South of the border

A day off for both of us, let's go to Antwerp!

We woke up to rain and high winds, the train tickets had already been purchased, it would be a waste of money not to go, and besides, it's only a little rain, I'm sure it'll blow over!

We hadn't got very far when the train came to a grinding halt. We waited, and waited. And the rain continue to lash against the train window.

We eventually set off again after 50 minutes, arriving at the border town just three minutes after a Belgian train had left....
The next one was in an hour, and we seriously debated whether to go home or not.
We chose to shelter in a local cafe, eat chips, and carry on.

We eventually arrived in Antwerp, more than 3 hours after leaving home (it's normally a journey of 1hr 20 minutes).
Upon arrival we heard hordes of cheering children, looking upwards we saw they were all lined up along the rails, wearing hi-viz jackets.
A lovely sight and a very uplifting sound!

In the evening we had dinner in a burger bar called Ellis (they also did veggie meals).
More chips were consumed, and afterwards we decamped to the Irish bar to drink Guinness, whiskey, and watch the opening ceremony of the Winter Olympics before catching the train home.

This time, there were no delays.