Just passing through ...

I woke up early to buy some chocolate and a birthday card for Emilie. It turned out to be a fortuitous coincidence - I never realized this when I booked the trip but it turns out her birthday was last Saturday. Went to the Church of Our Lady - I had tried to see its interior the last two days but always arrived after closing. Not a big deal - just another church! After I walked along Steenstraat in search of a pen (mine ran out of ink!) - went to the Hema department store to get a cheap one. I was pretty bummed today at the thought of leaving Belgium and going to London today. It's sad that I'm only passing through London on the way home. To cure my depression I had one final Belgian waffle with chocolate sauce and picked up a Brigand beer (my last Belgian beer of the trip!). I drank it on the train ride to Brussels, but only after some confusion at the train station. I got to the correct platform but it showed the next train to be bound for Antwerp, not Brussels. Turns out the Antwerp and Brussels trains were both delayed a fair bit. Anyway, I cracked open the beer halfway to Brussels and had to quickly pound it back before arriving. NOT a good idea! After eating only a small breakfast and waffle all day, chugging a 9% beer wasn't a good idea. I was really feeling it! Brigand wasn't the best choice - too bitter. Though I did drink it at room temperature and not at the 8 degrees Celsius ideal temperature printed on the label. I should've tried a Rodenbach instead! I almost missed my stop - I wrongly thought that the Brussels Midi station was the central station, when it fact it was the south station. Luckily I read about it in my guidebook just in time to get off. I had my last doner kebap of the trip - there was way too much meat and it was served with only some sauerkraut! I also had some bad frites and mayo. I actually felt kind of ill after (even worse than after the Brigand beer!). Blah! Aboard the Eurostar - I did some journal writing and napping. I was hoping to experience riding through the chunnel again - but I fell asleep and missed it! I was still depressed at going home but that was tempered by the excitement of seeing a friend in London again. It's always a nice way to end one of these Euro trips. It took forever to get to the hostel - delays with the tube system. At the hostel I finally ran into some Aussies - it wouldn't be a European trip without running into some! They were all long-termers in my dorm room, living there while they worked in London. I made my bed, changed clothes, and was off to see Emilie. I was a little late but her friend Alix was also visiting this weekend, so they had both just returned from sightseeing all day. Emilie always seems to cook for me! But I'm not complaining. A nice meal of salmon, roasted squash, rice, apple crumble, and some white wine. Good meal, good conversation, good friends - what better way to spend a night? We cracked open the chocolates I had bought, took some pics, had some laughs, and then I was off. Quite possibly the perfect ending to the perfect one week getaway. Emilie walked me to the tube station. There are new security doors installed in some of the tube stations to prevent access to the tracks. Maybe people were getting hit by trains? Not feeling like turning in just yet, I walked around the area by the hostel for a while - nothing happening. Bed time!

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