Today the forecast was for rain but when we first got up we started to think that perhaps the forecast was wrong as it looked like quite a nice day so we went round to breakfast thinking maybe we would change our plans for today, but by the time we came out the forecast was still suggesting rain and it had clouded over a little so we decided to head round to central station to take the tube towards the railway museum. Despite seeing the museum yesterday when we were coming back from Antwerp you don’t seem to be able to get to it by train so it was a case of take the tube and then the bus. By the time we arrived at the bus stop the rain had started, so the forecast was right, but luckily it wasn’t too far to the museum so we didn’t get too wet. The museum is actually in the old railway station at Scharebeek, another magnificent building, the first room contains the ticket desks and a collection of uniforms throughout the ages which were very interesting, some of the female uniforms look more like air hostess uniforms than rail. For some reason after walking round the ticket hall the main exhibition is in a completely different building which was unfortunate, as by this time it was raining so we walked quickly round to the other hanger where they have a collection of trains through the ages, for some reason they had kept the lighting really low which actually made it quite hard to both walk round and look at things! They also have the Prince Regent (Prince Charles) miniature train, I assume he has outgrown it! The next room had mock ups of the Royal Lounge at Central station where the royalty would wait for their trains then finally the last section contained five Royal carriages. Apparently ever since the first railway track was laid in 1835 the Belgian Royal Family has always supported the development of the railways. The first Belgian kings were trendsetters in the in their use of railways and were soon joined by other heads of state. Three of the royal carriages on display were from the start of the 20th century while the other two were from 1939, they were very opulent with some significant changes between the ones at the start of the 1900s and the ones in the 1930s, for example what we assume to be the Butlers carriage in the early train had a board on the wall like the ones that are in the servants quarters in stately homes, the suggestion being that members of the royal family would ring for service and (I assume) a light would come on in the butlers room, this wasn’t in evidence in the later trains although I am sure there was some method of summoning help, however the train’s kitchen facilities significantly improved though the ages with what looked like a fully functioning kitchen in the last train. By the time we got to the end we realised that we had spent a little over 2 hours in the museum so we decided to head back to the centre of town to get something to eat. This time we took a tram and a bus to make maximum use of our rail card then walked round to the Central Market, we decided what we both needed most was actually a drink so we found a bar and had a sit down and a couple of beers then as Chris wasn’t that hungry I had my first waffle since arriving in Belgium, I had banana, caramel and cream which was lovely! Then we set off for the comic museum which I had been quite looking forward to but to be honest was very disappointing! Considering this country is responsible for Tin Tin, Asterix and apparently the Smurf’s it was a very word heavy museum and they didn’t seem to have any area that covered Tin Tin who is probably one of my favourite comic book characters and I am sure I remember a TV show as well but it didn’t have anything about it, however it did have information on the Flintstones who apparently were used to advertise Winston cigarets! We walked round the whole museum then had a quick look round the book shop and decided to head back to get something to eat. We went back to the place we ate the other day as they have tables inside (it was still raining) but with a view of the square, then by the time we finished eating it was close to 7pm so we went back to the apartment to sort out the photos do the blog and relax before tomorrow.
