London and Brussels

Last Wednesday David and I went to London for a very early start on the Eurostar train on Thursday morning to Brussels.  The weather was stiflingly hot which made it difficult to get around and made us feel like not wanting to explore much.  We dropped our case off at the b&b where we were staying nearby St Pancras station.  I took photos of the station, which has such impressive Victorian Gothic A

architecture.

That's only a bit of it.  I took more pics with the camera which I've yet to upload.  We headed over to Covent Garden for a while to take in a few of the shops and entertainment.  I had to marvel at Yoda 

How on earth did he keep himself off the ground?

Next day was our trip on the Eurostar train and can say that we've tried it and although just over 2 hours for the journey to Brussels we won't be in a hurry to use again. We were taken to by the tour company to our hotel in the city, but unfortunately not given a lot of info as to where to go, what to do for the afternoon and next morning we had available to explore. Again the weather was so hot but there were plenty of shops to go into just for a browse and take advantage of their air conditioning!

While at a museum in the museum quarter of the city we found this plaque.  When David started work in Bournemouth way back in 1986 he worked for an insurance company, no longer existing, which had offices in this building. Looks pretty magnificent doesn't it.

Some lovely stained glass in the same building.

Next day we walked to an old tower, the Halle Gate, which is the last remaining gate in what was once the city walls. Having such thick stone walls, this was a lovely cool building

You can go to the top to see views of the city, which was pretty amazing.

In the afternoon we went on the coach to Maastricht and the Andre Rieu Concert in the evening.  Being so hot, we did have a brief wander around the town, then settled under shade of a cafe enjoying a few drinks.  In the evening while heading to the concert we came by this bookshop and could not resist taking photos of the shop window

I took most of the photos with my camera but here are a few iPhone shots

Ok not brilliant, but will update in another post with the camera pics. The concert was really well organised and it was enjoyable.  Not all my taste in music, but it was something that David wanted to see and glad we went. To have to chance to go to an open air concert in a lovely setting, even though it was a hot sticky evening.

Anyway more about this soon, but today going to Bristol to spend a few days there.