Bruxelles

Yesterday was a day that started at 5:50, when my alarm clock told me it was time to begin Saturday. At 6:33 my train would leave from Delft to Rotterdam. From Rotterdam I would go straight to Brussels, and there have a breakfast with Cyril who would arrive from Paris. I love this kind of trips. At Rotterdam, waiting for my train, there was a huge crowd on the same platform waiting for the (delayed) Thalys which would take the heavily packed holliday-ers to Bourg-St-Maurice (a ski resort in France, yeah well, I just say it because it might not be obvious that Bourg-St-Maurice is a ski resort, or?). I felt so pleased that I didn't have to join them. The Thalys was completely full with excited parents, screaming children and over-pleased teenagers. Their luggages looked heavy and had all kind of odd shapes. I felt delighed to sit in a calm carriage, with enough space for my legs, reading some Agatha Christie novels.

For once, no troubles with the trains. I arrived perfectly on time in Brussels, and as agreed met Cyril on the Thalys platform. We had a nice breakfast at the station (petits pains au chocolat and coffee), and took the train (5 mn) to Brussel Central. After a "french" no-we-are-not-wrong-we-just-take-the-long-way we arrived at the Musée de la BD (comic-books museum), which is in fact located 10 mn walking from the central station. At 13:00, we met a couple of Cyril's friends and visited the city: Grand Place - Grote Markt (I like the belgian way of displaying both dutch and french names), Manneke Pis (no french translation there...), and old streets. My favourite visits were of course the many bookshops we encountered: comic-book bookshops, second-hand bookshops, ... and walking "rue du Lombard". For those who grew-up with belgian comics, rue du Lombard is the name which appeared on nearly each comic-book, since the Editor was located there. I read on internet that the "Editions du Lombard" nowadays have a building close to the station "Brussel Zuid - Bruxelles Midi" (where we had our breakfast). We took trains back to our respective countries at 19:15, after a last complain about the belgian railroad (due to a ill-indicated train timetable, we nearly missed our train 18:52 train from Brussel Central). Cyril was eager to be back in time in Paris: he had a restaurant booked for that evening....

Editions du Lombard are famous for editing Le Journal de Tintin, a weekly magazine with the adventures of Tintin, Blake & Mortimer, Chick Bill, Chlorophylle, Clifton, Pom & Teddy, Le Chevalier Blanc, Modeste et Pompon, Michel Vaillant, Jari, Strapontin chauffeur de Taxi, Ric Hochet, Rock Derby... My father had a huge collection of these magazines (from the 60th) and I read them all.