Nineteenth Day, JAN 3 - A long train ride and a missed flight

“You have suffered enough, and warred with yourself. It's time that you won.”

So the plan was to go to Manchester and visit a friend before finally ending up in London for the next few days.

As we know by now though, my plans don't usually “go to plan”.

But first a recap of the last few days – I didn't write anything about the third, mainly because there wasn't much that happened. I left for my train early in the morning, the train left at 10:29, I arrived in Brussels around 9:29.

It took me longer than I thought to find my hotel, “The Moon Hotel”, a small, hole-in-the-wall type of place, but it was very comfortable and the room was perfect for what I needed.

I was really tired, so I went to bed and decided I would get up around 9:00 to see the city.

I got up at 9:00, showered, packed, and procrastinated until 10:15 and then checked out. I stopped by the train station to make sure I knew what train I would need to take later. It was easy enough, and the train to the airport (about an hour and a half outside of Brussels) wasn't leaving until 11:30. So I had about an hour to just explore for a bit.

I started my exploration by going to the “Grand Palace,” or at least, I think that's what it's called, a really cool town square near the train station. My guidebook calls it the best plaza in Europe, though I don't know about that. It was very neat though – a big, wide open space with giant, Gothic buildings surrounding it, each building covered in Gold. One of the big landmarks is the giant tower that shoots upward from what I thought looked like a Cathedral.Very historical and grandiose and very interesting. Apparently the famous fountain of a little boy peeing is here too, but I couldn't find it.

I took a turn, walking amidst the street corners and found myself back near the train station, this time at another very big plaza-like setting. I don't know what it's called, but it's basically a giant row of steps that lead up to what I think was the city (or country's) parliament building. The stairs were really neat – at the base of the stairs and across a small street was a row of “ridges” coming out of the pavement, like a half-sun announcing the entrance to the stairs.

Then you walked up the stairs, a whole flight of them that led up to this garden full of benches and shrubs arranged in different patterns. I finally got to the top and got a grand view of the city, able to see the tower I mentioned earlier, plus all the buildings as they faded downhill.

By now I had to get back to the train station, so I turned and made my way back. I made it to my train on time and made the first hour to the airport by train, like I was expecting. However, when I got to “Charleroi Sord” (I think that was the name of the station) I was supposed to get off and take a bus into the airport. However, from the online directions I had gotten, I thought I would be able to take another train, not a bus. The airport was twenty minutes outside of town.

The difference doesn't seem like a lot, but it was for me, since I have my Eurail pass that allows me to take trains for free, but I do not have a bus pass.

So basically, I went to get a bus ticket but it was three Euros, and I haven't had cash in the last two days (I was expecting some money to go into my debit card sometime today or yesterday, so that I could go to an ATM). I tried to use my credit card and it had an error. I talked to a money changer at the station, and he told me that apparently in Belgium they can't except newer cards because the card-readers don't read them correctly.

So without the ability to get money from my debit card or credit card, and without any cash, I turned around and took a train back to Brussels.

I will be fine – I will have to pay more, but I will probably be able to go to Brussels and pay for a Eurostar train ticket through the Chunnel, which would take me to London in 2.5 hours. However, it does mean I will probably spend another night in Brussels – maybe I'll finally get a chance to get one of their famous “chocolate beers”!