Spring Break '05 | Day 12

Early in the morning Shana had to leave for her job. We said our goodbyes and she left. With some final checks of our packed things we left her apartment for the train station. We caught the bus carrying her large, heavy luggage, which I was taking home for her. There was a little confusion on where to catch the SITA bus but we figured it out. We actually missed the first one we saw but the next one came at just a half hour later. As weird as it was, the driver of this peculiar bus was the same man that picked us up at the airport when we first got into Firenze. I guess this was Italy’s way to say goodbye with a familiar face.

At the Firenze airport we ate sandwiches before boarding the plane. The flight to Brussels was not nearly filled and I had a whole row of seats to myself. A boxed lunch was served but being full already, I saved it in my pack.

Once in Brussels the plan was to just play it by ear since neither of us knew what to do in city. We found some large lockers to lock up our stuff. Since it only took coins I sent Dustin out to get change. While I was waiting a couple of gorgeous Lithuanian girls came by in a luggage cart. One was pushing the other while the seated one gestured her arms like an airplane's wings. Their stuff was packed away in the above lockers so I helped them get it down. Leaning in close, I could smell the alcohol off their breath--sounds like they had a good time in Brussels. We chatted a bit before Dustin got back and I wished them a good flight.

After our bags were locked away we made our way to the ticket counter to buy train tickets into the city. The round trip fare was a good price and we made our way to the center. At the central station I decided to flip a coin on which direction to walk. As fortune would shine upon us it led directly to the heart of the city.

I suggested that we eat a place called the Sultan of Kebap where I enjoyed a half-chicken meal with fries for less than 3 euros. We took our food and ate on the steps of a large building nearby. A little walk around took us to a portion they called Chinatown. Once we saw what Brussels had to offer we went back to a Celtic bar that we had seen earlier. The place was called Celtica and they had happy hour all night until midnight.

Seated to some cheap drinks, I made conversation with a girl next to me from Sorrento, Italy who was studying languages in Lille, Belgium. She had been partying all of the last two nights and she told us about a friend of hers that was going to play at a bar somewhere in Brussels. There was some thought about going but we decided to stay where we had cheap drinks. Later in the night another a couple of Finnish girls had sat down next to us. Chatting away I found out that one was visiting a friend working in Brussels. I mostly spoke to Vera from Helsinki and we traded the pictures we had on our digital cameras. She showed me pictures of her apartment with sauna and suggested that I visit in the summer. In conversation she began telling me about studying Muay Thai kickboxing and I recounted my studies in the martial arts. We exchanged email addresses and parted ways.

The plan from here on out was to head back to the station and spend the night at the airport, however, already in a party mood Dustin and I decided to stay out all night and try to catch the early morning train back. As we wondered about we found a few bars that looked happening from the outside. At one bar there was a man handing out chocolate, dressed in a bunny suit. When we decided to go in he asked us about our sexual orientation. Then it struck me, the name of the place was called L’ Homo Erectus so we turned away. Walking about looking for another place, we kept finding ourselves going around in circles and not able to escape this gay district of the city. Giving up, we found a convenience store and bought a bottle of Malibu and Coke and made our way to a place to sit and drink. In a twist of fate we found ourselves in Brussels' Grand Place, a square surrounded by beautiful buildings--the same ones Vera had shown me on her camera only hours before. We found some steps to sit on while we made ourselves some drinks.

It began to rain.

With the rain, people in the square dispersed. A few guys came over and started hitting on Dustin while trading gum for his cigarettes. When another set of guys came by, we felt uncomfortable enough to make our way out of the area. By now it was already very late night. Dustin had to go to the bathroom so we staggered around for a place. As luck would have it, outside the Ibis Hotel--a very nice hotel I might add--a guy was waiting to be let in by the doorman. We went in as he walked in and found the bathroom, one floor down in the basement. The hotel was a classy establishment and the very same goes for the basement level as I found a small nook under the stairs, hidden away by a large vending machine. Rather than spend our night out in the rain, I decided that we should rest here under the stairs. Hidden away, only once in the night did someone actually come downstairs but our shadowy bodies must have eluded him.

By early morning we readied ourselves to leave. In my genius, I decided that we should take the stairs up a few floors and then take the elevator down so to not raise any suspicions. The plan worked perfectly, in fact so perfectly that we could have gone for a free breakfast but instead elected to skip it. The train back to the airport was short and we returned back to the locker area to get our bags. Being at the airport so early meant we had to wait until our terminal opened up for check-in. After we checked in the heavy bags we were put through several security checks and an additional one just for Americans. At the gate I sprawled my body out flat on the floor and slept a few hours. When I awoke from my short slumber, the seats surrounding me filled to capacity with Americans all ready to go home. I too was ready to go.

Trip-O-Meter
Activity: 3 | Energy: 2 | Friends: 3