The taxi arrived on time to take us to Stafford station for the first part of our train journey. I felt a bit sorry for the taxi driver because Mr C hadn’t factored in enough time to cater comfortably for slow moving traffic but we made it in time. When we arrived in London the London cab driver was dismayed and put his head in his hands when we said we were only going round the corner to St Pancras station. Apparently he had waited 40 minutes and had been hoping for a more lucrative fare.
As we neared St Pancras station, the traffic was chaotic and when we arrived at the station we realised why. All of the Eurostar trains were delayed so the terminus was full of people milling around. We wern’t quite sure what was going on until we heard an announcement saying that there had been an incident on the French TGV line. There were plenty of staff available to answer questions and we were informed that we would be called to our train when it was ready for boarding. This was done by waving a card about with the train time and destination as there are no digital electronic screens to keep passengers updated there.
Despite the delay, the experience wasn’t stressful and when we were called to our train it was only about half an hour behind schedule. As we were queuing to go through border security and bag checks, we found out that the delay was due to one of the French high speed trains colliding with an animal. Oh dear…
Following the delay, the journey ran smoothly and we were served with a light lunch of salmon accompanied by a bottle of Grenache Rose whilst enjoying sunny scenes through the windows of the train. We changed at Brussels for the last leg of the journey which took about thirty minutes. Rather than carry our luggage through the city to the hotel we caught our third taxi of the day.
On arrival at the hotel we had a momentary scare; the receptionist struggled to find our reservation. She asked for the booking code which I was able to produce and it was only then that we all realised she had misheard our name. We had just enough time to unpack and settle into our room before it was time to go out for dinner. We asked the hotel receptionist for a restaurant recommendation (we were looking for traditional Belgian cuisine) which she provided. We found the restaurant she recommended and were able to sit outside, soaking up the atmosphere. We ended up talking to a lady on the table next to us who wondered what we might find to fill a week in Leuven. As we were talking, surprisingly, a monk dressed in white robes emerged from the restaurant next door.
After our meal we returned to the hotel where I had a nice glass of Rose wine before retiring to our room for a good night’s sleep.
Wonderful intricate stonework on that town hall. I love Belgium. Much under-rated by some.
As you must know by now, I am drawn to Belgium frequently
an eventful ride and first night. great shot, CP. i like the illuminated front and the silhouette at the back
Thanks Ayush
Sounds like a scary start…..
I was feeling rather hassled during the Taxi ride. But it isn’t the first time Mr C has not left enough margin for differences in traffic. I put it down to when he used to have to commute a lot as regular commuters leave no room for error!!
Poor Mr. C in that traffic. I’m sure he did very well.
On this occasion it was the Taxi driver that had to cope with the traffic (and yes he did well
). Mr C wasn’t driving, hence me feeling sorry for the Taxi driver 