Belgium

I still have a ton of material, both good and bad, to post from the India trip, but in the meantime I've pass on to Belgium. After seeing my father and Annie off - they were flying Delta through Paris on to Cincinnati - I boarded flight 228 on Jet Airways for Brussels. As with my first flight to India I was not able to connive my way into a bulkhead or exile row, but the nice woman behind the counter did arrange so that I was placed next to an empty seat, which always helps. With the exception of trying to watch the Roman Polanski film The Ghost Writer, which proved to be almost unwatchable (remember when he was a good film maker?) I slept almost the entire flight. As much as I love India, Africa and the Middle East, it is always lovely to get back to Europe where things are, for lack of another word, "easy.". Only 5€ to get downtown from the airport on the great train system. Only 14€ to take a train roundtrip to Bruges. It does spoil you. I'm staying in room 702 at the Arlequin Grand Place Hotel, which is on the top floor and has a great view of the city (pictures later) and is right around the corner from the Grand Place and a bunch of great restaurants - and all for only $95 a night from hotels.com. I spent yesterday walking all over the central part of Brussels and today I caught the train (only an hour each way) to the amazing city of Bruges. I'll have a lot more to post on both days later. I wanted to spend the day visiting art museums tomorrow, but unfortunately the museums are closed on Mondays so the plans are still up in the air. Truthfully, however, after running around non-stop for the last two weeks I'm exhausted - so maybe I'll just play it by ear tomorrow.