Belgium

I got to Brussels from Paris by train, which was clean and arrived on time - very novel. After stepping out the station things seemed a little strange, there were no cars driving, only a couple of buses and a few cyclists. As I walked to the hostel, the few cyclists became many, it seems on Sundays the population of Belgium take to their bike and peddle around the capital (although the car ban on Sundays may have had something to do with it as well.

There are plenty of odd things in Brussels, the national symbol is Manneken Pis, a fountain/statue of a tiny man taking a leak which they dress up in different outfits everyday. Theres also the Atomium, Belgium's Eiffel tower (apparently), which was built for the '58 expo and is celebrating it's 50th anniversary. They also have large cartoon murals painted onto the side of buildings here and there.Although Brussels is in the Dutch speaking Flanders region, 90% of the population speak French, so I have no who is speaking what half the time.

While I was here, I stopped by the European Parliament and watched a bit of a debate, which was gripping. I also took daytrips to Antwerp and Brugge. Had a nice canal ride around Brugge and climbed the Belfry, which was a lot of steps.

Tomorrow I'm heading to Rotterdam for a night then on to Amsterdam. The Internet's a bit rubbish at this hostel so I haven't been able to add any pic to Flickr yet, will try again at the next place.

Paris

After getting up at 4:45 in the morning to fly to Paris (which only took 55 minutes in the air plus what seemed like an hour to taxi around Charles De Gaulle airport), I wasn't very pleased to see the biggest queue ever to buy tickets for the RER train into central Paris as all the ticket machines were broken. But, luckily they decided that instead of making us queue they let us get on for free.

While in Paris I've seen all the sights. I've been to the top of the Eiffel Tower (Very expensive), visited the Versailles Chateaux (also very expensive), the Arc De Triomphe, the Champs Elysees, the Obelisque, Louvre, Notre Dame, Patheon and Pompidou centre.

I've found it's harder to backpack in Europe, everythings much more expensive and it's hard not to spend spend spend! Although the Louvre was free on Friday evenings for under 26s so saved there. I rattled round most of it and saw and snapped all the big sights, the Mona Lisa isn't particulary interesting. Staying in hostels is better than I thought it would be, I thought it would be hard to sleep but I'm out cold every night. Next stop Belgium and Brussels.

Travels Part 2: Europe

Trip number 2 is a grand tour around Western Europe visiting all the big cities and interesting other places.

The preliminary itinery is:

Paris
Brussels
Amsterdam
Bremen
Hamburg
Berlin
Prague
Vienna
Munich
Zurich
Venice
Rome
Nice
Marseille
Barcelona
Madrid
Porto
Lisbon

Although it might change if I get bored of somewhere or decide I like it, my itinary is flexible so I can go where I like. I'll be using the trains to get around, apparently they're reliable and frequent, how novel. I've got two monthy interrail passes to get about, which covers most trains, although some need a supplement like the Paris to Brussels train and nearly all the trains in Europe.

I'll be plotting my route on a map here and the photos will be here if they ever get uploaded - the Internet is really slow!