After a wonderful Christmas in England with Sean’s relatives (unfortunately not a white Christmas) it is back on the train tracks and off to explore more of Europe!
We took the overnight Ferry to and from Hull which was fun. More like a cruise ship than a ferry there were bars galore, a small casino where Sean managed to win a little bit and some duty free shops. We had a small cabin with two bunks and a bathroom with one of the best showers we have had (water pressure doesn’t exist in England and Europe!!).
Then it was back onto the train to Brussels where I had researched have a great fireworks display for new years and a really great atmosphere. Unfortunately the terrorists have also heard that and decided to plot to destroy it, so the fireworks were cancelled and half of Brussels was closed, along with the train lines. Luckily I had managed to get us a great deal at a five star hotel, so after we had explored the little there was left to explore of Brussels we were at least able to relax in comfort.
Sean wasn’t a huge fan of Brussels and even after I found a beer museum to take him too he still didn’t seem very impressed. We did mange to find a great restraint which had a special lunch offer of a 3 course seafood meal for 10 euros! I had escargot (or your average garden snails) followed by a huge serve of mussels (the local dish) and icecream. Sean skipped the snails and had prawns then the mussels and icecream. Was all very nice and I was starting to get Sean a little less down on Brussels, until he found out he beer he had just cost him 8 euro!!!
We spent new years eve watching Kids movies on TV and Sean watched the fireworks all over the world each hour as more countries reached the new year. I fell asleep a little before midnight Brussels time, but Sean told me I did mange to wake up and wish him a happy new year about 4 times!
Getting out of Brussels was not as easy as we had hoped so we spent a large chunk of new years day sitting in the dingy train station waiting for a train. To top it off the stupid woman who sold us the tickets didn’t bother to tell us that when we changed trains in Paris we also had to change stations, luckily I realised just after we had ordered some food in a Paris restaurant, and we ate and ran and made it to the other station just in time to catch our train to Lyon. Hopefully France will impress Sean a little more than Brussels!
