TWO WEEKS LEFT!  The time has just flown by.  I’ve obviously been having far too much fun, maybe I should do nothing and time will go slower for me?  Nah, that doesn’t sound interesting.  I am looking forward to coming home though.  I can’t wait to eat a big bowl of veggies, hit the gym and get my life (specifically my diet) back in order.  I think something may be wrong with me if I actually want to go to the gym.  Help?  Oh, and I miss everyone.  Can’t wait to see all of your ugly mugs again.  You know I love you.  I still can’t believe how long the Christmas cards I sent took.  I sent those before the cut off date while I was still in Hamburg.  Strange.  At least they have arrived.  I am also sorry for the lack of other snail mail activities.

I have escaped the wonders of the motherland to once again be back on the lovely cultured continent, but getting here was a mission.  The Top Deck Tour finished on the 1^st of January, not the 2^nd like it was previously stated.  This left me in a lurch as my accommodation was not ready until the 2^nd, so I was homeless for a night, but thanks to some lovely and amazing people from the tour group and their offers, I had some place to sleep.  After looking at where I had to catch my train to Brussels from in London, and seeing where my hotel was located, I decided to forego the hotel in favour of the Clink.  The hotel was three trains away from St. Pancras International, and about 50minutes from the centre of London.  It just was not worth the effort.  But London proved to be quite interesting, although confusing.  I have to recommend the walking tours to anyone heading to London.  They were quite entertaining.  Unfortunately, I have to return to London because not everything on my list was ticked off.

 

 To the Eurostar and St. Pancras International: nerve racking is all I can say.  I have never travelled by train before so it was exciting but scary.  At least customs didn’t ask me a gazillion questions like they did on our return to the UK from Paris.  I fell asleep on the train too.  How could you not with the rhythmic ch-chunk and swaying of the carriages?  After the little nap I finally arrived in Brussels, and managed to get lost within the first five minutes.  How does this keep happening to me?  This was only because I went out the wrong exit at the train station.  After finding my way to the correct exit and across the road to the hotel, I was in heaven.  The room was bigger than I was expecting, and I queen sized bed and my own room.  LUXURY! 

I had a geeky couple of days here.  After two 10 hour sleeps, I made my way to the Musical Instrument Museum and the Comic Strip museum.  These were interesting, although at the MIM I understood very little because the captions were in either French or Dutch and NO ENGLISH, but seeing the musical instruments from way back to the 15^th Century was just amazing.  I was more fortunate at the Comic Strip Museum.  They at least had foreign (English speaking) tourists in mind with their exhibits.  The following day took me to the Royal Palace and parks.  Walking through the park was exhilarating and refreshing.  The brisk air and the smell of nature were pleasant.  Then I chanced upon the Royal Palace.  It was strange not seeing a ten foot high fence with barbed wire.  The fence was a little concrete design with a nice garden, and no guards were in sight.  I may have been at the back of the palace, but still.  Comparing this to the Buckingham Palace showed how different the two monarchies are.  When I got bored, which happened quite quickly as I’m pretty over seeing European architecture and museums, I made my way down to yet another museum and architectural success: the Royal Military and Army Museum.  This is a free museum, and as luck would have it, was also closing in half an hour after I got there, thanks to a late morning and a 30-40 minute walk from the Royal Palace.  This museum was pretty underwhelming.  The artefacts were numerous and pretty, but just were not stimulating.  A temporary exhibit, to mark the 100^th anniversary of the outbreak of the Great War, was good though.  Captions in ENGLISH (rejoice) and the artefacts were from Belgium and the Allies, so was more diverse and able to compare.  But alas, it was time to leave. 

And thus it was also time to leave Brussels for Ghent.

 

 

Ps.  I’m sorry for the lack of photos for the posts.  I’ve been using my camera rather than forgetting it and using my phone.  Photos will be coming on my return to NZ.