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| Photos & Writeup: Voyage Voyage - Brussels (1321646) | |||
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Photos & Writeup: Voyage Voyage - Brussels |
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Posted by AEM-7AC #901 on Thu Oct 30 14:04:35 2014        Au-dessus des vieux volcans Glisse tes ailes sous le tapis du vent Voyage, voyage, éternellement De nuages en marecages De vents d'Espagne en pluies d'Equateur Voyage, voyage, vole dans le hauteurs Au-dessus des capitales, des idées fatales Regarde l'océan Voyage, voyage, plus loin que la nuit et le jour Voyage, dans l'espace inouï de l'amour Voyage, voyage, sur l'eau sacrée d'un fleuve indien Voyage, et jamais ne reviens Sur le Gange ou l'Amazone Chez les blacks, chez les sickhs, chez les jaunes Voyage, voyage, dans tout le royaume Sur les dunes du Sahara De îles Fidji au Fujiyama Voyage, voyage, ne t'arrête pas Au-dessus des barbelés, des coeurs bombardés Regarde l'océan Voyage, voyage, plus loin que la nuit et le jour Voyage, dans l'espace inouï de l'amour Voyage, voyage, sur l'eau sacrée d'un fleuve indien Voyage, et jamais ne reviens Au-dessus des capitales, des idées fatales Regarde l'océan Voyage, voyage, plus loin que la nuit et le jour Voyage, dans l'espace inouï de l'amour Voyage, voyage, sur l'eau sacrée d'un fleuve indien Voyage, voyage - Voyage Voyage Desireless If you had asked me a year ago if I would ever go on vacation again, and I would have said no. My mom was in a hospital bed facing a difficult surgery, and everybody was freaked out over what would happen next for her. Yet, she made it, and she after a difficult and long recovery process, things were slowly returning back to normal. Mind you, normal wasn't exactly trip planning time, and I was pondering at the last minute whether to actually do anything this year with the vacation that I had set aside. I'm not the best planner, and while I can spend hours at work daydreaming about future itineraries, I was pushing the limits of things with this trip. Usually, I'd bail out at this point, but the stress at work was pushing me to want to escape. So with barely a week to go, I bought train tickets, hotel stays, and plane tickets. Yes, I overpaid for nearly everything, but at that point, I didn't care. I just wanted to go. So the first leg of my trip was to the wonderful city of Brussels. I mean, I think it's wonderful. :-) Brussels is a Dutch city that speaks French. On its best days, it can seem like a place where its best days may have been in its past. The architecture feels more Dutch in terms of influences, and even on a sunny day, it's not a city that glows. This isn't Paris or The Hague, but their far grittier counterpart. Mind you, this certainly doesn't extend to the people. The women are prettier, and the people overall are far more friendly and accommodating. Unlike Parisians, they actually liked my French accent, and they were impressed with the fact that an Anglophone could actually ask for a few things in French. I certainly didn't mind standing around them in a free concert being held on Belgian National Day, and it was fun chanting Vive la Belgique after the fireworks show in front of the royal palace celebrating the independence of their land. As for the trains, Brussels has been blessed with a network of trams, a metro system, and regional railway network. Mind you, the Belgians aren't the Germans, so you're not going to find well-maintained immaculate central stations or suburban stations, but facilities that in some cases reek a bit of SEPTA. There isn't fare integration between regional services, but the system is definitely usable. The tram track may not be whisper quiet, and some of the subway stations are undergoing repair, but again, the network is still usable compared to what most of us are stuck with in the States. The trams are an excellent way to get around the city, and it's one of the larger networks in the world, so it's a great place for any streetcar fan to visit unless you're wedded to trolley poles on 1930s era PCCs. Brussels Metro isn't a large system when compared to Paris, but it's certainly useful for getting around the city in conjunction with the "pre-metro" lines which feature underground sections of tramway similar to the Stadtbahns of Germany. As a joke, I've argued that the city's metro is Montreal Metro without architecture and rubber tires*, but truthfully it isn't that different from your typical Gaullic engineered post-war metro with high acceleration rates and a 75 km/h maximum allowable speed. It isn't as impressive when compared to systems where 90 second headways are achievable, but you don't have perpetual waits for trains to show up, and the newest rolling stock features open-gangways along passenger operated doors. I'll admit to not seeing much of either network, but I was with my mom's friend who gave me a guided tour, and it was a national holiday which meant terrible headways on most of the network. It was certainly a departure from my typical vacation, but I did manage to ride some sections of the streetcar network and the metro. You're not going to come to Brussels just for the metro unless you're a nutty railfan. You may come for the giant streetcar network, but there's more to the city than that. It's a wonderful place with excellent beer, mussels, waffles, fries, chocolate, and pretty women. Everything together is what makes Brussels a wonderful city not just for railfans, but for anybody looking for an interesting place to visit. *Brussels Metro is probably one of the few cases where a pre-metro system actually managed to get upgraded into a "real" subway, which may partially explain why it wasn't built around the Michelin tire technology that was used in Montreal, Lyon, Santiago, Marseille, and Mexico City. |
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