Blog

We woke up to find a sunny morning over Brussel [City of Brussels], so we soon headed out to town. First stop at the Mannekenpis, which is definitely overrated. I liked much better the building behind with all the bicycles emerging from the walls. We saw the Grand Place in daylight this time, and it’s still awe-inspiring.

Kévin then took me to the heights(!) of Brussel, from where we had a decent view over the city. Turning North and we found ourselves in front of the monumental Royal Palace, a gigantic boulevard and a big park. We walk past governmental buildings and all the way out of the center to reach the botanical garden.

Fleeing the city noise, we headed back south to the center to find some place to eat, where we planned out how we would tackle the Comic Book Route. Brussel is riddled with large mural paintings, depicting the great names of the Comic Strips: Gaston Lagaffe, Boule & Bill, Tintin, Blake and Mortimer, XIII… It was a really fun treasure hunt, and made wearing my backpack much easier (I am struggling today for some reasons).

Alas, all good things must end, and at 3 PM, Kévin leaves from Brussel Midi station to get back home (he has to work so that I can travel. Kinda indirectly.) We say our fond goodbyes, and I jump into the 40th train of the adventure to the Central station before he even leaves. Ah! Git gud.

I find a final mural, of The Smurfs, painted on the roof of a tunnel, do a bit of grocery, and wait for the next train. This one takes me to Luik [Lièges].

No time to see anything as I have to jump into the next one. But I’m back for a night in Luik tomorrow anyway. The night fell as we reach the not-so-falt-at-all lands of South-western Belgium and beyond, until the hills could barely be distinguished from the dark sky, mystically merging into each other. You could almost hear the call of Ktulu in the distance.

Bonjour Luxembourg!

The fifth country and smallest so far will have to be content with my presence for only a night, as the cheapest bed I could find in the entire country is 35 € a night. Outch! The Luxembourg [Luxembourg City] Youth Hostel is awesome though! And it only took me a two-minute FREE bus ride to get there.

On an unrelated note, here is a timelapse video from the Inverness-Edinburgh ride from a few days ago: