Ieper; Monday, 28 March, 2016

I’d originally booked the trip nearly a year beforehand, long before I’d even considered changing jobs let alone having started it. However, but a weird fluke I’d had a request to attend a meeting in Brussels on the Tuesday, so I’d been able to extend the trip by an extra day and work were putting me up in a hotel in the centre of Brussels, so after breakfast I checked out and headed down to the station and on into Brussels.

Of course, the trip and the work meeting had all been booked long before the events of the previous Tuesday when suicide bombers had brought carnage to the Airport and a metro station in the centre of town, which had led to such a visible security operation when I’d arrived on Thursday. By Monday lunchtime that had started to relax down a little with more access to stations, but it still meant I had to be checked off against a list of registered guests before being allowed into the hotel.

After checking in and dropping off my stuff I headed out of the centre of Brussels and out to the Atomium.

I had a long look round the Atomium, stopping for a drink in the café located in the top ball, with stunning views over the city, before catching a tram round to the Eastern side of the city and another tram out to the beautiful suburb of Tervuren and had a wander around its quiet park, part of a former Royal Palace, before heading back into Brussels for dinner.

I headed over to the streets beyond the Grand Place where there are lots of restaurants. It was very clear that the city was still quite nervous with most of the restaurants either empty or only with one or two diners. I found a nice restaurant and had dinner entirely by myself before heading back to the hotel.