Christmas Day in Brussels

The two-hour early morning journey by Eurostar from London St Pancras International near Kings Cross to Brussels was not really comfortable. Whoever own the rail company really try to pack up as many passengers as possible for the sake of profit. Most of the seats face each other and the leg room was restrictive. I noticed that Europeans with long legs have to place them on the aisle! What was more disconcerting was when you had to travel against direction of train and face to face with strangers especially a "hot couple". The premier class was the same except they had newspapers so I decided to travel standard class. My left knee was aching. That was on 24 December 2008. The actual undersea channel tunnel crossing was only about 30 minutes.

Upon arrival, we took a cab to our hotel, the Royal Windsor located near the Grand Place. It cost us Eur 7.80. The driver was a Moroccan who only spoke French and he was listening to a nasyid-like song called "Thank you Allah" which sounded like a local group Raihan.

On 25 December I woke up to the ringing of church bells, so loud that they set off cars' alarm system. They went on for about five minutes or so. After having a full breakfast, we decided to walk in the city. The narrow streets were gaily decorated and street musicians, one was playing an accordion and another,a group was playing classical music at a junction. And there were beggars as well crouching against the walls. Some buildings appeared to be spray-painted by vandals.

Quaint stalls lined up the cobblestone streets, selling crafts bric a brac. Souvenir shops, Belgian craft shops dotted the lanes and chocolate shops, Godiva, Nehaus, Leonidas, Corne.. all famous Belgian chocolate makers were there scattered all over the beautiful city square. There were rows of cute small restaurants displaying seafood, lobsters, cockles, prawns you name it they were all there arranged decoratively in ice on the pavements. Christmas decorations of red, green and gold were a plenty lending color to the festivities. They have arcades which they call galleries, selling all sort of things from keychains, T-shirts, shawls, intricate Belgian embroideries, jeweleries to leather jackets.

As the day progressed, more and more people came out to the square and jammed the narrow streets shoulder to shoulder. The day was cloudy, overcast and chilly. It grew dark very fast, by about 3 pm it was already nighttime. The square, bordered on four sides by old and architecturally stunning buildings, came alive with modern rods emanating colorful dancing lights which appear to respond and gyrate to the modern invigorating music. The atmosphere was electric, people, families with children even the disabled on motorized wheelchairs were mesmerized. At the end of every musical session, the big projector would highlight the moving shadow of Santa on his sleigh of reindeer across the baroque building electronically sprinkled with falling snowflakes... it was a magical moment, a virtual technology concert.

We stayed for three musical sessions before deciding to walk back to our hotel, it was then nearly 8pm. What a Christmas day it was! Tiring and yet rejuvenating.