walking in Brussels

Five years ago in June of 2013 my sister and I were visiting Brussels  We are big on walking and we walked all over the place.  Here is a picture we had taken in a very large and beautiful garden in the historic area.  (What happened to my hair that day? It looks very flat on top!)  About the walking...let me tell you!  The night before our planned trip to Paris we decided to make sure we located the nearby (smaller) train station so that we would know exactly where to go in the morning.  We took the train from the central station to the next stop, got off and then attempted to follow the walking map back to our hostel.  We must have gone out of the wrong door at the train station because we ended up going in the wrong direction and we soon realized that we were walking in a section of the city that we did not want to be walking in.  The neighborhood was rather shabby (sorry, but it was) and we stood out as tourists.  It gave us a creepy feeling but we kept on going.  After an extensive hike we started to recognize certain buildings in a square that we had seen that morning.  We walked another block and then we found the historic center of town and we then knew where we were.  What a relief.  Interestingly, as we were on our long hike, the sky was getting darker and we were becoming a little more concerned for our safety because--let's just say it--we were lost.  On the bright side though, the square that we had seen in the morning (which at that time was very quiet) was now beautifully lit and coming to life with all of the sidewalk eateries now a-buzz with happy people enjoying the evening.  It was magical.  We continued to walk a few more blocks and when we were close to our hostel we, too, stopped at an outdoor cafe and had a glass of wine.  I remember there was a band playing on a nearby rooftop and there were partygoers dancing to the music. Susan and I were content to toast ourselves for successfully finding our way back to the hostel after going off course for far too long.  We just sat back and enjoyed the moment.  The next day we walked back to the central station and got on the train.  We decided not to go to the smaller station primarily to make sure we didn't get lost again.  We did, however, chuckle later as we passed through the smaller station while we were safely on board the train to Paris.  side note: That's me holding a Peter Rabbit toy and, yes, there is a little two year old boy behind me that wants it.  It is his and I gave it back right away.  Yes, I did.