This is our last day in Brussels. Our Eurostar departs at 20:22 and we need to arrive 45 minutes before that (19:37) to perform the usual ritual of bag search and passport control. That leaves the morning and afternoon free. We can leave the bags with the apartment reception and collect them later as the apartment is just a short walk from the station.

The weather forecast promises temperatures of 30 deg C later in the day, something we need to take into account.

The tube of my left hearing aid has broken and I cannot use it, reducing hearing acuity in that ear. I shall have to rely on my right ear until I can go to the hospital, audiology department, perhaps on Tuesday (tomorrow is a bank holiday), for a replacement.

We left our apartment block for the penultimate time (we will return later to collect our bags) and followed the familiar route to the station.

Our usual breakfast place has let us down: they’ve run out of croissants! We have had to patronize a rival establishment. It seems that on Sundays things don’t work as smoothly as on the other six days.

This is the Palais du Vin (“Wine Palace”) built in 1909 as a wine watehouse. The photo doesn’t do justice to the Art Nouveau decoration. These days it accommodates an indoor market.

We did have thoughts of riding the tour bus but to reach it required a walk through the streets in already uncomfortable hot conditions.

When we spotted L’Aubette it was like finding an oasis in the desert. We went in and ordered cooling drinks.

We passed by the Cathedral. As we were so close, I cut the top off the steeple.

We passed in front of this shop. The notices say it is closing down and “everything must go”. It looks as though all the stock is stuck to the front of the shop!

We have taken refuge in this fast-food outlet.

This may look like a can of Lipton Ice Tea but to me it seems more like a life-saver!

One way to keep cool is to go underground – into the Metro. Limonnier station was nearby, so when bought tickets from the machine at the entrance and went down to the platform.

We boarded the first service to roll into the station. It turned out to be tram. Confusing? Probably not, when you are used to it.

By the time the tram stopped at its terminus at the station called Churchill, we had decided that riding the trams was the best (and cheapest) way to keep cool so we boarded another. This one took us to a familiar destination, Heysel.

Yes, another picture of the Atomium! This time with a fountain for a bonus.

The question was whether to jump on another tram or look around for somewhere cool to have a drink and perhaps lunch.

The question answered itself when we spotted this Italian restaurant called Delizia.

We boarded the tram once more but but manage to go very far: only one stop in fact. It turned out that a tram “incident” had blocked the line. We had to transfer to the buses.

The first bus took us to its terminus at the Military Hospital. I have no idea where this is but it is well away from the centre if town.

Where buses are concerned, I leave it to Tigger to work out bus numbers and routes as she seems to have a special talent for this. The bus we took was empty when we boarded but soon filled up.

We left the bus at Bockstael station intending to take the Metro back to the centre. Somehow we ended up catching a mainline train and having to buy a joint ticket for €4.80.

Arriving at Brussels Midi station at 5 pm we decided to go to the apartment and collect our bags. We walked v-e-r-y slowly in the street because it was v-e-r-y hot.

Having recuperated our bags and dragged ourselves back to the station, we parked ourselves in Häagen-Dazs where we relaxed and consumed cold drinks.

In an hour or so, we will have to present ourselves at the Eurostar terminal and go through the rituals necessary to access our train. All being well, I will pick up that story later.

Today is Saturday and the penultimate day of our short visit to Belgium. We have counted our remaining euros to see whether we can afford to make an expedition from Brussels into Wallonia.

First, though, we went back to Café Muffin for the €1.80 breakfast plus extra croissant. We shall no doubt come back tomorrow as well.

Next we went to a group of ticket machines and waited for one to become free. The machines have touch screens and can be set to French, Flemish or (of course!) English.

Our proposed destination is Dinant. Two day return tickets cost €28. We reckoned we could afford that. In any case, these machines take only card payment so we did not use up any of our precious remaining euros.

The departures board showed platform 17 for the Dinant train so thither we went.

The platform was crowded but there was another train due before ours. Perhaps the crowds would all board that train.

They did! Phew!

Our joy was short-lived, however, as, after some minutes of confusion, a platform change was announced and we had to dash down one flight of steps and up another to platform 15. The train was ready to depart and we hurried aboard.

There are 12 stops to Dinant which is the terminus.

All went well until the train stopped short of Ottignies. We spent 26 minutes or so without moving. Eventually, we started up again and the train then travelled normally though arriving late at Dinant.

After Namur, we met the Meuse river and followed it into Dinant which is a long, thin town situated between the Meuse and the steep side of a valley.

On arrival at Dinant, the passengers all piled out and made for the station exit. They all ignored the footbridge and crossed the tracks by a foot crossing despite notices prohibiting the public from doing so! Photo by Tigger.

Opposite the station we spotted the Café Ardennais. We entered, took a seat and ordered two ice tea. We were served the now familiar Fuzetea. We decided to have lunch here as well.

“La douloureuse” aka the bill.

Then we went out into the streets. By now the temperature was 29-30 deg C. Where possible we walked in the shade, taking frequent “rests” in shops.

This panorama shows the river and beyond it, the citadel perched on the cliff and below it the Collegiate Church with its black tapered dome.

The obligatory statue of Charles de Gaulle.

There are pictures and models and art objects of saxophones everywhere because the instrument was invented here by one Adolphe Sax, though I’m not sure that that’s anything to boast about.

The Collegiate Church of Our Lady.

Seeing an Oxfam shop, we went inside. In the UK we are used to asking “Do you have any books in French?” but here that was not necessary. They had shelves and shelves of books in French. The problem was the impossibility of sorting through them all kin the time available. I ended up with a Maigret – lazy choice, I know. Photo by Tigger.

We made a pause in this pizza cum ice cream cum milkshake parlour to cool down and drink something cold. Photo by Tigger.

17th century Gate if St Martin, once part of the town fortifications.

Dinant is certainly a picturesque town, its appeal enhanced by the broad, calm river, the cliff crowned with the citadel and a background of greenery.

Having said that, there is not really very much here to detain the curious. You could go on a boat ride and take a tour of the church, I suppose, but that seemed hardly worthwhile. If endless representations of saxophones please you then you would find that an added point of interest but they began seriously to irritate me. It is as though the town is admitting that its sole claim to fame rests on the fact that the inventor of a charmless musical instrument lived here two hundred years ago.

We returned to the railway station in time to catch the 15:16 train to Brussels. The train was pleasantly cool after the uncomfortable heat of the streets.

We set out again at about 5:45 pm (local time) and headed for the station. So far, we had used our 24-hour passes on the tram only so it was now time to introduce them to the bus!

We went for a bus ride but I am not sure where we went. Not that it mattered as all routes are good when we are wandering at random.

Tigger, however, had a plan, in pursuit of which we changed to a tram heading for a destination which she had chosen. I didn’t know where we were going but began to guess as the scenery became familiar.

I knew for certain when we left the tram and walked up the hill to this striking building. It has given its name to the district which is called Porte de Hal.

This is the last remaining of the 7 gates in the 14th-century defensive wall around the city. In its history, it has served many purposes under many regimes, including a granary, a prison and place of execution, an archive and a museum. We see it today as it was refashioned in 1868.

Interesting as this historical artifact might be, it was not the reason for our coming here. That honour belonged to a certain restaurant called Au Faucon which, it being my favourite in Brussels, we tried to visit on each trip here.

Alas, a disappointment awaited us. The first sign that things were not as we expected was that the name had changed. It was now Le Nouveau Faucon (“The New Falcon”). When we entered it was obvious that it was now under new management. We had, after all taken the trouble to come here so we might as well have a meal. We picked up a menu only to be told that the kitchen closed at 3 pm.

Sadly we beat a retreat and looked around for another likely venue. We spied out a few places and perused a few menus but nothing appealed.

Remembering our success this morning in scoring a cheap breakfast in the station, we returned there to see whether we could repeat the trick for the evening meal.

Next to the breakfast place we found Wok Away. I don’t quite know what the name is supposed to convey but, more importantly, I saw that they had two vegetarian meals on offer, one with rice and one with noodles. We chose the noodles. The food is served in cardboard containers but it was hot and filling and with a bottle of Fuzetea each, cost about half what our restaurant meals cost yesterday.

Fortified by our noodles we set off again. So far, we had used our travel passes on the trams and on the buses. What was left? Ah, yes, the Metro!

We went to the Metro station and presented our passes to the automatic gate. The entrance gates of the Brussels Metro are formed of two transparent panels about the height of an average adult. They are closed when you reach them but open to admit you on presentation of a valid ticket. That’s for a single person. Would you believe that there are also special gates for two people?

It’s true. These gates have two sets of panels forming a cubicle. You press a button and the first set of panels opens to admit the two of you and then closes behind you. You now touch each of your passes on the special pad and, if all is well, the second set of panels opens to let you out!

It’s not as complicated as it sounds and took us only a few seconds to make our way through. There are analogous gates-for-two for exit as well.

This is where the Metro brought us. You can probably make out the name of the station which is Heysel (in French) and Heizel (in Flemish). This will be familiar to football fans. The football stadium of the same name is nearby. Fortunately, there was no match scheduled for this evening or the place would have been crowded out.

Heysel (or Heizel) is also the nearest Metro station to this famous Belgian attraction. This was as close as we came to it today but you will find better pictures online. It is called the Atomium and it was built in 1958 for the Brussels World’s Fair (Expo 58). It represents a vastly magnified iron atom and is now a museum which can be visited.I

We, however, jumped aboard a tram that was about to leave.

We left the tram at a stop called Montgomery and changed to bus 27.

If one were to wonder why the tram and bus stop was called Montgomery, a statue in the middle of the road, with its familiar outline, would resolve all such doubts!

Bus number 27 terminates at Brussels Midi Station from where we made our in foot to our apartment and temporary home.

We have plans for tomorrow. We will be successful in carrying them out?

We started the day once more by heading to the station. We had been struck by how expensive our restaurant meals had been yesterday and decided to seek a moderately priced breakfast.

We made a tour of the many coffee bars in the station and chose one where there was a breakfast offer of coffee and a croissant for €1.80 with extra croissants at €1.0 each.

We decided to go for a tram ride because we like trams and riding the trams is a good way to see various parts of the town. The first question, however, was where to buy tickets,

Public transport in Brussels is run by a group know popularly as La STIB. This is an acronym for La Société des Transports Intercommunaux de Bruxelles. We knew that we could buy 24-hour passes if only we could find a ticket machine. We assumed there would be ticket machines in the station but, if there are, we failed to discover them.

We asked a bus driver and a railway employee where we could buy tickets but in neither case did their advice lead to success.

We at last found the station’s tram stop and here were some STIB ticket machines. We set the ticket type to 24-hour pass and clicked for two. They cost €7.50 each.

The machine can be set to the English language. For payment it accepts coins or credit/debit cards.

The 24-hour period starts when you tap your ticket on the card reader on the first bus or tram on which you use it.

We travelled to the end of the tram line at Drogenbos where I photographed the Catholic Church of St Nicholas. This tram terminus is outside Brussels. Drogenbos is both a town and a commune in the region called Flemish Brabant (Vlaams-Brabant in Flemish, Brabant flamand in French).

For lunch we had a local delicacy bought from a takeaway shop. One cannot go to Belgium and not eat chips med mayo (chips with mayonnaise) at least once – it’s a sacred duty!

We ate our chips in a small park near the church. Earlier, I photographed this patient horse there. He later passed the chip shop where we were buying our lunch, pulling the cart that you can glimpse in the photo. I don’t know how common the use of horses is in modern Belgium but this is the first I have seen.

We undertook the long tram ride back to Brussels Midi station. There we decided to return “home” to our apartment for a rest and to prepare for our evening outing.

Meet us again then!

The apartment has a kitchen and so we could prepare our meals if we wanted to do so. But we are on holiday and it’s much more fun to go out to eat.

For our evening meal, we set out at about 8 pm, heading for the station area where we thought there would be plenty of choice. In the event, it turned out that many places were already closing down for the day.

We visited each restaurant that was open and had a menu either on the tables outside or displayed by the door.

In the end, we chose a brasserie offering vegetarian pizza. Service was slow. I think this was because there were only two waters on duty and quite a few customers out on the terrace.

After we had managed to attract a waiter’s attention and give our order, there was another long wait. When the pizzas arrived, they were quite good and of reasonable size.

After our meal, we strolled back to the apartment to finish the evening relaxing.

So ends our first day. What will tomorrow bring?

Bonne nuit, tout le monde!