Via Brussels - The Welcome

The more I see Brussels, the more I feel like writing about it. It is one hake of a city with it's own colors and attitudes. It has always surprised me with it's versatility.

In May 2009, when I first visited this city, I didn't like it at all. The background was something like this...at that time I was staying in a small town of Germany, Oberhausen. And I was thoroughly impressed by the discipline, timeliness, cleanliness, mannerisms of Germans. On the contrary, Brussels was a typical metropolis. The mannerisms were same. But for discipline, punctuality, cleanliness...oh God, I felt Brussels could give a good competition to Mumbai. I love Mumbai irrespective of her problems, because it's my city. But I had some different expectations from the capital of European Union. I felt I was badly mistaken. I could not imagine shifting here for a longer period. 

I visited quite a few places during this trip. La Bourse, Grand Place, Royal Palace. The architectures were outstanding. Out side the royal palace, there was some small event going on. Some enthusiasts were demonstrating various activities of Europeans in summer. It was quite a fun to see that. 

But I don't know why the city didn't appeal me. May be, I loved Oberhausen too much at that time (and I still do!) or may be the metro stations in Brussels were too stinky. But while coming back, I was feeling relieved...

Well, time flew fast and soon that day came when I & Amit (my husband) permanently left Oberhausen, left Germany to shift to Brussels. It was quite an painful experience. We had spent wonderful days in our beautiful house in Oberhausen. We thoroughly liked the surroundings, the people. We absolutely loved Duesseldorf, which was just an hour away. We had so many good friends there. It was almost like leaving India. 

While leaving all this, we did not even know in which kind of apartment we are going to stay in Brussels. We had searched for apartments vigorously & later frantically! But could not find a single one of our choice. Because inadvertently every apartment was being compared to the one in Oberhausen and none matched. 

Finally, we decided to stay in a temporary apartment for some time and search for better apartments then. 

That journey from Oberhausen to Brussels was an nightmare for me. We lifted so much of luggage that day, that even a coolie on Dadar station wouldn't agree to lift. When we reached Brussels Midi, there was no escalator, no lift. How we brought down our luggage from the platform...well, I leave it to my reader's imagination..

When we came out, it was raining beautifully. I felt as if we were being welcomed in the city. We took a cab & started to end the horrible journey. I was still missing Oberhausen. The feeling of never being able to see that house again was sore. We reached our destination. Amit asked me to wait downstairs while he shifted some of the luggage to the apartment at the 6th floor. I waited. It was one of the typical old renovated buildings of Brussels. Not so bad. 

I was anxious to see our temporary nest. Amit looked agitated as he came back. 

I asked him, "How is the apartment?"

He said, "There is only one single bed to sleep!!!!"

......to be continued