Saturday 18th May, 2024 - Tamworth

 We spent most of the morning at the apartment, before heading to Chris and Jo's for tea,  coffee and more chatting.  We managed to do the online grocery order at Tesco, to have delivered on Monday to the marina.  

During the afternoon we all drove to Litchfield to visit the Cathedral, which was amazing

  

Inside the Cathedral, they were doing a rehearsal/sound check for a concert that was being held that night.  The music was Meatloaf, which sounded absolutely amazing.  The acoustics in the Cathedral were amazing

There was also an an exhibition in the Cathedral called "Threads through Creation" which was beautiful.

 

On our way back to the cars, we saw this mobile bar 

Straight to the Red Lion Pub in Tamworth for dinner and for Jack, Emily and Harry to have a play on a beautiful Saturday evening

Friday 17th May, 2024 - Royal Leamington Spa - Tamworth

 We left the Hotel and collected the hire car, then drove into Leamington to fix up our phones, the had coffee at a lovely little coffee shop, 

before heading to Napton Narrow Boat Marina, just to check it out.  We were very impressed at how professional they are.  they suggested that we do an online order for our groceries and have them delivered next Monday.

From there we drove to Tamworth, and tried to find our accommodation, which proved a little difficult.  The found the street we were given, but were unable to find the actual property, as it turned out to be Flat 49, not a street no.!!!

We drove around to Chris & Jo's place, and Chris was able to help sort out our phones😌.  As Jo was still at work, we went back to the apartment, for a little while, unpacked and did some washing - I have to say, we really don't like front loading washing/drying machines, especially when there are no instructions !!!

Back to Chris & Jo's for lots of conversation, laughs and a take out Indian meal.

Thursday 16th May 2024 - Travel Day.

We booked an Uber to take us to Brussels Midi, which is where the Euro star leaves from 

Our journey on the Eurostar was uneventful, smooth and the 2 hour trip went very quickly. We spent approximately 35 mins in the Channel Tunnel and the train reaches approximately 300 klms per hour.

We arrived at St Pancras, London and then caught a Black Cab to Marylebone Station to then catch a train to Royal Leamington Spa for the night.

Wednesday 15th May, 2024

 We spent the morning relaxing around the apartment, after our huge day yesterday.

Being our last day in Brussels, we decided to head into the centre of the city, where we had seen a clock, that was quite unusual.

As we were in Brussels, it was only fitting that we made a visit to a Belguim Chocolate Shop, and then had Belgium Waffles and Belgium Hot Chocolate.

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They were amazing and very, very filling!!!!
 We then decided to have another Belgium beer !!!

We had seen this chap playing in the square every time we had been there, and he could really get the crowd in

Walking around again we decided to go down one of the little alley ways of the centre square, which opened into another square which contained the town hall and various churches and buildings

These buildings date back to approximately 1698

and yet another Belgium Beer 😏

and so our time in Brussels has come to an end.  We really enjoyed our time here, but were a little surprise at the little amount of English spoken in places.

Tuesday 14th May - Luxembourg & Dinant Day Trip

Today was an early morning, we had an Uber booked for 7.45am to take us to the meeting point in the centre of Brussels.  We arrvived with plenty of time to spare, and the bus departed at 8.30am for our 3 hour trip to Luxembourg.There was a quick 10min comfort after about 2 hours, and then back on the bus to continue onto Luxembourg. These flags signify the border between Belgium and Luxembourg.

 Tour buses are not allowed in the centre of Luxembourg, so we were dropped off across the river and walked into the town.

the bridge overlooked a huge park area with a river at the very bottom 

We didn't realise that there was a Walking Tour of the old city, that was to take over 1 1/2 hrs, but there free time to have lunch before this.  We found a little restaurant in one of the squares in the city and ordered a drink and lite lunch.  After waiting for in excess of 45 mins, John spoke to the waiter, who apologised, but unfortunately we were out of time, so cancelled the order. 

John joined the walking tour, but I knew it would be too long and far for me, so I wandered around for a while and the found a cafe/restaurant and finally had something to eat. John McDonalds fries on his tour😋. I took my time and walked back across the bridge, stopping every so often to take  a photo or two.

Below is a selection of photos John took in the walking tour, which he says he found quite boring.

 

This is the old town gate, which was built by the Spanish, when they were in charge.

and Spanish fortification

We left Luxembourg at 3pm for a 2 hour trip to Dinant, through a lovely little village Houyet-Cellies 

where a German tank was left during the war, because it ran out of fuel

On the drive into Dinant there was a natural barrier, that went all the way to the river, but the Spanish didn't wanted to be able to get through, so they just blew a hole through the middle.

The drive around the river into the town was quite pretty

Dinant is the birth place of Adolf Sax, the inventor of the saxaphone, and there are saxaphones across the bridge in the town

The drive back to Brussels then continued along side the river, through  Annevoie-Rouillon, and Namur-Weipion

We arrived back in Brussels at 8.30pm and walked down into the square for some dinner and caught a taxi home to our apartment - 2 very tired people !!!