of traffic strikes and soccer fans

So we've found the internet here in Brussels on our third day, but it hasn't necessarily been easy.

The flights to Paris were easy enough, and Joe enjoyed some 10 am Guinness in Dublin, but upon arriving in the train station at Charles de Gaulle, we found a train workers' strike prevented us from traveling to Belgium. All trains were stopping in Lille, just short of the border. Now Dad, before you say, "I told you so," it was not a strike in Paris or in France, as trains continued to run there, but in Belgium.

So we waited in a few different lines and finally booked reservations to Lille. We were hoping to find a bus to Brussels from there, but that didn't happen, so we stayed the night there. And never canceled our reservation in Brussels.

We explored Lille at night a bit and saw some cool buildings that surprised us architecturally, but I think the train stations may have been too far away from the city center for any truly fun nightlife.

Quote o' Day 1: "It's like the blind leading the dumb." -Joe, about me (the blind) and him (the dumb--I think).

Saturday morning we headed for Brussels. The Eurail pass is great, but you need a reservation for any TGV train, and apparently you cannot get them via a kiosk. So we still have to wait in line. Kinda annoying. So we caught the second train to Brussels and, upon arrival, had no idea what to do or where to go.

We bought a subway pass but could not find the street where our hotel was supposed to be, so we finally just gave in and took a cab. Which worked perfectly, except of course the hotel had given away our reservation and was booked. So we tried a couple other hotels in the area and ended up at the appropriately named Hotel Manhattan, which charges too much for not enough. But is well-located.

Joe collapsed to sleep for the afternoon, as he is wont to do, while I reveled in the BBC and watched the Northern Ireland-Wales World Cup qualifier. I got Joe up at 5:00 to leave for a match not starting until 8:45. Paranoid much? There is a Metro station right by the hotel, but nothing requires you to stamp your ticket, so we've taken four rides on the Metro so far without any counting against the 10 we bought. Shrug.

No trouble finding the station again, and there were not mobs of fans yet, but there was a cute Spanish family on the train with us. After much confusion and wandering around and asking directions, we found the correct parking lot in which to pick up our tickets. Then we ate sketchy hamburgers (not sure what they really were made of) and enjoyed the scene, with plenty of red-and-yellow-clad Spanish supporters and Belgian fans in the same colors with black, wearing distinctive jester hats with bells on the end. I broke my plan to only buy scarves I could not get via the Internet at home and got a Belgian scarf to fit in.

After checking out this cool park with an artificial turf basketball court surrounded by a slatted wooden fence and thus used for soccer, we headed to the stadium, again trying the wrong side first. We got in about 90 mins before the match, so we got to watch the buildup of fans from our not-so-comfortable seats, which had only a half-back. That's Belgium's idea of an all-seater stadium.

The Spanish fans off to our right were denser and louder in the run-up to the match and very vocal. My favorite pregame moment was when this Belgian band circled the field on the track. The Spanish fans booed them at first but, after they were done playing, applauded. Then a Spanish fan with a big drum talked the stewards into letting him on the track, where he personally congratulated the drummers. Then he joined them to continue marching around the field. Awesome stuff.

The Belgian croud found its way in by kick-off, and the home team took much of the initiative in the first half. Belgium were already eliminated from qualifying, while Spain needed a win to all but clinch a spot in the playoffs for the World Cup. It showed in the second half, as a more-skilled Spain side wore down Belgium and struck two early goals for a 2-0 win. With the lead, the Spanish fans began to "Ole!" every completed pass by their team, which was entertaining but annoying for the Belgians.

Getting out was not as bad as I thought it might have been, and the subway back was crowded but not ridiculously so. We walked around town a bit to get some food, and Spanish fans drove by waving flags and whatnot, while my Belgian scarf provoked a lot of earnest questions from locals about the score.

Quote o' Day 2: "This team ees no good." -Our taxi driver on the way to the hotel about the Belgian national team.

We figure to check out the Grand Place today and maybe some EU or NATO buildings tomorrow before we leave. Hopefully that was enough non-soccer for everyone, but really, the game's the biggest thing we've done so far. Our schedules are still fairly messed up. We are also doing quite a bit of franglais, which is fun and requires little competency--an important factor.

Next stop: Monday, 10 October, Paris (unless we decide to hit Luxembourg for a day just to avoid Parisians. but Paris is the current plan.)
Next game: Wednesday, 12 October, 2006 FIFA World Cup qualifier, France v. Cyprus, Stade de France (Saint-Denis)