Rob's Roamings 2023

My Eurostar train left at 2.50pm, so I had a couple of hours to look around the old part of this city.  I'm on the final leg of this marathon train trip, and I'm writing this on the terrifically fast Eurostar train speeding through the French countryside I guess my first impressions of Brussels last night were influenced by where I was staying - quite close to Brussels Noord rail station. A short walk took me to Grand palace- relatively free of tourists because of the early hour on a Sunday morning. There are some lovely parts of this city, and wished I'd had more time to explore it. But I made the most of my time by taking a few photos: Final European station (for the time being): Brussels Midi: And a snap from the speeding (175mph) Eurostar as we enter the Channel Tunnel: This  is my last post for now. I'll be picking it up again in 8 days time on the trip that Pam and I are doing to see some Tennis at the Rome Open Tennis tournament. It's astonishing how far tech...

 A high speed train was boarded at Frankfurt, headed to Brussels, my final destination on this trip.   And when I say high speed, it was an impressive 180 mph through the German and Belgian countryside ! My observations centered around the changing nature and affluence between arras of Austria I'd just been to and the more industrialised Western part of Europe.  The houses in the towns and villages were becoming the more familiar old terraces so common in the UK, contrasting with the much bigger detached housing in Austria and Southern Germany. Passing over the Rhine at Koln: .....and arrival at the cosmopolitan city of Brussels..  My first impressions (never been here before) were not great. Too busy, buildings too big, the whole place doesn't suit me. But I'm not staying in the historical part... I'll be visiting that tomorrow .

As a runner, tourism on Saturday mornings usually means seeking out the local parkrun . Today was no exception. Frankfurt has an efficient underground train network, and Nidda parkrun is right next to one of the stations. A brilliant welcome from the German volunteers, speaking perfect English for my benefit.  It turns out that one of them is from Abergavenny, not far from home!   It was a very flat 2 lap 5K run. I spoke briefly to an expat from Leeds. But I had to rush back to my hotel, as check out time was 11am.

The train journey from Graz, Austria to Frankfurt(Main) took all day.   Starting at 8.25am arrived in Franfurt at 6.15pm.   A marathon train trip, with a mixture of fellow travellers. The first train from Graz was amazingly quiet; chance to move around to get the best photos of the mountainous area towards Vienna. Changing trains at Vienna meant boarding an extremely busy Intercity train, heading right through the heart of Germany, to Dortmund.  Really glad I booked a seat because people were standing and sitting on the floor by the luggage racks.  A long journey from here, made worse by delays because of engineering works.  Some good views of the Danube on the way through. Around my table seat were 2 French girls, an oldish German chap who loaded his tobacco pipe just before he got off, and I was sat next to a young German chap, originally from  Vienna, who happens to live in London, but was delivering a brand new telescope to his godson near Frankfur...

 After my long 10 mile run this morning, I didn't take it easy - I set off to walk up one of the nearby hills that overlook the city of Graz. Like most other European cities, Graz has  a superb tram system, that's very easy to use and navigate.  A No. 1 tram took me to the start of the walk.   It was tough uphill climbing all the way. Surrounded by trees, there was no view of the city.  At the top, I lost my phone signal, and got hopelessly lost.  It was an interesting feeling- no technology to rely on; totally relying on your wits and intuition.   A refusal to panic even though there was no one else about, I decided to carry on walking the way I thought I should go. I eventually stumbled on an old sign which (sort of) pointed the way.  45 minutes later, I was back in civilisation, with other walkers and bikers coming into view.  Phew!   20 minutes later, I was back on a tram back to my apartment..   One last loo...

At school, my nickname was Olly.  Hence the title of my run this morning.  A very flat out and back along the well kept paths alongside the River Mur. Lots of other runners and cyclists out too.  I thought I'd better keep the distance training going- I'm in the Birmingham Half Marathon on the 14th May.   I was pleased that I managed it without getting too tired. It was a very nice run through the city to its boundary southwards