After dropping the truck at Zeebrugge we found our way by taxi and train to Brussels (Bruxelles to the locals) and our AirBnB apartment not far from Flagey Square in the Ixelles district. After the charms of Brugge we found Brussels a bit of a let down. But dutifully we spent a day in the sun touring the must-see sights. It will not surprise any of my fellow cynics that while much of what we saw in Brussels was somewhat time-worn and graffitied-up the area around the European Parliament Building was throbbing with activity, expensive cars and up market eating houses. Is it not amazing the way 'the political class' can justify spending other peoples money.
In search of richer sightseeing we decided to dedicate our second full day in Brussels to visiting Luxemburg (thats right we celebrated our second full day in Brussells by not being there). The train trip from Brussells to Luxemburg is supposed to take 3 and 1/2 hours but it was not long before we began to suspect that Belgium trains had little liking for schedules.
A visit to Luxemburg was a brief affair with only a few hours being available between our trains arrival and the time we decided we needed to depart. But in that short time we got around to a number of the main features. In all Lux is a pretty city sitting on an outcropping surrounded by valley or river.
The return journey to Brussels confirmed our diminishing opinion of Belgium trains. About mid way through the return journey we were informed (by passengers who also spoke English) that the train would be delayed as the relief driver for the second half of the journey had not arrived and in fact was still on a train heading our way. And sure enough we sat at the station of some small village for 40-50 minutes while our new driver found his way to us.
During our wait we were entertained by and conversed with a group of primary school students and teachers who had been on a 3 day camping trip. Surprisingly (or maybe not) we got the so what do you think of Trump question multiple times from the pre-teen Europeans - and what could I say - I am still asking the same question.