Ah Brussels….du bist Wunderbar nicht also :(

The best thing about Brussels?  It has a direct train to Bruges!!

Again, first impressions last and my first impression of Brussels was the smell! 

We had been dropped to our hotel where we checked in and dropped our bags then left to go walking to the famous Grand Place and it smelled like we were walking through a Men’s Public Toilet….and when I spotted a man using the street as a public toilet I understood why :/

Again, there was rubbish and spit and cigarette butts everywhere and every few minutes we were approached by beggars wanting money.  At lunch we were even approached by a young girl with a baby asking for money.  I watched her walk from table to table and when people would say no, she would give them the filthiest looks, so sad that a baby is being brought up into this lifestyle.

Arriving at Grand Place I could see why this was a major attraction, the buildings and the huge cobblestoned courtyard were stunning!  We took heaps of photos and then spent some time looking at the street art on display for sale.  We bought a lovely picture for Amanda and would have bought some larger ones for ourselves if we had a way of getting them home without damaging them.

Walking back to our hotel we decided we would stop for a coffee at one of the streetside cafes.  Nathan didn’t notice there was one thing missing from every café we came to….women!!  Not a single woman to be seen just tables filled with men drinking coffee.  I have no idea if there are some strange social rules or if this was just a weird coincidence but I decided that maybe stopping for coffee wasn’t a great idea….so we went home and arranged our accommodation for Bruges the next day.  A quick dinner at a local takeaway café and an early night were on the cards and despite the noise and the sirens (again!) I slept like a log!

The next morning after breakfast we packed our bags, headed back to the train station and jumped on the train to Bruges :)

Update: The Saga of the Skis.

There was a moment of hope when we went to the post office and were told we could post the skis but sadly the next day when we went back with them the staff person looked at us in horror and told us they were much too big to post!!