Thursday 31 October 2013

It’s a Comical City - Brussels

Brussels was my ticket out of the Euro zone with my free stamp visa reaching dangerously close to the 90 days. The hostel I choose was relatively very far from the city requiring a train ride almost 20 minute and another 20 minute walk along the road. It was cheap basically but fairly good in condition.

The choice would come back to haunt me later.

One beauty of staying so far away from the city was that you get to see the local lifestyle. A bit boring for a tourist still it was real. The hostel was actually in a sports hall where people book courts, played basketball , squash, tennis, gym, and almost anything you can think off. I was brought pass all the sports court and at the back linked by a small bridge was the hostel managed by the sports hall itself.

There was plenty of rooms in very good condition with all the facilities minus a kitchen. There was no kitchen …

The choice would come back to haunt me later.

Hopping back onto the train I headed to explore the city of Brussels. The first that I immediately notice was all the mural painting of comical characters on building all around the city. Apparently being the home of quite a few famous comic writers such as Peyo - Smurf ,  Herge - Tintin, Edgar - Blake & Mortimer  and many more I was not aware off.

I found that many of the artworks were just round the corner but intentionally missing the busy street of the tourist.

Hence the start of the hunt of Comics Graffiti Begins.













Sunday 13 October 2013

Last Minute Stop - Luxemburg

You know when sometimes you just want to be a bloody tourist ??? I know a lot of people who shun the tourist mentality and would prefer full independence travel anytime over a tour guide …. I am partially guilty of it but sometimes … you just cant avoid acting like a tourist ….

Luxemburg was one of those times I guess. I just wanted to add one more country to count of my journey … 
The Only Hostel in Luxemburg

From Gent I bought a return ticket to Luxemburg…. RETURN ticket … thou I was never going to use it … apparently according to the train ticket booth seller if I buy the return instead of the one way journey it was actually cheaper than buying two individual tickets to Luxemburg and then to Brussels. Must be something to do with the imaginary international border line whereby ticket crossing country can be quite expensive. But buying a return ticket means you will be coming back so it was good and cheaper.

41 Euro for a Return Ticket to Luxemburg from Gent

So I got the return ticket to Luxemburg which will serve as my ticket to Brussels from Luxemburg and if someone’s lucky passed on the next person that would be going to Gent from Brussels at the hostel …. We all help each other … backpacking strangers helping strangers every little bit to save money …. Like leaving food in the common kitchen label free for all …

Luxemburg … was beautiful … but boring to boot … well maybe it was winter so nothing much was going around. The city was like a castle in a epic fantasy book where the river or ravine spew in a circle around the city and was so deep that if it was not for the bridges it would take forever to cross over.

Down the ravine the semi outer city was a eerie place at night. Yet if you have a friend with you I would definitely suggest venturing around looking for a pub …. Its almost mystical at night.

Daytime nearby was a old ruin of some sort … did not really understand what that was but it looked interesting enough to wonder about for 3 hours …. Of the things I discovered were some weird fucking sculpture ….



Weird Fucking Sculpture


Luxemburg City

Luxemburg City