Arras, France – Brussels, Belgium – Paris, France – June 5th

The GPS lady helped us navigate many of the routes and roads between Arras and Brussels. Even though it said we should take a little over 1 1/2 hrs but it took slightly longer.

The roads into Brussels were great and we traveled through an Industrial Park which was busy but not too bad. However once we got close to the Main Train Station it became utter pandemonium. The GPS lady kindly reminded us a number of times that we had reached our destination; which was directly across from the centre of the buildings that make up the station. But we couldn’t find the Car Rental drop off location which was in the underground parking. So, like a scene from “National Lampoon’s European Vacation”. We went around and around in circles, we went left, then right And at one point we were actually driving the wrong way up a road that was only for large City Trams…….. YIKES. At this point Brenda was screaming and in the fetal position on the floor of the car 🙂

Finally we drove up on the sidewalk at the Avis Office and I found a security officer that gave pretty good direction and we found the Avis car drop off location. Once there the Avis guy went over the car looking for new scratches and dents like it was a crime scene; the only thing he was missing was the finger print powder they use. Anyway, no extra charges and before we left he said “Make sure to keep a very close eye on your luggage”.

Well, boy, was he was correct, we went outside and sat on a bench and within a few minutes a guy came along and sat right next to my knapsack and so I quickly moved it between Brenda and I and he moved on to another spot.

We had a few minutes after that to catch our breath before catching the high speed TGV to Paris.

Once at Gare Nord (which is the grandaddy of all train stations) we manoeuvred through like old pro’s and here we are at the Hotel Diana in the Latin Quarter having wine and cheese as an appetizer before going out for dinner.