Part Two: Belgium

Sunday 21st Changeable weather, fine then colder, windy and cloudy.  I got up too early, making the dog rather excited when I went downstairs, she wanted to go outside - but I missed one deadbolt so she had to wait a bit longer!Managed to bypass the Baptist church due to talking too much, realising once we reached the Catholic one that we'd gone to far.  We ended up about 15 minutes late but enjoyed the service plus chatting to some of the friendly congregation and pastor afterwards.  They help an African church in Nairobi by sending teams to teach pastors and Sunday School teachers.
We went to Heathrow by bus after lunch. British Midlands seemed very efficient, but there was a long delay on the tarmac before we were cleared for take off, so the pilot made a big joke out of it.  However, we made up half an hour in flight time due to tail winds!
Part II - Belgium
Our first glimpses of Belgium were interesting: lots of tiny fields, some looking like mediaeval strip-farms, entwined within a cobweb of roads that sprouted clusters of houses along their lengths.  There seemed to be few trees apart from a large area near the city, but there were quite a lot of canals and other waterways. 
At first airport formalities seemed pretty scanty with no arrival forms to fill in.  However, two out of the three queues for non-EU passport-holders were stationary or almost so, so people started moving to the only one that was proceeding quickly.  We decided to do the same.
The charming official only wanted to know whether we were there for business or not, so was interested to hear that we were going to visit our daughter in Belgium, and that we were from NZ, saying, “Old Zeeland is very close!”
It was a little hard to find the right platform for the train, but it was a quick trip to the Midi.  It seems young Belgians love covering things with graffiti, even the train carriages! 
It was also hard to find the right exit out of the Midi station, we thought we’d come out on the other side, so we went in the wrong direction down the street looking for our hotel.  There seemed to be few street signs + my street map was confusing, even the bus stop one didn’t help, so we went back to the station to ask directions.  I also asked at a few places on the way, trying out some French! 
The hotel was a bit grotty, and our room only had a shared toilet, with no bathroom, so we paid a bit more to get a room with a shower.
Dinner was interesting, we went to the next-door Greek restaurant.  It was hard to work out which dish was which + the staff only spoke French - but a kindly Asian girl helped us.  The chef complimented her on her excellent French and it was quite funny how quickly they became a little flirtatious, although he was twice her age! It was a cheap filling meal, so we slept well afterwards, although it was amazingly light outside after 10 p.m.