Entries about trains

Thoughts on Brussels.
No stop signs at most corners; drivers are just expected to stop for pedestrians.
Controlled crossings existed in the busier town area.
More smokers, but July just introduced no smoking in pubs and restaurants.
Where are the seniors?
Buses take your ticket, close the doors and go. You'd better be holding on.
They keep telling me Europeans are all about fashion. Not from what I saw in Belgium...I could have been in Vancouver.
They don't pick up their dog's business on sidewalks.
Belgians can drink anywhere.
They are more relaxed.
Even at fast-food places you pay after you eat, but Tracy thinks you still pay first at Mc Donald’s.
You never take your coffee out, you sit and drink it.
Toilet stalls all have doors that go from ceiling to floor, so they have lights in each stall.
Whatever country Asians are from, they are all called Chinese.
Sundays and Mondays are not the best days to find places open in Brussels.

Tracy is packed and we headed down to catch the tram to the train station. Brussels station is quite large but we figure out where to go and its not long before we are in our reserved seats. The train is fairly full and there are many young families. The train leaves on time to the minute and arrives in Paris on time. The challenge then is to get from Paris Nord to Paris St. Lazare. We make it with only one wrong turn. The signage is lacking unless of course you know exactly what you are doing. The train station is a little more challenging, no place for people to sit, no obvious information booth, and three different screens with the different trains. You have to figure out which screen will display your train, but we get on and make our way to the second-class cars. We have no reserved seats, but we figure out there are yellow tags above the reserved seats and find three together, with no yellow tags and we don't get asked to move. We also never get asked to show our tickets on the train. We validated them on the platform. This train is a little less smooth, left on the nose and two hours and ten minutes later we are in Bayeux. Out comes the handy GPS and we make our way to the hotel just as the rain starts.
The hotel is full, located right in the middle of the old part of the town. Our room has three single beds; rather funny as it is our 31 anniversary.
Not having had a normal meal all day we head out for dinner, but the restaurants don't open up until 7 pm. So ... guess the most common type of restaurant...Pizzerias. Yup, we wanted Crepes, but ended up at a pizza place. Roger had the meal of the day which started with a meat platter, followed by turkey and pork and fries covered in a sauce. Tracy ordered a vegetarian Pizza, I had a galette with warm goat cheese and walnuts and we all got salad with a great dressing that tasted of horseradish. We ordered a cider of Bayeux, but they recommended another local cider that was better and we did enjoy it. I tried to order tap water, but no luck. Tracy and I finished off with a mint ice cream with bits of chocolate floating in crème de menthe. Roger went to stick his spoon when the server came by and told him no and moved it away from him. She said he was to eat his fruit salad and leave our dessert alone!
We took a wander around the town getting lost, but finding someplace that was open that sold us a bottle of wine. Out came the GPS and we were home in ten minutes.