Wednesday 30 July
Mostly a day taken up with travel.
IC 2013 Essen - Cologne
ICE 23 Cologne - Brussels
First up, last hotel breakfast as a family on this trip. Here's the magic juice machine. If you look closely, the multi juice is being refilled. The machine I guess weighs the flask and refills as required. The Hampton Inn in Berlin had the same kind of machine, but different flavours. I thought it was pretty cool and efficient for refilling juices.
Then we dragged out luggage downhill to the Hauptbahnhof.
Around Essen station was a lot of roadworks. We grabbed some snacks and got ready to board the train to Cologne.
Unfortunately for me, the waiting area for the bike carriage was the smoking zone on the platform.
It was close to the lift, unlike our arrival carriage, where we walked the whole length of the platform to the lift.
Mr Katie's bike in a bag continued to confuse the Germans. One guy asked me "Ist ein waschmachine drin?" (Is there a washing machine inside that?) and I said "Nein, es ist 'ne Fahrrad" (no, it's a bike). He Germanically shrugged and got into the lift.
I got the bike on board, the train was not heavily booked, and our seats were about 8 carriages from the bike storage.
I'm sure back in the '90s, there used to a hotel near the Duesseldorf Hauptbahnhof with prostitutes in numbered windows just before you got into the station. If a curtain was open, then that prostitute was available, closed curtains were not available. I couldn't see the hotel as we got in to Duesseldorf, so now I'm mistrusting my memory. I'm sure I saw it on multiple trips in the 90s and later. Hmm.
We swapped platforms at Cologne, didn't do much else. It was very busy boarding the train to Brussels.
With this train trip, I was 3/3 in choosing seats facing backwards, but luckily all the trains are so smooth, the three of us who get motion sick were fine.
We arrived at Bruxelles Nord and had to get another train to Central station - luckily the next train left from the same platform! We boarded and just stood in the vestibule of a regional train (not metro) as it was barely 5-10 mins to Central. We arrive at Central, I'm trying to figure out which exit to use, and we walk out and see our hotel right there - the Hilton Brussels Grand Place. We had one twin room booked here for Mumma Katie and me, and Mr Katie and the Teen were staying at the Sheration at BRU for the night as the Teen was leaving on a 9am flight and she chose Mr Katie to see her off, not me.
Twin room, with a view of Smurf's bum. Lovely large single beds!
Slightly odd shower with two doors:
Some smurfs near the lifts, and according to the ads we saw outside the hotel, there are some Smurf decorated rooms. On the way to the Grand Place/Grote Markt from the hotel/Central station, there's a Smurf passage, where the ceiling is decorated with Smurfs and various "easter eggs"
We were all hungry so went to a nearby touristy place that was meant to have GF options according to the Find Me Gluten Free app, Belgian Frites Papy. We sat on the terrace and the waitress said no gluten-free. The Teen is not sensive and would only eat frites anyway, so we all ordered. I had a cheeky vino with lunch.
Mr Katie and I both had the sausage and frites. Can't remember what Mumma Katie had. The portions were generous, and as we were eating such a big lunch at 2:30pm, we weren't really hungry for dinner.
Off to the Grand Place:
Finding the Tintin street art along the way to Manneken Pis, which the Teen didn't want to see
He had an outfit on today!
'
Galeries Royal
We were following the Teen's interests, as it was her last day in Europe, so we went to the
Comic Art Museum. Mumma Katie took the opportunity to rest and sit in the foyer, while the three of us looked at the exhibits. It was all rather interesting, though got increasingly warmer as we went up to the top floor.
Did you know the bible is one of the earliest examples of a graphic novel/comic? In whatever times this one was published (middle ages? a bit later?) the images were essential for communication due to low literacy levels among the wider population.
I saw my next car nearby
We let the Teen choose our dinner location, and she chose the Hard Rock due to GF burgers in Paris and Berlin. Unfortunately, Brussels didn't have a GF menu and that particular night was out of GF buns. The manager did his best to try to soothe the situation, as he saw how immediately crestfallen the Teen was when she heard there were no GF buns. We had to sit at the bar, and had some lovely chats with the bartender, who was maybe Polish, but had spent a year working in Australia. He was familiar with my request for a vodka and soda.
The Teen and Mr Katie were determined to have a beer together in Brussels, and while she struggled her way through it, she finished a beer.
The Teen got free ice cream for the lack of GF bun. The rest of us didn't eat as we were so full from lunch still. Mr Katie checked the menu at the BRU airport Sheraton and decided he was having a steak tartare at the hotel.
We collected all the bags from our room, and the Teen and Mr Katie took the train to the airport after 9pm.
This caused some issues when they arrived, as the hotel didn't think they were coming and cancelled the booking. Mr Katie was responsible for the booking, and I guess he didn't make any comments about a potential late arrival? It's a bit harsh to cancel!
They managed to sort it out, Mr Katie got some dinner and they slept.
After dropping them off, I went to the Carrefour next to the hotel for some cheeky vino and then down the road for a waffel for Mumma Katie and me, as all we could manage was dessert
Awkward. 
