At 6:30am on Thursday, Siân sprung out of bed and switched the light on, then switched it off again and opened the curtains as squawks of protest met her ears. It being a travel day, we bustled down to the Paris Nord station and, with some help from a rail worker, got onto the 7:37am train to Maubeuge. We nearly missed it, which was scary, but we settled in quickly.
Two hours later, we got off at Aulnoye-Aymeries (a sleepy rural town where the party is AT). Here, we bought lunch and then boarded a train to Lille Flandres, which took roughly an hour. We eagerly ate the lunch (ham/cheese sandwich) by a fountain, then got on an intercity train to Tournai in Belgium, which took another forty five minutes. As we neared the France-Belgium border, the houses were less of the typical whitewashed, deep-windowed French variety, and more of a red brick. A speedy nine minute change for a train to Brussels got us in the right direction.
It was two thirty when we hauled our bags in through the white metal gate of the youth hostel. We were greeted by the less-than-welcoming sound of hammering and drilling from workers upstairs, but the ever-so-friendly, lipsticked woman on reception more than made up for it. We couldn't officially check in until three so we perused the "young travellers" maps she handed us for half an hour. In comparison with the rickety metal beds and Lilliputian shower of the Paris hostel, the oaken IKEA-worthy bunks and spacious bathroom were bliss. The only downside of our room, which has a spill-proof laminate flooring (excellent news for Siân) and a view across a square with a statue and green in the centre, is the lack of toilet whilst the builders complete their job, but we have been provided with an alternative down the corridor.
We hunted down a supermarket to buy some Belgian chocolate then took a look at a travelling festival in the Parc de Bruxelles which is round the corner from the hostel.
That evening, we'd vowed to eat what Dan called "proper food" for the first time - we opted to eat out. Dan and Lucy identified an appealing nearby restaurant called "Titanic" and we spent rather a long time trying to locate it. When we eventually did, a neatly handwritten sign tacked on the door delivered the soul-crushing news that the proprietors were on holiday. Taking a winding route around the neighbourhood, we found a recommended bar/restaurant called "Beer Circus", which stocks over a hundred different beers in its presumably vast basement. The availability of a vegetarian lasagne was also a draw for Lucy and Siân. The food was good and (Siân: as I am told) the beer even better. Sampling several different varieties, the group met with only one mishap, when Lucy mis-ordered an elderflower beer and ended up with something nobody liked. Her tears soon dried when Dan bought her the elderflower. Well, it was either that or the hilarity of Dan spilling the unwanted beer all over Mitch by mistake. Soon, the effects of the 11.6% alcohol in Dan's Rouchefort had him running on ahead pretending to be an aeroplane on the way back to the hostel.
Back at the hostel, Dan said he was fed up of his hair being in his face and thus Siân taught him to do a ponytail (but eventually did it for him). He decided it made him look thinner, more hench and got him more female attention. He especially liked what it did to his silhouette. Opinions?
Now, we were all settled for a calm evening but as we knew our good friend Harry Leonard would be in town at the the same time as us, we arranged to meet him in a park which we later learnt has an unsavoury reputation past dark. We took him to the Beer Circus, where Dan was reunited with his new bae, the bartender towards whom he'd felt a certain affinity. I think it was the beard that did it. Several drinks, a good chat, and a visit to a nearby war memorial later, Dan waved Harry Leonard into a taxi and we all settled into bed at a very young and wild 1am.
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