Amsterdam - Brussels - London June 25th

Amsterdam to Brussels to London – cattle class train adventures...

So today we thought we were all sorted for our train ride from Amsterdam to Brussels. We had a plan, we got up early, and bundled ourselves off to the tram. We caught the tram to Amsterdam Centraal to catch the train, with about 15 minutes to spare. We had already figured out (we talked to the people at the information desk when we'd arrived in Amsterdam) that we wanted to take the 'slow' train, as it would be free on the pass. To by reservations on the high speed train would have cost us an extra 34 euro each and there were no seats available at the time we wanted anyway. But I tell you what, there were times this morning when 34 euro suddenly seemed a pretty ok price...

We waited for our train, after anxiously double checking that we were on the right platform with the train people. Then we were told there was a change and to move to the other end of the platform. Then, no, wait, we were told to come back and board the train that had been sitting in the initial end of the platform for over ten minutes. This is the train to Brussels? We asked. Yes, we were told, but we would have to change in Rotterdam, because our original train was totally broken. So we shrugged and got on the train.

Waiting at the station, oblivious to the rather random train ride(s) that awaited us...

It was clearly an intercity rather than an international train as it didn't have the usual international facilities including luggage storage. Luckily it was a big train so even though it had all the Brussels hopefuls it had space for us to take up two seats with our bags. Greg out the GPS and we tried to figure out where the heck we were going to and what time we could expect to change trains. The conductor eventually came through the cabin and we found out that we weren't changing at Rotterdam right away, first we had to change again at this other random station, which would get us to Rotterdam, where we could change for Brussels. Aiish!

About an hour later we got off at the random place and waited with what had become a large crowd of Brussels hopefuls, all with luggage. A train with just two carriages, and already fairly full, pulled up. This was our train. Everyone piled on. We had the bad luck to not be standing at the right part of the platform, so we got one late. Hence, I was on the floor in the aisle and Greg was stuck standing at the end with our luggage. We stopped frequently as yet more people tried to squash on. I was confused – I thought we were in western europe not India??

"squashing up" but not in a fun Turkish-dinner kind of way

Anyway at last that horrible stuffy squashfest ended and we got off at Rotterdam and changed at last to an international train! The last leg of the journey was actually pleasant! Even after all that we only arrived about 30minutes after we were initially supposed to, if feeling a bit more frazzled and harrassed than we'd expected! The station was good and we easily found a place to stash our luggage so we could head off on our six hour Brussels adventure!

Emerging from the station into nice weather for a change, it seemed that we were in a bit of a dingy part of town. A twenty minute walk (through the inevitable Turkish section) however so us soundly in the middle of the historical and touristy centre. And bliss, everything was in French! In particular for restaurant related purposes, I could read the signs again and vaguely understand stuff! Greg will tell you, I was quite excited as we walked along and I'd be like “that's about breakfast! That's the daily special! That means ham and cheese!”

Our first priority was food. Wanting something at least attempting to be Belgiumish we tried the lonely planet. When we got to a recommended that restaurant we liked the look of, the prices were way out of our league. So we decided to go try one of the apparently Turkish-run 'authentically Belgium' tourist restaurants nearby. We picked one at random and enjoyed a nice lunch more in our budget... althought the waffles were pretty disappointing, considering they are a Belgium 'thing'!

'

However we wasted no time getting stuck into the Belgium beer!

We spent the rest of the afternoon wandering the old city and through the arcades and shops. 

This was the main square in the old town, surrounded by beautiful iconic buildings.

"Got any waffles?"

Famous statue of a little boy peeing into a fountain. Very small! Apparently he has a full wardrobe of clothes and there are people whose job it is to change them every few weeks.

See? Very small!! And surrounded by tourists like us snapping photos frantically!

We found the oldest fanciest arcade and I couldn't resist buying some Macaroons! There were also Mucha style tins with fruit biscuits in them which were tempting but too expensive!

We sat on this temporary stage area in the main square to relax and eat Macaroons, before heading back towards the station. We detoured to a metro supermarket to find some snacks to get us through the eurostar adventure.

Back at the station we were too early to go through security for the eurostar so we had a look round the shops in the station. I got a new pair of earrings as I had lost one down the sink the night before!

The Eurostar ride was less flash that we had thought it would be, turned out to be just like another train ride just with a rather long tunnel in it! The most annoying thing was having to queue to clear customs before we got on and then queue again when we got off to present out passports and tickets. Only two people on checking them for the entire train...

I wonder what London was getting excited about?

We managed to negotiate the tube to Malcolms with ease as we already had our oyster cards. Before we knew it we were heading back down the same road towards Mal's house as we had on our first night in London.

Was so weird to have come full circle in this way – could hardly believe that our five weeks in Europe were over already. It felt like we had walked that way only a few days before!

At last at Mal and Becs at almost 9pm, we sat down to a very welcome home cooked meal and a whirlwind catch up. We admired the new décor and garden at their place and commiserated with them that their roof needs a total redo!

Then it was off to bed because Greg and I had a crazy early start the next morning for our trip through the cotswolds!