Words Of My Heart: 6+ hours in Brussels

Monday, October 8, 2012

6+ hours in Brussels

6th September 2012

Our train to Brussels left at 9:46 AM. So we arrived at Amsterdam Centraal about 1/2 hour earlier before departure. Since we had our breakfast at the hotel, we just hang around by the platform until the train arrives.

I didn't remember much of the journey, since I slept most of the time in the train. Too sleepy.

We arrived in Brussels Midi/Zuid Station about 3 hours later. First thing we did when we arrived, was searching for the baggage locker. It was not hard to find, the station was quite small. Somehow just bumped into a corner where the lockers were. Just look for the sign "CONSIGNES", although there is no direction of the locker anywhere else except for the locker place. If you can't find it, just ask around. We paid between €4 - €5 for 24 hours if I'm not mistaken. I can't remember the exact amount. Sorry.

You must wonder why we got off at Gare du Midi/Zuid instead of Gare de Centraal. It's because departure to London is only from Zuid/Midi. So I thought, it'll be better since we won't have to carry our bags from Centraal to Midi if we got off at Centraal. Hope you get what I mean. :-P

Anyway, then we bought metro tickets and made our way to Heysel station to take a look at the Atomium. We spent about 1/2 hour there before heading back to Centraal station. Just so you know, buy a 2 way before you head off to Heysel because there's no one in the counters, we had to buy them using the machine and they don't take cash. Thank God our Maybank debit card could be used! Since none of us had credit cards.

The Atomium

When we arrived at Centraal. I tried using my memory of Brussels map to get around the city. But it failed, we had no idea where to go, but somehow stumble upon a beautiful cathedral which I found out later was St. Michael & St. Gudula Cathedral. In the end, we bought a map for €3 at the Train station.

St. Michael & St. Gudula Cathedral

St. Michael & St. Gudula Cathedral (view from the front)

Place de l'Albertine

So then we walked around the city, had Belgian waffles for lunch. I couldn't really finished my waffles, a kid came by asking to donations. He was showing his tummy. Hungry maybe. So I gave him my unfinished waffles instead of coins. His face light up with a huge smile! I've never seen anyone so happy getting food before. It made my day. So I guess, food is better than money? =)

Then we walked to the Grand Place, and checked out the Mannekin Pis. After that we just hang around the Grand Place until it was about 5 PM. We had no idea where to go actually. I wanted to check out the Royal Palace, but our feet hurts so bad that we decided to just rest and enjoy the view at the Grand Place. And 6 hours in Brussels is quite short. There's not even time to check out the museums. So then, we walked along Rue du Midi to Av. de Stalingrad until we reached Gare du Midi/Zuid station.