Having tricked the guy at breakfast yesterday, he got his own back today. I made a play for the croissants but he'd got there ahead of me and spiked them with yuck. I think this particular yuck was custard, blurgh!
I left in disgust after drinking all of the orange juice and went to the local shop and got some fresh warm pan au chocolat. Yum
Back to Brussels today and I took the motorway to save some time. Now people say the belgiums are boring and they certainly are that in their driving. Not 1kph over the speed limit by anyone ever. It's as though there is a satellite tracking them all and will blow them up if they speed. It's a good job Sandra Bullock isn't on a bus over here, she'd be fucked.
It didn't take long to get back to the capital, and instead of heading to the hotel I went straight for my first sight of the day, the Atomium.
It was made in 59 for the World Fair and is this giant structure that you can go in. So I did. It was pretty cool, full of retro exhibits and funky lighting.
Afterwards I went to find lunch and while I was in the exhibit, a bunch of stalls had been setup outside. It turns out that today was a festival for 50s cars, mopeds and music, however it was really just full of Harleys and stalls that sold sew on badges for their patches.
They did have awesome hot dogs though, so I grabbed one of those bad boys. For some reason, no one here speaks any English although they know all of the words to every Elvis song.
After noms I went next door to miniature Europe where they'd made a bunch of famous buildings to scale from around Europe. Sounds boring I know but it was quite impressive and some of them were interactive. By that I don't mean you could go all King Kong and kick shit out of the place...
My second place to visit was Auto World, yes, more cars. This was in a really ornate building that reminded me of the Brandenburg Gate, but inside was a giant warehouse full of the history of cars.
Most of them were old time cars from the 20s and 30s but they had some modern stuff too which made it worthwhile.
It was seriously hot again and the car museum was quite stuffy inside so I left in search of a cafe. I was tight next to a giant park full of people playing footy, boules, badminton, etc. However for some reason there was nowhere to buy a drink.
While I was looking around some foreigner stopped me to ask directions asking if I spoke English, I answered "a little" and then gave her directions in broken English using Google Maps. It's the little things that amuse me.
I eventually found a van selling drinks so inhaled that and went back to the car.
I was staying at the same hotel as before in Little Palestine. I'd tried to change it but it wasn't refundable so I headed over there. The parking situation was awful again instead of double parking it was triple parked actually blocking some roads (if you double park next to someone who has double parked is it triple parked or quad parked?).
In the end I found a car park, but it was kind of in the middle of a dual carriageway which involved some very dodgy maneuvers to get into. There was a space but after I parked some guy came over and introduced himself as 'local security' (he didn't look like security). I pointed to the hotel I was staying in and he seemed happy with the saying that paying wasn't obligatory. I fully expect my car to be completely stripped down to the nuts and bolts when I get back to it tomorrow.
I was assigned the same room as before in my dump of a hotel, but I had a view of the dodgy car park so that I could see the parts moving from the vehicle to eBay as they went to work.
After chilling out for an hour I walked into the centre and found a nice outdoor restaurant that did an awesome steak. Although some guy in the square is busking his way through UB40s hits which isn't ideal but at least it should be brief.
Following another beer and necessary ice cream I headed back to Little Palestine to pack and retire for the evening. It's an early flight tomorrow, so I'll sign off now.
As always, thanks for reading.
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