Trains and Boats and Planes...

After three flights, 2 train trips, 9 hours in a car and a cross-channel ferry ride, the two mums have reached Brussels, the capital of Belgium. The flights were long and arduous, each more than seven hours in duration, but after stopovers in Singapore and Dubai, we finally reached London and were met by AG’s daughter at Paddington station. We were pleasantly surprised to find that our hotel was a lovely Georgian townhouse located in leafy Norfolk Square, then a little disappointed to be told that there was no room at the inn, and that we would have to drag our suitcases a couple more blocks to a sister hotel with a far less favourable outlook, and 3 flights of narrow Victorian stairs. But after a long haul international flight, a bed is a bed and the opportunity to sleep horizontally far outweighs any interior design issues. The next morning we took a train to Tiverton, in Devon to pick up Thelma – AG’s Mercedes, who had been enjoying some TLC from Mike the local mechanic and our vehicle of choice for the next 4 weeks. However Thelma had other ideas, and refused to start for some time, but a quick trip to Tesco’s blew out the cobwebs and Thelma was as good as new. Which was just as well, as she was certainly put through her paces today; travelling 4 hours across the south of England from Tiverton to Dover, for the ferry ride to France. The sea was a little choppier than last time, but we survived and followed that up with another 5 hour drive across northern France and into Belgium, where we found a nice hotel near the main highway and called it a day. Tomorrow we expect to head towards Hamburg in Germany, which will take us another step closer to Copenhagen, where we will spend some time with the Ozking.

Paddington Station