Vive le Paris - Sept 17, 2009

1:00 pm - Downtown Brussels. Getting ready to drive to Paris. Suggested drive time - four hours including a couple of breaks.

The countryside is beautiful. Not too different from an American landscape. It did remind us of our drives through Pennsylvania. One thing we spotted here that we had never seen before - wind farms. Would have made Don Quixote salivate. Also, the full service rest areas on the highways here are a dramatic upgrade over their American counterparts. Multiple options for fresh, healthy, inexpensive food, excellent recycling facilities, pay-to-use restrooms - the fee subject to possible redemption at the rest-area restaurants, free wi-fi (for upto an hour), vending machines serving espresso for a Euro, a convenience store, and maybe even an Ibis or an Etap, in addition to all the fueling requirements. LPG is relatively inexpensive, diesel ranged from $5.00 - $6.00 a gallon, petrol more dearer at above $7.00 a gallon. Something to keep in mind when renting a car.

4:00 pm - At the doorstep of Paris - or so we thought. Beside us was the state-of-art Stade de France, a beautiful football stadium. In front, a fork. One towards Paris Center, the other Peripherique de l'lle-de-France, the ring road around the city. The road not taken. Or rather, the road taken. We choose the former. All of a sudden, we hit a wall of traffic. Made the George Washington Bridge seem like the I-80 in the middle of Nebraska. We had a chance to redeem ourselves about 3 km and 30 minutes later at the exit for Boulevard Peripherique - another ring road, but saner minds didn't prevail. We soldiered on towards the center of Paris, not quite unlike Napolean's troops in the middle of the Russian winter. Lucky for us, our outcome was a lot healthier.

6:30 pm - Place de la Concorde. At the Obelisque de Louxor. Eiffel Tower at 2 o'clock. Arc de Triomph at 3. The Louvre at 9. Finally - Dan Brown's Paris. A victory lap on the Champs Elysees, and we were at our hotel. Prince De Galles on George Avenue. The famed hotel where none other than The King lived during his concert trips in Paris. The staff at the reception was great. We had enough time for a change of clothes, a walk along the Seine, and a ride into the sky - 276 meters up, to be precise. Eiffel Tower is beautiful by night. The view from the top is gorgeous. And so are the chocolate banana crepes at the bottom.

In a way, despite of our rough entrance, I'm glad we got to see the tough parts of Paris during our ride in. Puts everything in perspective. The romantic, walk-hand-in-hand Paris versus the not-so-rich, ethnic, tension-filled streets of the northern suburbs. A good lesson for the girls that life is not all rosy, even in the extremely glitzy capitals of the world.

Touchdown - Sep 16, 2009

7:05 am. Bruxelles. Cloudy, with a chance of meatballs. Frites, more likely. Didn't realize that french fries are so popular here.

A pleasant seven-hour flight across the pond. Food was good, the movie-offerings ok. Baggage and immigration were straightforward, as was picking up the rental car. A five-door, manual-shift Toyata Auris, running on diesel. Couldn't have asked for a better car. Bindu and the girls napped at the airport while I delivered seven large and two small suitcases, and a racquet bag at the hotel. Navigating through downtown Brussels was a challenge. This had to be the city described by U2 - Where the streets have no names. The way back was a lot easier, but I almost had the car towed when I double parked at the airport curb-side while attempting to revive the family from what started out as a nap, but ended in deep slumber.

By the time we headed out for some food, it was almost sundown. Had a bit of a language problem when attempting to get directions to a super-market, but that was solved by a very friendly English speaking native on a bicycle. As he wheeled his conveyance alongside, he delivered a crisp history and culinary lesson on the city, and led us through a maze of streets that ended, via an ATM and the supermarket, at a breath-taking square in the center of the city, the Grand Place. Very magnificient. Dinner was french fries with a couple of amazing dipping sauces and belgian waffles with yummy fruit and chocolate toppings. Hallelujah!

Our friendly stranger did solve the puzzle of the missing street names. Just had to look a lot higher than what we were used to. Street names in Brussels (and in many other European cities, as we soon realized) are nailed to the sides of the buildings. Great for pedestrians, not so much for drivers.