Bruges, Brussels, Cologne, Berlin

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6. Bruges, Brussels, Cologne, Berlin

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Yes, you read that right: this is a busy day. Early train from Bruges, arriving in Brussels in about an hour around 9 am. Here you want around three hours to walk around; as far as I could tell that's plenty of time for Brussels, but some people say they enjoy staying longer. You get out at Gare Centrale (not Midi, which doesn't mean "middle", it means "south"). The Grand Place is really cool, with its spectacular Hotel de Ville. Mind you, it's a bit of a ghost town at 9 am; I had to look around a bit even to find a croissant for breakfast. Then I walked south past the cute little "Mannekin Pis" statue, over to the colossal jumble of the Palais de Justice, northeast past some statues of memorable folks like Mercator at the pretty Place du Petit Sablon, further around the Palais Royal, and then all the way east (it's a long way) to the EU Parliament building. This is a nice curvy building, though to me it doesn't really have the presence you'd expect for a place which is the HQ for 400 million people (though recently diminished by the rejection of the Constitution, I suppose). Lots of construction going on. I wouldn't necessarily recommend the walk; it's along busy, car-choked streets with few pedestrians (not even Euro-bureaucrats, at least not when I was there). Then it's northwest through the park to the Cathedral, and just a hop back south to the station.

Two and a half hours later I was in Cologne, ready to practice my long-forgotten German from high school. Germany does seem slightly spooky to me at first with the weight of its history, but I like its wonderful efficiency (you can set your watch by the train departures, if needed). Just literally staring you in the face when you get out of the train station is the massive Gothic cathedral, which was my main reason for stopping. A little to the south along the river, the town is also lovely enough. I even tried to take the metro train, but I don't think I got it right. Almost everywhere in Europe, you don't just buy a ticket — you also have to validate it when you start using it. But this is pretty easy, just look for the stamping machines either at the station entrance, platform, or on the train or bus itself.

Next it's on to Berlin; I left a little before 18:00 and arrived at Berlin Zoo station a little after 22:00. At that point, I was pretty tired. But this train is cool. It's fast. Really fast. They even put speedometers in all the cars, and it went up to about 250 km/h. And it looks really neat — all white inside, with individual, separated curvy pod-like seats. A little like the set of Star Trek TNG's Enterprise, except where that ship now has a dated 80s look to it, this train doesn't look dated at all. Three stops north on the U-Bahn from the Zoo station, I got out at Birkenstrasse for the walk to my guesthouse, on one floor of an apartment building at Perleberger Strasse 7. After Amsterdam, this was a great deal — only €33 for a room twice as big! So I agreed to their four-night minimum, even though this isn't advertised on their website (also you have to pay in advance with Paypal, which is a bit weird, but never fear — it is a real place with friendly proprietors, suitably Sprockets-like). After all, there is a lot to see in Berlin, and three full days are quite necessary. More evidence of the lack of a property bubble: I met a lot of interesting artists, actors, and musicians — unlike San Francisco, such poorly paid people can actually afford to be here. You can live quite well in Berlin for not a lot of rent money. Tempting.

Jonathan's Travel Blog :: Europe

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