwards.
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Post by bixaorellana on Aug 3, 2017 17:15:53 GMT
I think this thread has put a giant destination star on Brussels for me and probably for many others reading it.
Is that the Justus Lipsius building in the picture just above the Berlaymont? I'm curious if tours are ever allowed in any of those commission buildings or if that's impossible because of security.
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Post by tod2 on Aug 3, 2017 17:33:48 GMT
I started wandering towards the Sainte Catherine area, and found various things to see. This scene reminded me so much of our visit to Manufact. des Gobelins and that tapestry.
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Post by kerouac2 on Aug 3, 2017 17:54:08 GMT
The first time we went to Brussels we stayed in the Ibis Sainte-Cathérine. I liked the area and especially the Nordsee/Mer du Nord seafood place. And I have a photo of that peeing dog from the time afterwards. One of my first trips was also at the Ibis Sainte Catherine. In fact, I stayed there twice -- the first time when it was still the "Arcade" and then again after Accor snatched it up.
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Post by kerouac2 on Aug 3, 2017 18:11:34 GMT
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Post by bjd on Aug 3, 2017 18:45:19 GMT
I see we like the same areas of Brussels. Last time I took my sister and we happened to pass near the Royal Palace which was having a day open to the public. We went in for the tour of a few rooms. Meh! I much prefer the more picturesque areas of the city.
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Post by bixaorellana on Aug 3, 2017 19:27:08 GMT
Oh, better and better! You really show Brussels as a very vibrant place. I love the pictures in #17 of the old typical buildings interspersed with modern businesses and international food. Of course I would kill to visit the flea market. If I were the set decorator for a horror movie, I would absolutely buy this painting. Can't you go back and get it? It would be so wonderful to hang on your front door when the spirit moved you.
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Post by kerouac2 on Aug 4, 2017 6:31:43 GMT
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Post by tod2 on Aug 4, 2017 7:51:38 GMT
More fascinating stuff Kerouac! The flea market looks huge and as I perused some of the items my eyes caught sight of some delicate little antique coffee cups in one corner. I have very similar ones but would find it hard to resist buying those. I'm not sure about the price of a plate of mussels & frites in Paris, but thought the 21Euro price tag on the chalk board was a bit steep.
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Post by kerouac2 on Aug 4, 2017 10:21:17 GMT
It is much more expensive than in Paris. Normally a moules-frites is about 11-12 euros in Paris and about 9 out in the provinces.
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Post by kerouac2 on Aug 4, 2017 10:28:05 GMT
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Post by kerouac2 on Aug 4, 2017 11:24:50 GMT
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Post by tod2 on Aug 4, 2017 12:16:43 GMT
Look forward to being led to the very edge....
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Post by lagatta on Aug 4, 2017 13:22:13 GMT
Hier ist in den kater en de kat... Where is that, and was that for lagatta (e ilgatto)?
And in Vlaams-Brabant, did you have to switch to Flemish?
By the way kater means a hangover as well as a tomcat, as Kater does in German.
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Post by kerouac2 on Aug 4, 2017 14:16:58 GMT
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Post by lagatta on Aug 4, 2017 14:40:09 GMT
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Post by kerouac2 on Aug 4, 2017 15:07:14 GMT
I had taken the tram a long and interesting way around simply because it was direct from my De Brouckère station, and I always like to see everything there is to see along the way. I should explain that the metro and tram system in Brussels is quite different from other cities. For some strange (?) reason, the transit authorities in Brussels decided to build what was called the " prémétro" on certain lines, starting in 1969. Basically, they built full sized metro stations but only used part of them on a lowered access platform for underground tramways to run. The plan is to gradually convert these lines to full metro lines at some time in the future. Some of them have become metro lines, but others are not due to be converted until after 2020. We visitors have trouble figuring any of this out, but perhaps the locals understand it completely. In any case, the tramway lines -- even those that will not be converted -- run underground in the central part of the city, so as far as I'm concerned, it is just like the metro, just a bit smaller. The line I took from De Brouckère went to Esplanade, a terminus in the middle of nowhere. It was a lovely trip, partly through something I would almost call virgin forest, so it was a real adventure. It is not the main way to get to what my destination was, but about 20 of us had clearly chosen to go this way. The path is not too confusing, and frankly it took only about 10 minutes to arrive at the icon of Brussels.
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