Sandwich au saumon
That morning, before we boarded the Thalys train to Brussels, I got up extra early to make breakfast - Salmon Sandwich ( seen in the picture above ), a pot of cream of mushroom, along with some toast, topped with fried eggs!
We were to take the 6 AM train from Gare Du Nord in Paris, therefore needed to be at the station by 5.30 AM. With some time to kill, it was nice to enjoy some hot caffeine at Cote' Cafe, while waiting for departure.
The journey from Paris to Brussels took only an hour and 25 minutes... yet, long enough for me to enjoy the refreshing scenery en route!
Smooth sailing: Brussels' Midi terminal finally in sight!
As expected, we were welcomed by Tintin promotional posters as we reached Brussels Midi - a sign of what's in store for us in this beautiful city. BUT... we had not explored Brussels first... As planned, we switched to another train, this time headed for Venice of the North - Bruges! We spent a full day in Bruges, and only returned to Brussels later in the evening, where we spent the next two nights.
Scenic Bruges...
OMG! Bruges was so awesome! Only slightly over an hour from Brussels but this canal-rich city is so vastly different and really, really scenic! Only now do I understand why they call it "Venice of the North".
We had walked from the train station into the city center, exploring the city outskirts. Before we reached the lovely spots like what you see in the picture above, we cut through the city park, and bumped into a friendly municipal worker...
Struggling to express himself in basic English, he pointed out that the tree next to us has a very interesting and historical past. I felt honored, that he took the trouble to explain that Hitler had used this very tree as his lookout tower during the war!
Municipal worker explaining the history of this tree to my brother...
The 'Hitler Tree'
Thereon, we explored the city the entire day. I took zillions of pictures! I'm sharing some of them here... Enjoy!
Tintin!! *to be continued
