Brussel, Belgium

I woke up and raced to get ready.  I realized that breakfast didn’t start until 8am!  So I got everything ready to go, ran down to gobble up breakfast, ran back up to get my stuff, and went to check out.  I got to the bus stop right at 8:20!  We stood there and waited for awhile and then someone asked me to look at the bus schedule on the other side there was a special notice, in Dutch of course, saying something about the first of May.  So I ran back to reception to ask if the bus didn’t go by there on holidays and they said that it does, just not as often, but that there would be one in about 10 minutes.  I went back to wait and the other people had left.  I stood there and waited and finally the bus was coming.  I gathered my stuff and then…the bus drove right past me!  It didn’t even stop!  I was sooooo annoyed!  I walked back to reception and was like which way do I need to walk to get to the train station because the bus didn’t even stop!  They sent me in the direction, but somehow I made a wrong turn because I ended up in the square! 

I sat down to wait for a bus there, but then a guy sitting next to me said that he didn’t think the ones going to the station go past there.  But he told me it was only about a 15 minute walk.  So he pointed me in the right direction and I headed off on foot again.  I found a stop and asked the driver of the next bus how to get to the station and he said to go to the big station down the road.  I walked there and started to get on the bus, but asked to make sure and he was like no the other side…so I walked over to the otherside and waited and then started to get on another bus and that driver was like no over there.  And by the time I figured out where these people were talking about, that bus was driving away and the next one didn’t come for an hour!  So I took off on foot the way that the bus had gone.  Eventually I saw some signs that said station this way and I finally got there!  Then I had to figure out the next train going to Brussels since I was over an hour late for the one I was planning to take! 

When I got to Brussel, I hoped to put my stuff in a locker, but I couldn’t find any!  So I set off to explore the city!  I walked around, took some pictures, and then had some fries for lunch!  I was trying to find the Atomium, when I ran across Mannekin Pis.  I didn’t have a map because I couldn’t find one in the station and the info line was way too long to wait in.  I found a city worker that was there for this little street fair that was going on and they told me how to get there on the metro and I still couldn’t figure it out.  I rode the metro to the station I thought they told me, but it was wrong.  I asked information there and they told me it was this stop way on the outside of town and it was about 3pm and my train left at 5:30 and I was so tired I didn’t think I could carry my stuff around anymore, so I was gonna take an earlier train back  to Germany.  Unfortunately, there were no earlier trains! 

I ended up walking around the city a bit more, but then my ankle started hurting and I thought my arm was going to fall off from my bags so I just rode to the station where I would take a direct train to Frankfurt, and I waited outside on some benches for about an hour and half!  Finally I was able to get on the train home!  Then the train was like about 30 minutes late, so I missed my connection to Wiesbaden.  I was gonna go jump on one of the smaller trains, but I missed both of those as well.  I was headed back upstairs to look for another train, when I found one going to Wiesbaden and leaving in like 10 minutes!  I was so glad, and when I got to Wiesbaden, I took the very last train back to OW!  Thankfully I made it there in time because since it was a holiday, the busses weren’t running as late as they usually do!  I finally got home around midnight instead of 11pm!  I went straight to bed and practically passed out!  I was so exhausted!