Today was our last day in the Netherlands. Mike had kindly said he would take us into Brussels to the station as we had never been there before other than being driven through it in Graeme’s case.
We got up early, loaded the car and we were on our way. En route to Brussels Mike had a couple of surprises up his sleeve. The first was a short visit to Leuven which is about 16 miles from Brussels. Leuven has suffered so much war damage in the past and particularly in both World Wars, but the restoration is such that you wouldn’t know that.
What a little gem it is with its beautiful buildings, a stream and squares. We had a wander through the town. There must have been a big party in the town on Saturday night as the street cleaners were busy tidying the place up and there was evidence of street parties and live music.
We then moved on to our second surprise. We never imagined that there would be an opportunity to see the celebrated Atomium, but Mike took us there. We felt that photographs of the Atomium did not do it justice, in fact, Graeme didn’t believe it was the same structure that he had seen when he was young.
The drive into Brussels wasn’t easy but Mike managed to get us into an underground car park right below the Grand Place. We were able to have a wander around the Grand Place and a walk down to the notable Mannekin Pis which was just off the Square.
By now, we were getting a little anxious about getting to the station for the Eurostar to London, so we curtailed our time in Brussels and set off. Again, the roads were tricky – very narrow and twisty but we got there safely and said our goodbyes to Mike and Marion.
Signs to the Eurostar were virtually non-existent but we eventually found where we were meant to be. We were delighted to be told that we could get the earlier train which was a huge relief as our original scheduling didn’t give us a lot of time to get from St. Pancras International to King’s Cross to catch the train to Retford. Using the earlier Eurostar train gave us plenty of time at King’s Cross so we remained well on track to be picked up by Sarah and James.
Unfortunately, we were badly delayed at our first stop - Stevenage - as the Transport Police had to be summoned to deal with some anti-social behaviour which delayed us by 35 minutes. However, we were pleasantly surprised to find out that LNER would refund half of our fare as compensation for the delay.
It was
great to get to Retford and to see Sarah and James who then took us to Water
Meadows for a very welcome tea.
Those were the days!
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