Let’s go to Europe
Part 1
How lucky am I to have opportunities for travel to celebrated destinations across the world? In 2023 I visited Paris, London, Brussels, and Marseilles, in a frenetic paced two weeks. Before, during, and after I asked myself, what makes for a fulfilling trip? How do I enjoy my first trip to Europe, visiting some of the most famous destinations in the world, in a brief ten days?
Trains are how
How else would you maximize your time around the continent and across the channel? Here on the west coast of our broad country, train routes do not speed up or improve travel plans all that much. But in Europe they do! What a different experience. We romanticize the road trip in the US, because if we didn’t, we’d have to admit how uncomfortable, inconvenient, expensive, and polluting a mode of transportation it is.
First up, Brussels
Some places you know all about from afar, before ever setting foot there. Not the case (for me) for the city of Brussels. I knew it was the seat of the EU, and in Belgium, but scant else. So everything was new to me - a true brain-stretching experience of absorbing the unknown.
I was visiting on a work trip, staying at a good-for-business-travelers hotel in the Schaerbeek area, near the Gare du Nord station. Hotel breakfast turned out to be typical of subsequent European hotels’ breakfasts, with buffets of scrambled eggs, salmon, regional cheese, pastries, and wonderful espresso machines. The office where I worked was casual, and afforded me more espresso in the lobby. I was able to see the Atomium and northern Brussels from the windows. Desks were unassigned and the work space quiet.
After work drinks were enjoyed outside – in the European summer, restaurants seemed apologetic when only indoor seating remained, and restaurants with no outdoor seating enjoyed no clientele.
Being in Belgium, we ordered frites and bierre. The fries were fantastic, served with mayo, and quickly devoured. My colleagues checked multiple times that I was okay with a strong beer (7% alcohol, a Triple). I tried not to brag about our west coast IPA’s.
My colleagues split off and some headed home, by bike and by train, and a small group headed off on a search for the best chocolate in Brussels. The first shops we entered were disqualified as too touristy, low quality, and we settled on the chocolatier who apparently served chocolate to the queen. One of my work hosts surprised me with a box of chocolates to take home. Not to be outdone, another colleague brought us to a Mediterranean sweet shop, abundant with almond, pistachio, and ingredients unknown. Sticky fingers from sampling, we left with the best sweets in Belgium, according to my colleague.
We traversed alleyways of bars, shops, little restaurants, on cobbled streets.
That evening was the precursor of the Ommegang events being prepared for the next day, with stadium seating filling the main space of the Grand Place, and flag demonstrations in medieval costumes. Word was that the queen would view the actual performance in the morning. My colleague pointed out the municipal, centuries old building where he got married a couple decades ago.
9pm came and went, and the selected restaurant was closed, so the backup Greek one was successfully found, and we were able to eat dinner at around 10pm. The two shocks of different culture were late dinners and the overwhelming presence of public cigarette smoking.
With such a short time in a new city, cramming in so much in an evening was exactly what my mind hoped for, and my body dreaded. But fighting jet-lag is a worthy battle, and you want to win it early.
I only had about two days in a city that begged to be explored and enjoyed further. Luckily, I was invited back in 2024, and hope to return many times. Way to whet my appetite, Brussels. You are truly an international city full of joy.