8/28 Brussels

Monday bought with it a 5am alarm. Our shuttle to the Brussels airport was going at the crack of dawn, but it also meant zero traffic. We were scheduled to fly south to Zurich, Switzerland. At the airport, we stored our bags and took advantage of the internal combustion engine and hopped onto a double-decker tour bus of Brussels for a majority of the afternoon. This wise move limited our walking. I tried some hot pepper chicken pad Thai for lunch, and then almost lost that lunch when we found out that they offer up carbonated ice tea. The bottle wasn't labeled and I don't think I'd ever tasted anything that foul. I tightened the cap and shook the bottle and released the pressure repeatedly for a good 15 minutes to maybe see if it was salvageable, and no friends, it was not. Brussels had the amazing building called the Atomium. This is a 1958 World's Fair creation of an iron crystal that's been magnified 165 billion times. It's a remarkable structure only out done by the central square of Brussels called the Grand Palace. The cobblestones cover an area larger than 2 football fields and the perimeter is nothing but outstanding buildings. The opulence of these structures is best to just Google image search. No words can justify how beautiful it was. Afternoon snack time called for a chocolate banana crepe 1 block from the Grand Palace, back onto the bus, and we returned to the airport to acquire our luggage from the locker and board Swiss Air.
The Brussels airport is modern, clean, and has an efficiency that questions why things in the states are sometimes so abysmal. In the terminal there are brand new Audis and Mercedes-Benz cars in case you were in the market. As the clock approached dinner and we were thinking a quality burger would be suitable. I went to the food court and had a nice laugh at the Quality Burger Restaurant. That was the actual name. Simi passed on the quality burger from the Quality Burger Restaurant. She was offered up a veggie or chicken sub while on the airplane. She requested the chicken and it was the most pastrami tasting chicken she never ate. Thankfully Swiss Air gives out chocolate on their flights that is just plain heavenly.

Landing resulted in swift and easy exit from the Zurich airport to a chaotic bus station that offered up no signage to how or where catch the #4 tram needed to get to the hotel. I asked a stranger and were startled more to the complete lack of any accent and how nice he was. He directed us around the blind corner and the tram arrived instantly and we were taken into the heart of the Swiss's largest city. Hotel check in, quick shower, and another night to sleep and wake up refreshed ready to tackle another major city.

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