Click on the above map and consider. As you can see the most direct route from London to Vilnius by train would take you through Brussells and Warsaw and then either across Belarus or by snaking a little further North directly into Lithuania. Sadly however, though it has been promised for some time now, there is currently no direct rail link, and travel via Belarus remains complicated.
The fun fair is behind the row of caravans. Glancing down there, the first thing we saw was a strange amusement which seemed to consist of placing children into inflated floating pods:. Otherwise, Belgian funfairs seem to be strong on deep fried food, I rather enjoyed my beignets de framboises β real live raspberries wrapped in dough and deep-fried but Lilette was unimpressed. There were scarey roller coasters and pop music as per St Giles Fair, but also child-friendly real live pony rides, archery contests, ancient machines for trying your strength or measuring your passion, and similar atavistic delights.
Almost anything you want, covered in batter, deep fried, and sprinkled with sugar. Test your Passion Machine. Really scarey rides for people with strong stomachs and a serious death wish. Afterwards we strayed into a street full of Moroccan restaurants, just as dusk came and they began to open up for the benefit of those observing Ramadam, and even us too.
And so to bed on the 6th floor: a good start to the holiday. Sausage Break at Frankfurt hauptbahnhof: entirely appropriate. After an entirely unmemorable breakfast, we headed back to Midi station, fighting our way through hundreds of other holiday makers, backpackers, screaming children, etc.
It got less crowded after Koln, and even less so by the time we got to Frankfurt, where we were able to enjoy a protracted sausage break waiting for ICE 74, the train that goes all the way from Zurich to Kiel, and which was running about 30 minutes late. I wish I had something interesting to say about these magnificent white trains that just zoom across Europe, quietly announcing their speed and the stations they pass through on monitors at the end of each carriage.
