Brussels

I was a little apprehensive about travelling to Brussels through the Chunnel. (I never liked the Deas Tunnel in Richmond BC either.) However, to go by train (Eurostar) is fast. The trip from London to Brussels was only about 2 1/2 hours. The actual tunnel part is rather uneventful; it just gets dark for a while and then you come up and see the French countryside. You can tell it's France because the cars are on the right side of the road, although one of the first large signs I saw on a building was in English.

Before leaving London, we went through customs, which was low-key. We merely presented our passports, which the bored attendant scanned then stamped (no questions). On the return trip, the UK customs required us to fill in landing cards (one each), just as we had done when we first arrived from Canada. The attendant asked us a few questions (the exact date we are leaving the UK in January; what we were doing there etc.) before scanning and stamping our passports.

We went to Brussels only because Ross was presenting at a conference for EU types. We were put up in a lovely 2 bedroom apartment in the EU quarter (outside the main downtown core). Belgium is officially bilingual: French and Dutch. All signs are in both language and occasionally in English. However, everyone greeted us in French.

Brussels appears to be very expensive! A tour of some shopping areas was quite interesting. 500 Euros (about $795) for men's shoes in one store. Needless to say, we didn't buy anything. We spent 11 Euros ($17) on 2 cappuccinos and 2 pastries instead!