Goodbye Munich - Hello Brussels

Today was a transit, or largely lost day, travelling from Munich to Brussels. We have really enjoyed our time in Munich, especially catching up with family. Anke was so hospitable, and a great tour guide, and it was lovely to meet her kids Anna and Max. Hopefully we will keep in touch - Anke and I have said we will make a concerted effort!

We packed and left our apartment about 10.30, and poor Ian had to carry the cases down 4 flights of stairs, as the elevator was still out of action. Thank goodness the elevator was working last week when we arrived. We made our way to the HBF (main station), purchased tickets to the airport, found the right platform and waited for our train. It takes about 30 minutes to get out to Munich airport on the train, and is an easy trip, as the German trains are well designed with plenty of room for suitcases and nice wide aisles to walk down.

Check-in only involved a bag drop off, which was quick and easy. The biggest issue for us at the moment is going through security - when we left London and went through the body scanner, we both had to be patted down in places a stranger shouldn’t be touching! Ian also copped a very thorough bag search. In Munich, I was fortunate to only get a very light “pat down”, however Ian once again was patted down to the third degree, and then he removed his shoes which then went back through the X-ray machine. He has decided he will remove his shoes from the start on our next Security check to see if it makes a difference.

We wandered around Munich airport, had some lunch and then waited for our Lufthansa flight to Brussels. We boarded on time and left on schedule. It is only a short flight, equivalent to the Melbourne to Sydney flight, however we ended up getting in late, as when the plane was coming in to land the pilot suddenly aborted the landing and picked up speed, and had to circle around to come in to land. The pilot told us the reason for this was that during their first approach they were coming in too fast (according to Lufthansa standards)!

Finally we landed, and then had to walk a long way to collect our bags, and exit. My cousin Brigitte was there to meet us, as she had kindly offered to pick us up and drive us into the city. What a disaster that turned out to be! What should have been a 30 to 45 minute drive took 150 minutes. Every which way we went there was gridlock. Brigitte’s navigation system kept recalculating and rerouting us, but to no avail. To make matters worse, there were drivers that were behaving badly, trying to cut in, driving up the street on the wrong side of the road and then trying to push back in, blocking intersections etc. Brigitte said it was the worst she has ever seen it, and that’s a big call for Brussels - it turned out that it was caused by a car catching on fire in the centre of the city.

We finally made it to a parking complex about 300 metres from our Airbnb apartment, and made our way over cobblestones to the Galerie de la Reine. This is part of the Galeries Royals Saint- Hubert, which were designed and built by architect Jean-Pierre Cluysenaer between 1846 and 1847. The galleries consist of two major sections, each more than 100 metres in length. The main sections of the Gallerie Du Roi and Gallerie de la Reine (meaning King and Queen’s Gallery) are separated by a colonnade at the point where Rue des Bouchers crosses the Gallery complex. This bend was included to make the Galleries feel longer and break up the repetition of arches, pilasters and windows.

We made our way to number 10, and was buzzed in by our host. Unfortunately, we had to climb up 3 floors to our apartment and, once again, Ian carried both our suitcases. After meeting Sarah, who gave us a quick tour of the apartment (which is huge), we headed out for dinner to a favourite Italian place just around the corner, as we were all starving and in need of a glass of red! Especially Ian.

We had a lovely dinner at Sole D’italia in Rue des Bouchers, consisting of wood fired pizza with an Italian red, after which we walked Brigitte back to her car before heading to the apartment to settle in. In the evening the Gallerie is lit up, which looks lovely. It is open 24 hours a day, but is patrolled by security guards so is quite safe. The supermarket had closed and so we haven’t bought any supplies - we will go out for breakfast in the morning and then grab some supplies for the remainder of our stay here. I love looking out the windows of the apartment at the beautiful architecture of the gallerie and the view out of our loo window is amazing.Read more