Today was interthink’s surprise bumper edition surprise stop in Köln, or Cologne as it’s known in English. The cathedral, as luck would have it, was just outside the station where we had two hours to make our connection from the sleeper train to the ICE to Brussels.

The cathedral, although not extensively decorated inside made up for it in sheer size and architectural grandeur.

It was another box ticked. Cologne…done.

Onto the ICE it was and we in speed and style we were whisked into Brussels. The train itself was comfortable and frankly, gorgeous.

Upon arrival at Bruxelles-Midi we acquired a taxi and were driven to our temporary residence for the next two nights, Hotel Lina (Auntie of NS). I say hotel, but it was far better than that, as upon arrival we were met by the ever-pleasant Janet, Lina’s housekeeper. She was immediately helpful and volunteered for the frankly dangerous task of attempting to wash her clothes. After getting her to sign the customary waiver accepting no liability for any injury sustained while handling our clothes, we showered and made our way back to the centre of Brussels for our half-day or so of sightseeing.  Our metro station had just been repainted to feature characters from Tintin, which we thought was cool.

Today we did very well for lunch. In a square just off the Grand Place NS had a croque-madame and I had one of the most delicious salads I’ve ever had (with baked goat’s cheese, smoked salmon and a honey-scented glaze). With a ice-cream-laden waffle to finish off we visited the beautiful Grand Place that contains the town hall and a variety of other gorgeous buildings.

We then walked through the streets up to the cathedral and then on to an exhibition dedicated to the Belgian hero – Tintin, but due to the high price we decided against going in. Coming back to the centre we went to the upper town that included the glorious Park-de-Bruxelles that opened out onto the Royal Palace.

Having been to many such venues across the course of this trip, we were not expecting much, yet the interior was gorgeous. However, the highlight was a science exhibition that would have had us playing around on the practical (and…er…children’s) exhibits for hours had closing time not quickly come and the power been turned off.

After seeing a few more churches NS took me to see the Mannekin Pis – in what turned out to be a strong contender for ‘Biggest Disappointment of the Trip’. It is literally a 30 cm tall statue of a pissing boy. No other country would even count it as a tourist attraction.

At this point – after pausing for a particularly messy chocolate waffle – we headed back to the house on the metro.

Here I met Lina, a lovely woman and an excellent hostess. There was nothing her and Janet could’ve done to be more welcoming and this culminated in one of the best meals of the trip: a Cypriot version of lasagne that was delicious followed by one of the best puddings ever. I cannot really describe it as its name doesn’t accurately describe what was in it.

But, needless to say, as for any dessert to get my thumbs up it was chocolatey, very chocolatey and insanely tasty. After much very pleasant and interesting conversation our eyes began to droop and we headed to our private rooms (yes, private, no strange foreigners to chat to – a nice change) and hit the hay in preparation for our trip to Brugges the following morning.