We got out of the hostel about 10:30am and headed to the part of the city where the flea-market was held. There was supposed to be some good food places around. It took us about 3 different shops until we found one that was serving food and not just drinks.
The one we found was really cool. It had a guy playing an accordion and singing different songs. Random people in the café would get up and start singing and dancing as well. They were all laughing and having a good time. We weren’t sure if it was they were pissed on a Sunday morning (we were the youngest in there) or that it was just what they did. Some cops even walked (with guns on their belt) and started drinking at the bar. The atmosphere is something too hard to describe… but it was really cool.
Today we were using the public transport because we had done a lot of walking yesterday! So we got on the metro and headed out to the massive church a bit out of the city. It’s the 5th biggest church in the world… and it is HUGE! We were all a bit dumbstruck seeing it… as you approach it just seemed to get bigger and bigger.
We went in and had a look around the church and then went to the top. From the top, the panoramic view of the entire city was simply spectacular. We could see all the places we had visited and also see how big Brussels actually was. We had only seen a fraction, but it was the main part which had the old city and touristy stuff.
We saw the Atomium from the top of the church… and that was our next destination. Back on the public transport system to the Atomium… this was really cool. It was created in 1958 for an exhibition. It is an artistic view of an iron crystal, magnified 25 billion times. It was only supposed to last for the exhibition, but its popularity was so high that it is still a major tourist destination.
We didn’t go up because it was too expensive… and we had already seen a good view of the city. James had to take off to catch his 3 flight back to Norway. So we said farewell and realised that it’s not going to be too long before he catches up with us all again.
After a quick bite for late-lunch, we headed back to the city so the guys could get some Belgian chocolates to take back with them. By this stage the day was almost gone. So we headed back to the hostel. The guys packed up and we walked down to the train station so they could head off to the airport. Said bye and they were on their way… was a good weekend :-)
I just killed a couple of hours by chatting to a couple of Scottish dudes and playing some cards, then I went to the bus station for my overnight bus. I passed the psychedelic tunnel… which Chugs had pointed out earlier :-)
Overall impression of Belgium is very impressive. They seem to have a lot of history and all these massive old buildings, although I don’t understand where from? I can’t recall hearing anything about them in any history conversations at all :-P If anyone can enlighten me I would really like to know.
The overnight bus was ok, it left at 11pm and arrived at 6am… I didn’t sleep much, but kept my eyes closed the whole time. Straight into work at 6:30, I am doing some interesting stuff at the moment, so ended up doing a 13 hour day.
That’s all from me.
Au revoir
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