year of fun

Trains are a big part of our journey. Not only will they get us from city to city but also around within each city. Today, we took a train from London to Brussels, which means we went through the Chunnel! It only took 20 minutes to travel underneath the English Channel to the French countryside.

Eurostar trains go very fast and feel almost like they are floating. I loved looking out the window at the countryside. I tried taking pictures but they just didn’t at all match the beauty of seeing the small English, French and Belgian towns and farms whiz by. As we got in to Brussels, farmhouses became apartment buildings and rolling hills became concrete walls covered in urban art, a different kind of beauty.

Once in Brussels, we got on the Tram, where two out-of-the-ordinary things happened: 1. a really nice guy gave us his extra metro ticket so we only had to buy one. 2. on the platform, a bunch of youths ran across the train tracks to get to the other platform. The first was very nice and only temporarily made me think of the movie, Taken. The second was particularly outrageous because I thought the tracks were electrified (like the third rail in the U.S.) but apparently here they aren’t. The youths just ran right across with no issue.

Many more trains are in our future on this trip. Riding them today made me thankful for my experience with different types of metros. I understand how confusing it can be even when the signs are in English. It also made me wish for a larger and faster city-to-city train system in the U.S. I would probably never fly again.

The flight and first day could not have gone any better. Well, I guess we could have gotten better sleep–we both woke up a lot on the plane. However, we stuck it out all day. Now, at almost 9pm we are settling in for the night. Yes, it’s a little early, but I’m hoping to sleep for quite some time and wake refreshed and ready to take on Belgium.

Today we strolled through Green Park and St. James Park. We passed Buckingham Palace in Green Park and got great shots of the London Eye and Big Ben from St. James Park. After walking around to all of the Parliament Buildings and going to Westminster Abbey (guess what Mom: it was closed), we stepped in to The Red Lion for our fist English brew of the trip. My draft Strongbow was a more successful order than the hubs’ Chiswick that tasted a little watered down.

After continuing to walk around, we made our way back to our hotel to figure out dinner. Somehow, and I don’t even know how, we stumbled upon the absolute BEST Indian restaurant either of us has ever eaten in. Obviously it was no match for my mother-in-law’s cooking, but I have never had restaurant Indian that tasted so good. We each got Thali. Mine vegetarian, his meat. Five separate dishes came on an ornate silver platter with rice and naan. We ate as much as we could before bursting and now are more than ready for bed. It was the best possible first vacation day!

7:35pm Ok. The hubs and I are in a black car–we are splurging because its our anniversary–and we are headed to O’Hare. The trip is finally here!

And I’ve been a ball of stress all day because I hate flying. It makes me veeeery anxious. The hubs and I planned for an overnight flight with the hope that working all day will help me sleep on the flight. Then I wake up and we are there, ready to start the day. If this back fires, however, he’s going to be dealing with one cranky, tired lady tomorrow.

I’m writing now to try and make the whole airport experience a positive one instead of a stressful one. More to come after we’ve gone through security.

8:15pm Well that didn’t take long! We are already at the gate. Security was uneventful. We even skipped the moving sidewalk in favor of walking “the long way” and we are still here early. I’m going to call my parents and start a new book and do my best not to think about flying. So far this has been pretty fun. I just have to keep thinking about the reward at the end of the flight!

Year of Fun travel blog coming soon.