Belgium, day 2 - Arrival, Liege (11 Nov)

Change over in Frankfurt. Even with a two hour change over, I only just made my gate before the start of boarding due to the morning crowds, and a loooong walk. Definitely getting in my exercise. Kudos to Lufthansa for the free coffee/tea machine at the gate! Had just enough time for coffee before being bused off to the aeroplane, this time a much smaller one.

Again, booking in online meant a window seat on a bulkhead, but the plane was so empty it probably didn’t matter. Spent the flight listening to music while trying to take photos with my compact camera out of the window. And, of course, coffee. Very important for these long distance journeys!

Landed in Brussels, since I got the intense scans at Frankfurt, here I simply walked through. Being a good South African, I wanted to get to the luggage carousal quickly, before anybody pinched my bag, only to find that my plane had set down at the far end of domestic. Interesting setup actually, you walk straight off the plane into an open area packed with not only people arriving, but also those waiting to board. So you get to walk until you’re almost out before you reach the bag pickup. A walk of at least 2km if not more! So at this point while I was muttering to myself that I could just as well have walked to Belgium, I realised I managed to forget to switch my sim card onto roaming before leaving SA.

So grabbed bag, exited, found cell phone shop, bought sim with data (much cheaper and easier than Germany), and assured everybody I’m still alive, then braved the trains. Turns out one first has to go to Leuven, then change over for Liege. James warned me about the change over, but forgot to warn me that Liege is also called Luik. Cue brief panic moment, but managed to get on the correct train while grouching at James on Viber.

Liege station is pretty amazing. It has this incredible cover over it, all sweeping lines of steel and glass, and offers an amazing view over part of the town. Herman, jy sal mal wees oor die verskye vorems van argitektuur in hierdie stadt!

Found James who had expected me 10 minutes earlier and was worried. He had booked us in at the Alliance Hotel which is only about 1.5 km from the station. I laughed, and told him I’ve had LOTS of walking practice in the last 24 hours. This is the first time that I travel with a hiking pack, and despite the slight awkwardness in packing, and the lack of a means to secure it, it makes a huge difference in the ease of public transport and the whether a 1.5 km walk to your hotel is going to leave you half dead or not.

The hotel is just left of the river in this picture.

The hotel was very pleasant, and we had lots of space. I caught up some sleep. Later in the afternoon we picked up some food from the shops before taking the bus up to Sart-Tillman where James stays at the university residence. Decent enough place although a bit tatty around the edges, and it could be a bit cleaner. We cooked and ate there, before heading back on the bus.

There was a fair in town and tonight was its last night, so we wandered through. We didn’t go on any rides, but I enjoyed seeing things like the haunted house, mirror maze, balloon shooting, baseball throwing, and the obstacle courses that I’ve read about, but never seen. James also treated me to Liege waffles, which are denser and sweeter than Belgium waffles. Our waffles in SA are modelled on the Belgian ones. They were very good, might have to find a recipe.

We then left the crowds and visited a small metal bar that James found to enjoy some cherry cider and good Belgium beer. There appeared to be some first years in some or other initiation program, wearing robes, chains, and long peaked caps. They were carrying a book with check lists, in which they had the bar tender sign-off after he fed them a fairly elaborate concoction that seem pretty dreadful to drink. It appears to be a variation on the shooter called a “back draft”. You’ll have to Google it for yourselfs, but it involves drinking strong alcohol with a straw before sucking trapped alcohol fumes from a glass. The expressions on the students’ face left me in absolutely no hurry to try it myself!

Eventually, although it felt as if I had an incredibly busy first day, we were back at the hotel just before 10.