Brussels, Welcome To Europe

 

 

About twelve hours after leaving the unusually cold weather for this time of the year in the Southern United States, under dawn's early light I can see the ground is covered with snow as we make our arrival into Brussels, Belgium.

 

 

 

 

This is not my first time visiting Belgium but it is my first time to experience a bit of winter here.

A friendly welcome during the immigration processing and I set out to change my original plans.

 

 

 

With a forecast for snow throughout the day, I look into taking a train into Luxembourg instead of driving. To my surprise, the train is a lot cheaper than renting a car when you purchase a flexible round trip ticket.

 

 

E$51 later and I am headed a short distance down a flight of stairs to Platform 2.

In less than ten minutes I am onboard a train that will take me to Brussels North Station where I will change to a direct train to Luxembourg.

  

Arriving at Brussels North, I discover that the trains to Luxembourg leave hourly at 42 minutes past the hour and I can leave whenever I chose. I take this opportunity to walk towards the City Centre although the conditions outside are almost miserable and in some places treacherous. Once or twice I come close to almost wiping out on the icy and slushy sidewalks. Guess I picked a good day to give up drinking.

 

 

 

Belgium Winter Weather

 

Refuge in a McDonalds to warm up and surf the web then I am back at the station in time to catch the next hourly scheduled Luxembourg train. After about three hours of taking in the snow covered landscape at various speeds with numerous stops along the way, I arrive in Luxembourg in plenty of time to explore a bit of the city on a cold winter afternoon.