Riding the Rails: Brussels to Berlin

July 17, 2011 -- I took a Deutsche Bahn InterCity-Express train from Brussels to Berlin with a transfer in Cologne. The train makes intermediate stops at Liege and Aachen before reaching Cologne. From Cologne the train makes intermediate stops at Dusseldorf, Duisburg, Essen, Bochum, Dortmund, Hamm, Gutersloh, Bielefeld, Herford, Hannover, Wolfsburg, Stendal and Berlin-Spandau. DB ICE trains travel at speeds up to 200 mph (322 kph).

The train station at Liege, Belgium is spectacular. It was designed by renowned Spanish architect Santiago Calatrava, who also designed the new transit hub at Ground Zero in New York City and the Chords Bridge in Jerusalem.

In typical German fashion, Deutsche Bahn wants you to know exactly how fast and efficient their high-speed trains are. The ICE trains top out at around 200 mph (322 kph) so my train was gaining speed at the time I took this picture. For Americans reading this blog post, that is 155 miles per hour.

As we sped through the German countryside I was expecting to see alpine houses and gothic cathedrals, which I did. However, I also saw gigantic wind farms with enormous wind turbines dotting the landscape. And it seemed as if every other house I saw had solar panels installed on the rooftop. Germany is obviously not the windiest or sunniest country in the world, but the Federal Republic has had a Renewable Energy Act in place since the year 2000, so this is the result of over eleven years of generous incentives for wind and solar power. It is impressive to see so many wind farms and so many citizens powering their homes with the sun.

That evening we arrived at the multi-level, futuristic looking Berlin Central Train Station. Trains are coming and going all the time on different levels, making it look like something out of the Fox animated science fiction show "Futurama." So cool.

Here are photos and video of my high speed train trip from Brussels to Berlin. Click here to see the photo set on Flickr.

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Summer 2011: Brussels, Belgium

July 16-17, 2011 -- Brussels is a bit off the beaten track. It is not the most popular tourist spot in Europe. It is weird and wonky -- the de facto capital of the European Union and home to the Atomium monument, pictured above. But Brussels is worth a visit because it is so unique. It is only a two hour train ride on the high-speed Eurostar from London St. Pancras so the city is easily accessible.

I stayed at the Hello Hostel, which doesn't have the social scene of a lot of hostels in bigger cities and is a little far from the city center, but nonetheless is a quality hostel and is within walking distance of a Metro subway station.

Brussels has a complicated history that from an initial observation it doesn't seem to have fully come to grips with yet. First there is Belgium's colonial legacy in Africa. In the lates 1800s and early 1900s under King Leopold II, Belgium colonized the current Democratic Republic of Congo, Rwanda and Burundi. There has been much suffering and bloodshed in the years following Belgian rule in these African nations. This excerpt is from the website About.com:

"The most important legacy of colonialism in Rwanda and Burundi involved the Belgians' obsession with racial, ethnic classification. The Belgians believed that the Tutsi ethnic group in Rwanda was racially superior to the Hutu ethnic group because the Tutsis had more "European" features. After many years of segregation, the tension erupted into the 1994 Rwandan genocide, in which 850,000 people died."

This dated memorial pays tribute to a shameful period in the history of Belgium -- the colonization of Congo, Africa. It was inaugurated in 1921 by King Albert I.

And there is also the Nazi occupation of Belgium during World War II. Belgium was occupied by Nazi Germany from 1940 to 1944, and there was active collaboration with the Nazis in persecuting Jews. Some 50,000 Jews lived in Belgium in the 1930s and about half were killed during the Holocaust. But not all Belgians went along with the Nazi persecution of Jews. There was a resistance movement. I visited the Military Museum at Park du Cinquantenaire and was disturbed to see Nazi era uniforms and regalia on display. But there was also this statue honoring Baron Jean Michel P.M.G. de Sélys Longchamps, a Belgian nobleman and World War II RAF fighter pilot remembered for his attack in 1943 on the Gestapo headquarters in Brussels in occupied Belgium.

But Brussels today is a vibrant, progressive city that is the de facto capital of the European Union. The city's European Quarter is home to the headquarters of the European Commission (Berlaymont building, pictured below), European Union Council and other EU institutions. Poland currently holds the sixth month rotating presidency. There are 27 member states in the EU. 17 of these member states, including Belgium, use the official currency of the eurozone -- the Euro.

And of course Belgium has some of the best food in Europe. Here is the famous Belgian waffle covered with chocolate syrup. And yes, it is as delicious as it looks.

While the EU conducts serious business in the city, the citizens of Brussels have a quirky sense of humor and don't take themselves or the city too seriously. How else can you explain the popularity of Mannekin Pis, a small bronze fountain sculpture of a little boy urinating into the fountain's basin?

Click here for more observations of Brussels on Green Center Blog.

Here are more photos from Brussels. Click here to see the set on Flickr.



Here is video of a Brussels Metro train arriving at Gare du Midi - Zuidstation:



And here is video of a Brussels Metro escalator. The escalators in Brussels are motion sensor, meaning they are stopped until someone walks up to the escalator and triggers the motion detection system and the escalator starts moving. This brilliant concept saves energy and reduces wear and tear on the escalators.

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Riding the Rails: London to Brussels

July 16, 2011 -- After a night out at a local Swiss Cottage pub with some hostelers, I woke up early the next morning and took a taxi to St. Pancras Railway Station where I took a Eurostar high speed train to my next stop -- Brussels, Belgium.

The train zips you to Brussels in a little under two hours and travels at speeds up to 186 miles per hour (300 kilometers per hour). It was my first time riding a high speed train and it was an amazing experience. You literally feel as if you are flying on the ground. But while the speed is incredibly fast, the ride is also surprisingly smooth. The highlight for me was traveling through the English Channel Tunnel, otherwise called the Chunnel. It takes about 20 minutes to travel the 31.4 miles (50.5 kilometers) from Folkestone, Kent, United Kingdom to Coquelles, Pas-de-Calais near Calais in northern France. It is thrilling being 250 feet (75 meters) under sea level on a high-speed train roaring ahead at nearly 200 mph.

Eurostar makes stops at Ebbsfleet and Ashford in southern England; and Calais and Lille in northern France, before arriving at Brussels South Railway Station.

Here is video riding the rails from London to Brussels:

Here are photos of the rail trip from London to Brussels. Click here to see the Flickr set.

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