Parliament Day

The tour of Brussels would prove to be just a prelude to what would happen the next day.  When we walked around the city we had nothing on us but our wallets.  On the next morning, we understood what luggage really meant.

We checked out of the hotel early.  We were to move our bags to the Trias office.  Their volunteers would be the ones to take the bags via train to Westhoek where the bags and our host families would be waiting for us in the evening.  So first we had to go from the hotel to the office.

But it was rush hour.

In Brussels, there are no escalators going down into train stations.  The moving stairs only went up.  So we carried our luggage down the stairs going to the Metro station.  We weren't really rushing but lugging those bags around is not a walk in the park either.  Then there was the fact that the trains near our hotel did not go directly into the area where the offices were so we still had to change trains.  That meant climbing up ad down some more stairs.

Finally, we got out of the correct station.  We had to smile when we found out that the Trias office was the first door to the right when you got up to street level.

After meeting with Trias officials, we had to move to the Unizo offices.  That was not much of a rush although it was still a few blocks walk.  What happened after that meeting was the highlight of the day.

We finished the Unizo meeting a few minutes behind schedule.  The next stop was the European Parliament.  Since we were running late, Anna Marie literally run.  The race was on then and there was also a slight drizzle.  The girl did not believe in taking cabs or there were few cabs in the area.  Anyways, we rushed to the Parliament building.  

When we got to Parliament, there were the requisite security measures.  We were accommodated by the aide of Marianne Thyssen, a Belgian representative from the Christian Democratic party.  He explained how the EU system worked as far as legislation was concerned.  He showed us the session hall and allowed us a few shots too.  It really is interesting what cooperation can do.  I would also like to mention that culture does play na important role and should never be ignored.

After the meeting at Parliament, it was a leisurely walk back to the Unizo building,

But the day was not yet over.