Yunluo and Koala arrived in London that evening. The station was a very old vaulted building. The dark red bricks and tiles with a lime-colored frame made it look simple and elegant. The train station, which was separated by a square, was made entirely of yellow bricks and stones. It was huge and very conspicuous.
Yunluo had always heard about the security situation near the train station, and indeed saw many beggars and people wandering around with wine bottles. Fortunately, no one came forward to cause trouble for Yunluo. Yunluo ran to the train station in a low-key manner and tried to find a place to store the big box.
There was a row of pianos in the central hall of the train station, with one piano every ten meters. Sitting on the first piano was a middle-aged man with Asian features, groping at the piano awkwardly but not playing. There was a group of spectators crowded around him. Instead, Yun Luo walked further and further back, and after passing many empty pianos, he could faintly hear the sound of a piano, which was soft and modern.
Koala held Yunluo's hand, and the two walked closer and saw that an uncle with dark brown skin was playing the piano slowly. If this was a movie, Yunluo would have imagined that the strange and jumping lues would come out of this black man's hands, but what filled Yunluo's ears was the melody of modern light music, smooth, casual and melodious.
It doesn't have the flamboyance or individuality of jazz, but just gives people a faint taste. You can also see that this uncle is improvising. Although it is hard to say how exquisite his improvisation level is, it is enough to make people feel clear. There is only one audience standing next to him, standing there quietly listening.
In a country where money is calculated in pounds, storing luggage is much more expensive than expected. Yunluo's 24-inch small suitcase is charged 10 pounds because it needs to be kept overnight, which is more than 10 hours. However, thinking about the gravel road and safety issues all the way to the hostel, Yunluo can only spend this money.
There are many small shops run by Indians and Pakistanis on the small roads around the train station. Like other train station areas, the streets here are narrow and relatively messy. Some deep alleys are dark at night. There are also fewer pedestrians on the street, so Yunluo and Koala quickened their pace. The hotel is located at a crossroads and is a whole old building.
After entering the door, there is a lobby. There are many young people sitting on the sofa opposite, using mobile devices to access the wifi. The guy at the front desk skillfully took Yunluo's appointment form and passport, and gave Yunluo the Internet password, door card and key.
Judging from the lobby, there were many young people living here. There were also a few young people sitting on the steps at the door drinking beer. Yunluo's room seemed to be on the first floor. Koala and Yunluo stayed there safely.
The hotel's cafeteria was on the first floor of the basement. It was a relatively deep hall. Apparently, many guests had gotten up early to have breakfast. The food provided was mainly cereals, with no meat or vegetables. In addition to cereals, there was milk and toast. However, this was enough for Yun Luo. At least it could provide the calories he needed for his journey.
Yunluo did the same as before, pouring half a bowl of hot water to soften the cereals, adding a little milk to enhance the flavor, and after gulping down the big bowl of soup, Yunluo followed the little princess on the road with her bag on her back.
Time was still quite tight. Yunluo sent messages while chatting with the young man. When the young man heard that Yunluo came from Sihai, his reaction was beyond Yunluo's expectation. He said that his friend told him that Sihai had a very wide circular road in the sky, which was incredible.
Yunluo was confused by what he said. After thinking carefully, he probably meant the Inner Ring, Middle Ring and Outer Ring Elevated Road. So he explained it to him in detail. It seems that what everyone pays attention to in a place or a city may not be those famous attractions, but the unexpected people, things and things in all aspects.
The train from London to Belgium actually goes through France first and then Belgium. After swiping the electronic ticket and entering the rolling mill, there is a customs clearance area, where your passport and visa information will be checked before being released. Yunluo originally thought that it would be the same as taking a plane, and that after the train arrived at the exit, she would need to go through customs again, but in fact, she did not.
After Yunluo cleared customs in London, he got off the train in Belgium and walked out of the train station without going through any checkpoints. When he boarded the train to Paris, France, he also did not go through any customs. It can be seen that the European continent is still very unimpeded. In comparison, when we take a plane to Hong Kong, we need to go through customs once and enter customs once, which is really a big difference.
The train station in Brussels is not very big. After getting off the train, I followed the crowd to the lobby. I originally thought that there would be at least one subway line passing through an international train station like Brussels South Station, but this guess was obviously wrong. Yunluo walked from beginning to end, but did not see any subway signs or entrances. At the same time, Yunluo felt the language barrier for the first time.
Because almost all the names of the bus stops were marked in French and Dutch, I could only guess the general meaning based on the sporadic words with similar pronunciations, but I couldn't understand the slightly more complicated ones. This also caused a lot of trouble for Yunluo to look at the map later, and I encountered the same problem in Paris.
Firstly, the French street names on the Brussels map are all marked in uppercase letters. For Chinese people who are used to lowercase letters, nouns in all uppercase letters require a thinking process. In addition, due to the French language, it is often said backwards, so at a glance or even if you look carefully, you may not be able to find the location marked on the map, which makes asking for directions even more commonplace.
As soon as Yunluo got out of the station, he met a girl. She politely told Yunluo that she was also going to the subway station and motioned Yunluo Koala to follow her. We chatted briefly on the way. It seemed that she had just arrived in this country and had lived there for 2 years. She told Yunluo that this season was a rainy season and once it rained, the temperature would be extremely low.
A few days ago, she was wearing a down jacket, but today, the sun suddenly shone brightly, so she put on short sleeves. The subway station was not too far from the train station, only a few hundred meters away. After saying goodbye to her, Yun Luo lined up to buy a ticket at the manual ticket window. In front of Yun Luo were a few Chinese girls, whose English was stiff.
However, the three girls were all dressed up brightly and beautifully, and the ticket seller was also happy to talk to them, enthusiastically helping them buy tickets, answering their questions, and after knowing that they were from China, he even greeted them with "Hello".
In Belgium and France, Yunluo felt that the locals were very individualistic. Yunluo met many good young men, girls, and uncles who were willing to help or even offered to help. But she also met many people who simply waved their hands at Yunluo's requests for help and were arrogant and rude.
The hotel where Yunluo and Koala stayed was located at the northernmost end of the pentagonal area in the center of Brussels. Because it was still within the city, the hotel price was affordable. But later, when chatting with Grandma Giselle, they found out that that place was as dangerous as the area outside the central city. In the entire Brussels city, the safest area was the wealthy area southwest of the pentagon.
The city center and the north are particularly dangerous, and the red-light district is just north of this pentagon. It is the most unsafe area. Yunluo and Koala came out of the station and found a group of middle-aged uncles and aunts from the mainland carrying singles on their way back to the hotel. Yunluo was also lost with a map, so she asked a beautiful mother and daughter for directions.
Obviously, they were not from the local area, but although they didn't know where Yunluo was going, they could point out where Yunluo was now. Based on this location, Yunluo found the Max Hotel at the next corner. As far as European hotels are concerned, the Max Hotel has a good price-performance ratio.
If it were in London, maybe it would be a room that only one person could squeeze into, but the room here is obviously bigger, as big as the room in Home Inn in China. There is no door between the room and the bathroom, and the toilet is a small separate compartment. Things are tidy, but once you enter the room, you can deeply feel the difference between Belgian and British people in doing things.
I have stayed in so many hotels in the UK, most of which are relatively old, but absolutely clean and odorless. Even at the Curzon Hotel in London Hyde Park, there were no water stains or odors in the public bathing facilities. However, as soon as I entered the room of the Belgian hotel, there was a slight damp and musty smell, but fortunately it was not strong.
Yunluo was already hungry after a long morning of hard work. She found some soft cookies she bought in the lake area, ate a few bites, and felt a little relieved. Then she fell on the bed and slept for a while. Koala would not suffer with Yunluo. The little princess was the little princess, and those bodyguards who protected her casually were not doing nothing.
It was still the same old rule, when arriving at a place, the first task was to study the map and guide, and then carefully plan the itinerary for the next few days. Yunluo's residence was not too far from the Grand Square, so he decided to go to the Grand Square and the Manneken Pis Statue in the afternoon.
Unlike in the UK, Yunluo received a message from the embassy as soon as he arrived in Belgium, warning him not to stay in crowded places, to be careful, and not to go out alone at night. While walking on the street, he could indeed feel the atmosphere which was very different from that in the UK.
Fortunately, the first Belgian Yunluo met was a local young man, walking alone on the street. When Yunluo quickly passed him, he greeted Yunluo kindly and asked Yunluo if she would like to walk together if they were going the same way. At first, Yunluo was still very defensive and tried to walk on the main road with a lot of people.
Later, as they chatted, it became clear that the young man had just had a quarrel with his girlfriend and was in a bad mood, so he was afraid to be alone. From him, Yunluo learned that the Belgian economy had plummeted, and it was extremely difficult for young people to find a job. This also made Yunluo gradually begin to understand,
Why do we see so many young homeless people sitting on the roadside when we pass by Edinburgh? As we chatted, we passed by the Grand Place, a very famous place in many travel books. Yunluo passed by it almost every day in the following days. The Swan Restaurant that Marx often visited was in a corner of this square, followed by the Manneken Pis.
However, Yunluo realized in the next few days that walking around the streets and chatting with strangers was a very dangerous thing in Belgium, especially in the area where Yunluo lived. But who was Yunluo? It was no big deal. Koala was quite interested.
In the area near the Grand Square and the area further north, there live many gypsies or people from Middle Eastern countries. When Yunluo is walking alone on the road, if a person of the opposite sex comes towards him, maybe he will just make contact with her peripheral vision, or hear a whistle, or suddenly discover her at the next intersection.
The person who just walked past you comes up to say hello. This kind of thing happens so often that Yun Luo has to walk cautiously with his head down, not looking anywhere.
Of course, we have to mention Belgian chocolate. The price of very expensive chocolate in China is only about one-third of that in China. If you go there, remember to bring some back. The feeling of large chunks of delicious chocolate melting on the tip of your tongue is really super happy and super pleasant.
Another thing worth mentioning is the waffles with chocolate sauce that are sold all over Europe. Yunluo tried a waffle shop near the Manneken Pis. It was not expensive, and a large spoonful of hot chocolate sauce was added to it, which we usually use to serve soup. Plus the very sweet soft waffles, you will find that sweetness is also a very stimulating taste after taking a bite.
After taking a few bites, I felt very happy but also very full. However, I was reluctant to throw away the sweet food in my hand, but I really couldn't eat any more.
There is no mistake in the poem, post, content, and read the book on 6, 9, and bar!
In the spirit of safety. In Belgium and France, once the sky began to darken, Yunluo and Koala had to return to the hotel. It turned out that this was extremely important. The Belgian boy also repeatedly warned Yunluo not to walk alone on the street at night, especially near where Yunluo lived.
Along the way, I visited many museums, big and small, each full of personality. Although the Belgian museums are not the largest in terms of scale and architectural style, the collections inside really surprised Yunluo. And I love it very much. If you say that the British Museum is as domineering as a king.
The Belgian museum is as elegant and simple as the queen, yet rich in content. As for the Louvre, Yunluo can only use the word "indescribable" to describe this complex, beautiful, priceless, huge and noisy museum. If I go there again, Yunluo can stay in it for a week.
In the morning, Yunluo and Koala had breakfast at a seemingly inexpensive coffee shop near their residence. They ordered a piece of pie with unclear ingredients and a cup of latte. Belgians love chocolate. When serving the latte, they also gave a piece of dark chocolate to enhance the flavor of the coffee.
The baked pie was made of eggs, ham and vegetables. For Yunluo, who had hardly tasted food with enough salt in the UK, this pie was extremely delicious. The food in Belgium and France was much more delicious than that in the UK.
After looking at the map, Yunluo walked along the main road towards the square where the palace was located. On the way, he encountered a very magnificent monument. There were two lions lying next to the monument and a fire was burning on the altar in the middle. The monument was placed in a garden. The white and yellow daffodils and the blue and purple flowers in the base tone complemented each other, which was really beautiful and lovely.
Continue forward and you will reach the Brussels Park, which connects the Parliament on one end and the Grand Palace on the other. The park is filled with replicas of masterpieces from Belgian museums. On the park avenue, the green branches are covered with dense strings of light vermilion flowers, which are beautiful against the light blue sky.
The park is not large, but there are many young people running and dating in it. After crossing the park, Yunluo came to the official area in front of the Royal Palace of Belgium. The other section of the square is the National Gallery of Brussels. In fact, the same entrance links three different art galleries, the National Gallery, the Museum of Contemporary Art, and a private art gallery.
Since Yunluo is not keen on contemporary art, she only had a cursory look. The sculptures in the lobby of the National Gallery had already surprised Yunluo. As she looked all the way, she found that the biggest difference between the Belgian collections and those in Paris and the UK is that they are exquisite, simple and accurate. They are not exquisite or complicated, but never excessive, elegant, accurately depicted, and bring a sense of holiness.
Most of the exhibits in the National Museum are priceless treasures. Sculptures and paintings by masters can be seen everywhere. There are many extremely precious collections with religious themes in the corridor on the second floor. The signatures under many of the works are well-known names, which are really amazing.
The design of the entire art museum is like a palace, with a tall entrance hall in the middle. All the exhibits are in the small compartments between the corridors. It may not seem large, but it is really worth seeing after walking around it.
Looking back at many buildings in China, it is rare to see a tall, transparent foyers with a glass ceiling. Although the high floor spacing reduces the utilization rate of the area, it no longer gives people a feeling of oppression, but rather of openness and solemnity. Each exhibit is carefully displayed and explained, and some treasures are like those in the British Museum, without glass.
The visitors are directly presented with the shock of this heavy history. The masterpieces of the masters' art paintings are viewed up close, which gives people an indescribable shock. Among the three museums, the building is completely underground, with a total of 4 floors.
The main exhibits are European works of art, including many Renaissance sketches, sculptures, classical furniture, jewelry, paintings, and lighting.
All of them are stunningly beautiful. The obvious feature of the works of this era is that the aesthetics are more acceptable to modern people, but they are full of classical meanings, intricately crafted details, retro designs, bold use of colors, and delicate but not as complicated outlines as in previous eras. These make Yunluo reluctant to leave this art hall, and Koala likes it very much too.
After visiting Ms. Meisi later, Yunluo learned that this museum was actually donated by a local collector family, and all the collections in it belonged to this collector family, which was amazing. Not to mention that the works here are very valuable, just to build a place to display and preserve these art treasures is already a huge investment.
This also made Yunluo think about the concept of wealth at home and abroad. Now the whole world knows that Chinese people are rich, but as Ms. Meis said, Chinese people became rich too quickly, so that they are not prepared to become the upper class at all. They don’t know how to manage their property, assume the social responsibilities, moral standards, and behaviors of the upper class.
It is even rarer to know how to enjoy wealth tastefully. Everyone has different ways of weighing wealth, and this wealthy family shared their taste and attainments in art with the world. (To be continued...)