Since starting my exchange year in Holland 5 months ago, I've been wanting to take a train ride to another country and spend a weekend there exploring. From Amsterdam Centraal you can catch a train to lots of places I'd never been - Germany, Paris, and Belgium, to name a few. To me, an American, who didn't experience what it's like to be a passenger on a train until I was 23, being able to buy a ticket, board a train, and be in another country in 3 hour's time sounded like an amazing adventure, and it was!
I figured since I'd been dreaming of doing this for a while, I had a paycheck in my pocket, and my birthday was around the corner, January was a great time to take a trip. I had picked Germany out of a hat, partially because I had an acquaintance called Peter who was also visiting Germany that weekend, and he said we could share sleeping arrangements to make it cheaper. I was supposed to meet him there on Sunday, but I wanted to head up Saturday with my sister to make the most of my time.
So Maciah and I packed a duffel bag, grabbed our skateboards and headed over to Amsterdam Centraal to start our journey on Saturday morning. Now, the travel plans are about to take a slightly unexpected turn, so keep in mind that Peter and I had only just scrambled together some arrangements a few days prior. Besides that, I had only just reserved a hostel the night before, and Maciah and I hadn't purchased our train tickets yet.
We got to Centraal and went to the International Tickets desk, beaming and giggling as we walked up after waiting patiently for our number to be called.
"Two tickets to Cologne, please." I said, confidently. She went over departure times and copied our names from our passports into the computer system. We looked over at each other with excitement and anticipation. We could almost taste it!
"Alright, one hundred and thirty Euros, please." She said plainly.
Woah. This was NOT what we were expecting. Somehow, I thought it was going to be much cheaper. We had to ask her to clarify. What did it cost per ticket? 70 Euros? Was that for the whole journey, there and back? No? Ok so it's gunna cost us 70 Euros per person, one way.... Yeah, the budget was more structured around.... 30 Euros or so. The lady explained that if you buy the tickets in advance, you can get them much cheaper, but to head over the day-of, you risk paying more... Cool, cool, cool, cool, cool.... Maciah and I thanked her, then stepped outside for a minute to recalculate. That's when Peter texted me... "Wait, you're on your way to Cologne now? Have you already left? I'm not going to be there until next weekend!" Ok, so... that wasn't going to work out anyway.
Actually, it turned out better, Maciah and I reasoned, since the tickets were expensive on our small au pair budget. But what now? We still had our bags packed and wanted to go somewhere. We went back to the desk and pulled another number, waited our turn, and then asked where we could go for 30 Euros. There was a train leaving for Brussels, Belgium 20 minutes from then and the tickets were affordable. Before we knew it we were sitting in our seats on the EuroStar train that would take us there.
Once we sat down we were again giddy and excited. By the time we'd purchased our tickets and left the counter, we only had a few minutes to catch it, so we had hurried through the huge train station and found platform 15 with hardly any time to spare. Now that we had made it and the train had started moving, we got out our journals and spent a couple hours reading and writing. We had also linked up to the on-board wifi, cancelled our hostel booking in Germany, and made a new reservation at a hostel in Brussels. There were many to choose from, which hasn't been our experience in the states (there are usually only a few in a city; hostels are far more popular in Europe than back home), and we managed to find one very near the train station for only 26 Euros... hell yeah!
About a half hour before we got to Brussels we got to do something I've only ever seen in movies... we got up from our seats, walked to the back of the train car, where the automatic doors opened for us, and continued on through two more cars until we reached the cafe. Yes. There was a cafe in the train!! I have imagined this many times before, as I read books as a child in which families crossed America on passenger trains that took days to reach their destination. The reality wasn't as glamorous as I'd pictured. Then again, this train probably takes trips as long as 5 hours and no more. Still, it was amazing to order a coffee and a croissant while the countryside flew by in the window behind me. It wasn't about the plastic-packaged croissant as much as it was about the novelty of being able to buy it while traveling 250 km/hour.
When we arrived in Brussels and got checked into our hostel, we skated out into the city for a drink or a bite to eat, not searching for something to do, but hoping that something would just... turn up. Sometimes it happens this way, but not this time. We ended up returning to the hostel and just resting. An uneventful evening, but one we weren't upset about.
The next day, after eating a small breakfast that was included with our reservation, we grabbed our skateboards again and set off. There was a market in the square right outside our hostel. Literally, if it had been any closer it would have been on the front stoop. Markets are something I've really started to enjoy; I've been to a few now in Amsterdam and Haarlem. A bunch of vendors set up in the street and sell everything from fresh fish, fresh flowers, street food, clothes, souvenirs, curtains, shoes, and more. They're fun and usually you can find great deals there. This market wasn't exactly like the ones I'd been to in Holland, though. It was an antiques market, but it really felt more like a huge outdoor thrift store, if thrift stores kept all their merchandise on the ground, spread out on tarps. Yes, on the ground.
Some vendors had their items on tables, but mostly, you wandered through the small crowd of people and vendors with your head down, looking at the wares. I walked around one vendor's items, interested. He had two large canvas drop cloths with hundreds of silver utensils laid out neatly into groups. I kept walking. I saw vintage shoes, postcards, books, trinkets, art, and pins. The next thing I knew I was looking around for Maciah, but there was no sign of her.
"Alison!!" I heard her yell a few minutes later. I spotted her and went over.
"You have to look at these! You have to buy one! I already bought two! THEY'RE ONLY FIVE EUROS, DUDE!" She said, holding up two very large, brown, fur coats. Maciah was on the hunt today for a coat to weather the cold, Dutch, winter wind. We had already seen a few, but they were too expensive, mostly because none of the items in the market were marked. This allows the vendors to make up a price, one we assumed was different for locals who spoke French or visitors who spoke anything else. I tried a few on and she helped me pick one out, we purchased, and then went back to the hostel to stash them in the cubby we'd rented for the day. And then we were on our way.
We spent the day skating around the city, gaping at the ancient and intricate architecture we saw around every corner. We were going down a narrow, cobblestone street when it opened up into a sight that made our jaws drop. To our right was a row of buildings that reminded me so much of Amsterdam, built straight up and right next to each other, with funny tops, all shaped differently. Except these were all quite ornamented, and each keystone or statue or piece of molding was inlaid with gold... or at least gold paint. As my eyes wandered to the left I saw more of these buildings, most of them cafe's or bars on the bottom floor, and then a beautifully gothic building which we discovered was a museum. We had walked into a square surrounded by ornate, gold-inlaid buildings on all sides, including one that was either a palace, government building, or Hogwarts itself, because it had spires, hundreds of statues laid into the exterior brickwork, two towers and yes, accents of gold. It was breathtaking.
We spent the day doing a lot more open-mouthed staring at really old buildings. Brussels took my breath away left and right, including when we ended up at a palace on a hill, with a monument placed outside that evoked feeling and reverence in my me and a incredible view of the city to boot. We ventured to a huge landmark called Atomium, which is a curious structure that looks like an enormous atom, with huge metal tubes connecting giant orbs where restaurants and a place called "Kids'Sphere" lie. For only 15 Euros you could gain entry to these giant spherical wonderlands at colossal heights, but we settled for seeing the outside of it and buying a Belgian waffle from a truck parked just outside it.
After we'd explored and skated and we were thoroughly worn out, we went back for our coats, made our way to the train station wearing the coats we couldn't carry, with way too much shit in our hands, tied to us, and hanging off of us, and started our journey home. Another 3 hours on the international train, but this time we were thoroughly worn out. We were too exhausted to leave our seats even once, but we had had so much fun in Belgium. And the best part? We were back home by midnight.
Here are some photos from my trip. You can find more here
