We landed in Brussels, Belguim this morning at 7:46am local time - that's 8 hours ahead of Colorado. Grabbed our bags and hopped aboard the train to the central station. I am now a fan of the Blackberry global service, since my printout for our hotel reservation didn't contain the address and I forgot to print the map giving directions. A quick search on the BB and voila (that's French), I had the address. Nice man inside the little ticket booth told us to take Line 3 two more stops then a short walk. Sure enough, when we got up on the street, the Astrid Hotel was two blocks away.
After check-in an a quick shower, we set off to explore the "capital" of the European union. The Grand Plaza was...well...grand. The old cathedrals are pretty cool, at least from the outside. None of them were open, and most look old and dying...or dead. Again, I am struck by the fading of a once vibrant faith. Belguim was a stronghold of Christianity for hundreds of years, yet now seems hardly in evidence.
We experienced a quaint, movie style lunch at a bustling outdoor cafe under the trees with live music (old movie tunes included). Then wandered through what was clearly an Islamic section of the city. If I had not seen some of the recent population statistics, I would have been surprised at the large non-European presence here in the heart of the EU.
Finally, my language ignorance proclaimed itself again to be a hindrance. I desperate wish I could communicate with those on the streets in the language of their hearts in something other than my feeble phrases of "bonjour" and "merci".
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