Arriving in Brussels

Our taxi arrived at 7.00am this morning to take us to St Pancras International Station to catch the Eurostar train to Brussels, where we arrived around 11am. On arrival we rang Albert,  the owner of 3/27C Rue des Sables where we are staying, and he arranged to meet us there at 1pm. We decided to walk to the apartment to fill in time and to see some of Brussels on the way - perhaps not a very sensible idea since we had two quite heavy cases to pull, most of the footpaths here are made of paving stones and the distance from the station is over 3km. In addition, we got lost coming out of the station and wasted twenty minutes going in the wrong direction until we asked someone the way. Nevertheless we arrived in time to meet Albert who showed us around the apartment and ran us through the security system.

This apartment is such a contrast to the last one - modern, spacious, very well equipped and very comfortable!

After we unpacked we enjoyed a walk around the city. The highlights were as follows:

• Cathedral of St Michael and St Gudula - a beautiful gothic cathedral, built between the thirteenth and sixteenth centuries, with amazing stained glass windows from the sixteenth and eighteenth centuries.

• Galeries St-Hubert - a magnificent shopping arcade built in 1847 with imaginative displays in many of the shop windows

• Le Grand Place - the impressive square in the heart of the city, edged by the Town Hall, the King's House (now the City Museum) and a row of former guild halls (early 18th century). 

And just to finish this post, here are some photos of statues which caught my eye: