my name is mwd

I thought I’d bore you all with a little bit from my recent trip. I’ll spare you the work details, they’re really dull, but I was impressed both by the Eurostar and Brussels itself.

The Eurostar first. On the way to Brussels there was about seven of us, spread over the train. The train itself is very nice, clean, well kept - more so than most trains in the UK and, indeed, most budget airline planes. In standard class there’s a little more leg room than you’d find on a plane; it’s not a huge amount, but it does make the difference, as on the return leg I could comfortably watch DVDs on my iBook when placed on the fold down table - no way I’d be able to do that on most cheap flights. On the way there we were all quite hungry, having just had an all day meeting, so we quickly invaded the buffet/bar carriage, which has a serving bar, and a set of tables to stand at. Food wise they were a bit low, but the food they did have was fairly cheap, and better yet they had beer. In fact, we spent the entire journey in the bar, and drank it dry (though, it has to be said we only had 2 or 3 beers each). But it was fantastic - essentially we went to a bar in London, had a few drinks for a couple of hours, and then stepped out in Brussels - now that to me is a very sensible and civilised way to travel :)

Anyway, overall I was impressed with the Eurostar. It’s comfortable, and it takes you to the city you want to be, so although slower than a flight duration, if you add in all the other time wasting associated with flights, it’s probably a similar length, with less hassle. I’m off to the Apple Expo in Paris, and I’ll certainly use the Eurostar for that trip.

Brussels was not what I expected. Brussels seems to be the home of all that is bureaucratic, and as such I thought it would be all modern office blocks, but I was very wrong. The heart of Brussels is old, with lots of narrow winding streets with cafes and interesting art. Near our hotel was the “manneken-pis” (an apparently famous fountain of a boy pissing!), and a square who’s name I forget surrounded with wonderful old gothic buildings. It actually reminded me a lot of Bologna, just less red and less vespas :) Anyway, I think at some point I’d like to go back for a long weekend and explore it a bit more.