A Church in Brussels
We first visited this church, which, unfortunately, was under construction, so there wasn't too much to see.
An Old/Ancient FountainOne of the curiosities of Belgium is that it speaks both French and Dutch. This leads to some confusion when visiting an art museum: the French looks like "ancient" and the Dutch looks like "old", so I didn't know which to expect. As it turns out, it was only old art, ca. 1500 and later, in addition to more modern (1800+) art. I am more fond of ancient art (500-), so I preferred the older of the two.
Kriek: Cherry-flavored Beer
We stayed a bit long at the museum, so we were a bit rushed to reclaim our luggage and get on to the train station. We decided to eat at a Falafel-Doener stand that also served beer. While in Belgium, we got a Belgian specialty, kriek, which tasted something like cherry-flavored Sprite, carbonation included.
The trip from Belgium to London entailed a security checkpoint, of which I was not fond, followed by customs. I didn't really have anything to declare, so it went as well as it could for not having an EU passport. (I had to fill out an extra form, but that was painless.) The train itself was very quiet, smooth, and fast. I caught a bit of rest on the train, and everything whizzed by too quickly to catch on film. The France that I saw was not particularly interesting. It took us about 20 minutes to get through the Chunnel, which is a lot of darkness.
We arrived in the St. Pancras station, virtually next door to King's Cross. We needed to take the Underground to get to our hotel, which was quite an experience, as there are a great many people trying to get around and use the Underground. If you fear crowds of people, I don't recommend London. We used the Piccadilly line to get to Earl's Court, where our hotel was. The Piccadilly trains run far underground, so there are a few escalators both ways. We had bought the versatile Oyster cards before arriving, so we saved a bit of time that way.
We had dinner at a "Karma-free" vegetarian Chinese restaurant. The food was good and tasty, and I learned what soy chicken is like. It was rather tough and unlike chicken, but it was passable as meat, interestingly enough.
But in London's West End, why have dinner without a show?
The trip from Belgium to London entailed a security checkpoint, of which I was not fond, followed by customs. I didn't really have anything to declare, so it went as well as it could for not having an EU passport. (I had to fill out an extra form, but that was painless.) The train itself was very quiet, smooth, and fast. I caught a bit of rest on the train, and everything whizzed by too quickly to catch on film. The France that I saw was not particularly interesting. It took us about 20 minutes to get through the Chunnel, which is a lot of darkness.
We arrived in the St. Pancras station, virtually next door to King's Cross. We needed to take the Underground to get to our hotel, which was quite an experience, as there are a great many people trying to get around and use the Underground. If you fear crowds of people, I don't recommend London. We used the Piccadilly line to get to Earl's Court, where our hotel was. The Piccadilly trains run far underground, so there are a few escalators both ways. We had bought the versatile Oyster cards before arriving, so we saved a bit of time that way.
We had dinner at a "Karma-free" vegetarian Chinese restaurant. The food was good and tasty, and I learned what soy chicken is like. It was rather tough and unlike chicken, but it was passable as meat, interestingly enough.
But in London's West End, why have dinner without a show?
Yes, indeed, we watched Spamalot. It was, on all accounts, awesome. I enjoyed the people who sold killer rabbit plushies during intermission, even though they didn't have albatross. I now have my own killer rabbit, as well.
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