My Trip to Belgium
By Brian Auer • March 7th, 2007Last time I wrote, we were getting ready to leave for Belgium. So we rode the train from Neuchatel to Geneva; flew from Geneva to Brussels; and took a taxi from Brussels to Liege (240 Euros by the way)… Trains, planes, and automobiles. We got to Liege after midnight, so not much sightseeing. Interesting town, I would have liked to spend a little time there. But alas, we worked all morning and hopped on a train after lunch for Brussels.
The train ride was interesting to say the least. There was something wrong with our train and it would stop for 1/2 an hour at each stop until it finally died and we had to switch trains. We were supposed to be in Brussels by around 4:00 PM — just enough daylight left for taking some photos. But we didn’t get in until after 6:00. We went to the city center anyways and I took some pictures (see below), ate dinner (I tried some mussels in Brussels), and bought some chocolate. Not a bad evening. I could really spend some time here in Brussels, what an amazing place! Parts of it really remind me of New York City, and it had a pretty safe feeling to it.
Now, I’m not trying to start an international incident here, so read the following with a sense of humor.  Here are some of my key learnings from Europe, in no particular order:
- Most people speak English, but a few pretend not to.
- Those who admit to speaking English are very nice and super helpful.
- Things are expensive (especially taxis).
- Europeans don’t have alarm clocks.
- The switch to the bathroom light is on the outside of the bathroom.
- Toilets don’t have a flush handle on the tank, they have a flush paddle-thingy.
- A king sized bed is really two doubles pushed together.
- Swiss trains are on time, Belgian trains are not.
- If you frown while in public and appear worn down, tourists will mistake you for a native and ask you for directions.
- Fondue and cigarette smoke combined smell like a fart.
- The Swiss don’t care if you enter their country, just one glance at that American passport and you’re in!
- Belgium has too many native languages — French, German, Flemish (and English, but they won’t admit it).
- Europeans have lots of funny little cars that Americans don’t.
Again, I apologize for the pictures — but no Photoshop available.
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Brian Auer is a photography enthusiast from San Diego, California. He's also the guy behind the Epic Edits Weblog. As a hobbyist photographer since 2003, his passion has been to constantly improve his photography skill set, to share his own knowledge with others, and to become an integral part of the photographic community.
Visit the author's homepage | View all Epic Edits posts by Brian Auer
I’ve heard Brussels is pretty cool to visit. I can only compare Antwerp to Switzerland. Things were cheaper, a bit more exciting shopping wise but the weather is even more depressing. And well, I speak French fine so I’d rather be in Switzerland than Belgium.
You are right about the pretending not to speak English. Most aren’t confident in their abilities and if they hear you try to speak, then they immediately don’t bother as it’s too much of a hassle not to understand each other…
The toilets I found had flush buttons on the wall. Sort of like a square big thing you push. I don’t remember Belgium but I know the toilets weren’t as clean as in Switzerland.
The frowning joke was too funny!
Confidence? Is that why some pretend not to speak English. Shoot, most people here speak better English than about half of America!
From what I know, they are perfectionists and perhaps modest, so they pretend not to speak English because of their accents and because it’s not their native tongue. But I agree, most people there speak excellent English.
Btw, in my house I have the same thing - “The switch to the bathroom light is on the outside of the bathroom” (and I’m in Canada, but the building is quite old)
They really are perfectionists — especially the Swiss and Belgians. They take a lot of pride in their attention to detail.
Maybe the Americans are the weird ones with the bathroom configurations…
Hi Brian, I’m part Belgian, so I found your comments quite interesting. Never had the same experience on Belgian trains so you had bad luck there. You should try British Rail. It’s unbelievable.
Although Belgium is a small county it’s very diverse. Brussels is so different to Flanders (the Flemish part) and the French speaking area is also totally different. I’m from the Flemish part. Hard workers, most speak English quite well and they’re very helpful, but do have a dry sense of humour.
Hope you can make it back there sometime. Visit Bruges, it’s unique. The Venice of the North. Plenty of pics if you do a Google search.
Cheers for now,
Paul
Right you are Paul, it’s a very diverse little country. I didn’t get to see much of it (just Liege and Brussels), and I really wouldn’t mind going back for another visit. If I’m ever back that way, I’ll see if I can stop in on Bruges — it looks great!