Work trip to Brussels, Belgium - 6th to 7th August 2007

A trip to Brussels is rarely what you would call the most interesting of excursions - it isn't the most exciting of cities at the best of times (although the beer is good), and of course being August, many people have gone away on holiday, and much of the city seems shut. Trips like this also usually involve staying in a very functional hotel, and seeing the inside of boring offices that all seem to look the same.

So it was great this time to be staying at The Brussels House hotel, a small hotel with only 2 rooms. It is essentially just a big house in the suburb of Anderlecht, in which the owners have designed and furnished 2 amazing suites, which are like a real home from home. So, this paragraph was written whilst sitting in a massive pile of cushions in the corner of my room. Most out of the ordinary, and a million miles away from a huge, anonymous chain hotel. I will definitely try to stay here again when I return.

A good day’s work, the highlight of which (as is often the case when working on the continent), was a nice lunch lasting the best part of 2 hours, where I had an absolutely massive piece of beef fillet, cooked far better and costing much less money than you would pay in the UK. I often don’t look forward to going to Belgium, but when I actually get there, am pleasantly surprised by how nice and easy things seem to be – and in particular how good the food is.

With some time to kill before the Eurostar home, I travelled back to Gare du Midi under my own steam – taking a metro (including visits to Eddie Merckx and Jaques Brel stations - both famous Belgians in one journey!), wandering along for a bit, then picking up a tram for the rest of the way. During my walk, I saw the shop with possibly the least politically correct name ever, one that would literally be illegal if it were in the UK. As one of the last things I saw in Belgium, it summed the place up in a way – not a bad place to go, but some things there are just plain weird.