Events

Book 4 in the John Dies at the End series. Started in Caen, France.

Now this is a classic budget European hotel, shown here with the air conditioning at full blast:

I just passed through Paris traveling from Brussels to the Norman city of Caen. We're moving about 130 km/h through the suburbs, and we have wi-fi. This is what happens when your country doesn't spend 90% of its transport funds on roadbuilding and instead invests in high-speed inter-city connections like we used to have in the US. </rant>

The rain that was forecast around 10 am started around 5 pm, shortly after I returned to my hotel room to catch up on a few things. In my wanderings today I did manage to get a a Liège waffle, but since I got it from right by the Mannekin Pis, the waffle came with a non-optional chocolate pissing boy:

Yesterday was a lot, especially since I hadn't completely recovered from traveling Saturday night through Sunday evening. Yesterday included a €60 fine for getting on the wrong train (more on that later); a 6 km hike from Aachen, Germany, to the Dreiländereck monument with a total climb over 150 m; two stops in Liège, Belgium; a climb up the Montagne de Bueren; a delicious plate of boulets à la Liégesoise; and several reminders of just how amazing European trains can be.

I was in three countries today, all of them repeatedly, owing to a long hike I took from Aachen, Germany, to the Dreiländereck (three-country point). Then I went to Liège, and now I'm back in Brussels. I will recount all of these adventures with some preliminary photos at some point in the near future.

I am finally in my hotel room in Brussels after an only-slightly-delayed Eurostar from St Pancras. The only mistake I made was not realizing before I started walking to my hotel that it was 1.7 km uphill from the train station. Of course that means it's 1.7 km downhill on Wednesday when I next have to schlepp my bags. (It really earned its title "luggage" this evening.)

Started on the Eurostar from London to Brussels, just over the Belgian border with France

I was worried about the baggage retrieval system they've got at Heathrow when nothing happened for 15 minutes standing at the carousel. Once I checked to see where they had moved our bags, it was a quick trip to the arrivals lounge, a shower, and a cuppa. I really prefer this to the way I traveled the first time I got to the UK, schlepping a huge backpack around and not showering for something like 72 hours.

I'm sat quite peacefully in the American Airlines Flagship Lounge, sipping a Veuve Cliquot brut (n.v.), and tasting some of the new recipes they've got (the pesto balsamic salmon was lovely, but I think I'm going to get a bit more of the hoisin watermelon chicken). I'm also impressed with the current flag display in Terminal 3: