Sophie had invited us to visit her and Jim in Brussels. Merging this with a visit to Broadstairs made a lot of sense, especially when we found that there was a train from Montpellier to Brussels.
We arrived in the evening and Sophie was there to collect us. The centre of Brussels is being pedestrianised, with the planning based on trial and error, so finding a route between point A and point B was not easy for Sophie. Eventually, we found a the car park and Sohpie took us to our hotel, the Metropole.
Pat's father, Ernie had been in Brussels towards the end of the war, when they camped at the Heysel stadium. At that time, the Metropole was an American hotel and off limits to UK troops, but this didn't stop them getting in through the kitchens to hear the music. Ernie had fond memories of the hotel and we had taken him there in 1997 on a day trip.
The hotel has kept its character and so we enjoyed ourselves with the cameras
While we were settling in, Sophie was looking at her Facebook account and saw the early reports of the shootings in Paris which started shortly after we arrived in Brussels.
When Jim arrived from London later in the evening, we enjoyed some wine in the bar. In 1997, we sat in the same bar with Ernie, under the signature of Vera Lynn
Around 1997 we took Ernie back to the Metropole where we sat beneath the signature of Vera Lynn.
This was the spot.
The next day, we wandered around the centre of the city, browsing in shops on our way th the Grand Place. The first stop was the 'speculos shop', selling biscuits, breads, spreads etc, all including cinnamon.
It was a grey day with rain from time to time, so not the best day for photos, but there were plenty of people milling around. Maison du Roi
Inside the beer museum
We met with Sophie and Jim in the late afternoon and walked around various museums and night sites
At 6pm we were in the Grand Place again, observing a minute's silence at the Town Hall, bathed in the colours of France.
Then we warmed up in bars, sampling wines and beers. One of the bars we visited served a 'half and half' mix of wine and fizz.
The next day, we toured the flea market, eating lunch in a cafe by the market and then searching for 'fancy dress'. Later, we visited the Jardin d'Egmont, with its staues. The Eglise Notre Dame du Sablon was just by the exit from the park; Jim, John and Sophie are in the foreground.
Before we headed for the EuroStar to Ashford, vwe called into a chocolate shop for hot chocolate and macaroons. It was a short journey on the train to Ashford and then on to Broadstairs by the train replacement bus, which dropped us at Ramsgate, where we picked up a taxi for the short journey on.
The next few days passed in a whirl of Ernie, Lenny and helping around the house.
Sand has been piled high on the beach at Broadstairs, presumably, to protect the beach huts etc but more importantly for Ernie, providing entertainment.
We finished our stay with a trip to one of Ernie's favourite places, the London Transport Museum. As we arrived at St Pancras, we found this year's Christmas tree which is made of Disney characters.
The on to the Transport Museum by taxi.
Our trip back was less than ideal. This time the EuroStar was on time, but not our onward train from Lyon. This, along with a train in front of us carrying a suspect package meant that we were 2 hours late and could not catch the blast bus home, so a taxi was needed.
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