Onwards to Brussels

The following few posts are continuation from this, this, this, this, this, this, this and this, all backdated posts of my trip to Europe in September.

September 21 – 22 (Friday – Saturday)

One would not visit the United States without seeing Washington, England without seeing London, France without seeing Paris, Italy without seeing Rome. So how could I visit Europe without seeing its capital? Yes, Brussels is the capital of the European Union (EU). It is chosen as the capital of Europe partly because it is at the heart of Europe, a mixing pot of Germanic people from the north and Latin people from the south.

The city of nearly one million inhabitants, Brussels is made up of French-speaking Walloons (80%) and Dutch-speaking Flemish (20%). Every sign in Brussels is written in both languages. Brussels is written as Bruxelles in French and Brussel in Dutch.

The train from Amsterdam to Brussels took about 2.5 hours, arriving at about 3.30pm at Gare du Midi train station. The hotel which I've booked online has pick-up services from the train station and arrived shortly after I called them. After checking into the hotel, I wasted no time to start exploring the city as I was to leave for Paris in about 24 hours.