Farewell Europe!

Friday 23rd September

Oh boy! Another very early start! Up at 5 am, breakfast at 6.30 am and departure at 7.30am. We had a train to catch!!

As we left Amsterdam the weather was quite moderate although there were low clouds hanging over the fields. I noticed with interest the number of jet streams from the aeroplanes in the area crisscrossing one another due to the cold damp air rising up. We continued our travels for another couple of hours and crossed from the Netherlands into Belgium. Once again with absolutely no sign of any border control now.

We passed through a number of towns where some major battles were fought during the last World War. They looked so peaceful and ordinary it was hard to imagine they had experienced such devastation. We then reached Brussels where we were to have a lunch break. This is where the European parliament is situated and is regularly in the news as they pass some quite silly laws that are supposed to be binding on all countries in the Union. The centre of town has some very old buildings, especially the Town Hall. We were told of an iconic statue in Brussels called Manekin Pis which is a small boy doing what a little boy has to do when he gets caught short. We saw replicas in all the shops and were looking forward to seeing the original which they dress up in various costumes throughout the year. Wow! What an anticlimax that turned out to be! The original statue stands about 12 inches tall!!

The shops were full of the well known Belgian lace and I enjoyed a hefty helping of their renowned waffles. Jill decided although they looked very tempting, they were a bit too rich for her.

The Eurostar train leaves from Brussels, so we set off to board it around 2.30 pm, for the 2 hour journey back to London through the tunnel once more, turning our clocks back an hour after boarding.

We arrived back to sunny London once more and said our farewells to our fellow travellers after a very enjoyable and informative tour. I thoroughly enjoyed every bit of it and after a few days recuperation, hope the next one is just as good!