Day 13: Brussels to Sheffield

What a relief to get out of Brussels! I walked out my smelly hotel, past all the sex shops and the sanitation workers cleaning the streets of the previous night’s litter, and went to Hotel Mozart for the free breakfast I had been promised.

The breakfast was all laid out on the table, which was nice; buffet breakfasts are a bit of a challenge when you are as bad at mornings as I am. The coffee was too small, but I felt I would be pushing it to ask for more, so I’m looking forward to a second coffee on the Eurostar.

If the Eurostar holding pen at St Pancras is pretty rubbish, the one at Brussels is even worse. There are some chairs, a duty free shop that doubles as the entrance to the platforms, a self-service coffee machine, and that’s it. There was a big sign saying that you would “soon” be able to enjoy a coffee there – a tacit acknowledgement that the machine coffee is not enjoyable. In fact, the waiting facilities are the one thing that really lets Eurostar down.

As this is the end of the journey (I don’t expect you want daily updates of my time with my family in Sheffield), I should think back over my journey.

I think I liked Prague best, and it was the one I was looking forward to the most. The best thing about Prague was the astronomical clock, which is a staggering achievement. I also loved the Speculum Alchemiae and, surprisingly, chatting to the staff at the Absintherie over a couple of glasses of that strange drink.

I can now see what all the fuss is about Vienna. Besides the impressive architecture, there’s enough cultural riches to occupy you for many, many days – provided you can get out of the museums. One of my sisters has booked a holiday there, and the other one really should because, as a musician, she would love it.

The best parts of Vienna were Rudolf II’s shiny toys in the Kunsthistorisches Museum, and the concert in the Mozarthaus. The public transport system was also excellent. The worst part was the noise, not just from the roadworks but from the traffic. The Ring may contain fabulous architecture, but it’s also a collection of very busy roads.

The less said about Bratislava the better.

In Budapest I liked the food, the lovely warm thermal baths (I think the salt inhalation sauna improved my skin) and the Chain Bridge. You think I’m going to say the worst thing was the difficult language, don’t you? But in fact it was the poverty. I saw a lot of bin diving (probably because you can get money from recycling machines for plastic bottles etc.) and a couple of incidences of excrement on the pavement that looked and smelled more human than canine. Whether that’s from homelessness, drunkeness, or I’m just wrong, I don’t know. But it was horrible.

And of course, Innsbruck! I think the loveliness of Innsbruck, stop one on my journey home, makes up for the annoyingness of stop two: Brussels. Now I only have to negotiate London once more, and I’m home free.

As I will be pulling into Sheffield in a matter of minutes, let me finish this wee series with the map and stats from the Interrail Rail Planner app:

And finally, a quote to live by:

Never lose an opportunity of seeing anything beautiful. Beauty is God’s hand-writing—a way-side sacrament; welcome it in every fair face, every fair sky, every fair flower, and thank for it Him, the fountain of all loveliness, and drink it in, simply and earnestly, with all your eyes; it is a charmed draught, a cup of blessing. (Charles Kingsley)