In Dusseldorf...

In the dead of night, the trams sound like an invading force of tanks, rumbling to a stop four floors below me. If you need an early morning call and you're staying in what was the Novum Madison (but is now Garners, part of the IHG group) you can pretty much bet on the trams waking you up. They woke me up, on many occasions, and each time I simply lay there staring at the ceiling and, oddly, thinking of that moment in The Polar Express movie when the train arrives outside the boy's house and everything starts shaking and rattling.

Since IHG has taken over they've spruced the place up a bit, but not by much; there's still a rough edge to the place and they've replaced proper hotel room keys with, yes, those awful key card things. My room (room 44) is huge and I could easily play table tennis in what amounts to unwanted space between the bed and the wardrobe. That said, I'm glad I have a wardrobe and not, like the Moxy in Nashville, a few wooden hooks sticking out of the wall. There's a desk too so I was quids in having spent a whole week in the Music City without desk or wardrobe and then, a week later, the same scenario but in Rotterdam. Perhaps wardrobes and desks are not part of the future for hotels. Let's hope they remain in situ.

My favourite restaurant of all time was fully booked, Christmas parties apparently, even in late November, so I found myself trolling around the streets after dark looking for somewhere decent to eat and not really finding anywhere apart from the usual crapperama (pizza restaurants mainly). That said, there was a place called Pho, a Vietnamese place as far as I could gather, but unfortunately for me, my earlier desperation to eat something had led to a chocolate bar, a Ritter Sport, which I'd bought to break up a 50 Euro note. I just about managed to eat the spring rolls (which were great) but the huge bowl of noodles and strips of crispy fried duck, not forgetting the pak choi and everything else, was too much and for the first time in my life (I think) I admitted defeat. "No, no, no, it was great, it's just that I stuffed my face with a chocolate bar and now I'm full up," I said, meaning every word of it because it was true and hoping they'd understand, but of course they didn't give a damn, I was still paying.

Room 44, Garners Hotel...

Afterwards, I wandered around in the dark peering into shop windows before eventually returning to the hotel and later being rudely awakened by the aforementioned early morning trams. Not that I was getting much in the way of sleep. I was due to moderate the opening session of an event on the outskirts of town the following morning, so I found myself reading through what I had to do (as I always do on these occasions) and then getting back into bed and listening to the noises of the city outside the window. It wasn't just trams; somewhere out there was a drunk shouting the odds at someone or something before he was drowned out by yet another tram.

When the event was over, I was invited to dinner and accepted. I just made it back to the hotel and had enough time to put some power into my iphone before jumping into a cab and heading for the shopping district of town. All the big brand names were there, Max Mara, Fendi, you name it and while I managed to check out some expensive watches that I couldn't afford, I didn't really have time to dawdle about. Later I walked back to the hotel, it took all of 20 minutes. It's hard to get lost in Dusseldorf.

The following morning, after more early morning trams, and another loud drunk (perhaps it was the same guy) I had a late breakfast and then hoofed it down to Dusseldorf central station to buy a ticket to Brussels Midi. I then tidied the room, put my suitcases behind the front desk before heading off on a trek into nowhere, which ended prematurely in a coffee shop (Mr. Ben's Coffee Shop no less) where I ordered a cappuccino and a flapjack. I always think I can relax, but when I'm travelling and I have places to be at specific times I always find myself preoccupied with the time and can't really settle. I strolled back to the hotel, picked up my suitcase, loitered for a while and then headed for the station. Platform 15, 1254, but it was late, arriving just past 1300hrs, a short ride to Cologne and then another train, the one I'm on now, heading to Brussels, where I'll have another wait for my EuroStar train.

Dusseldorf has always been my favourite European city, or one of them. I like them all to be honest, apart from Paris. A couple of weeks ago I spent a few days in Udine in northern Italy; that was great, but it was ruined by the cheese and ham rolls and the sugary cakes, which were everywhere, and then there's Linz in Austria, which is a longish train ride from Vienna, home of The Third Man ferris wheel and other attractions. In Linz there used to be a shop called Wanke. Yes, I know, very juvenile, but also very funny. I don't think it's there anymore, perhaps the shop owner went blind.

View from Room 44...

I wasn't that keen on Rotterdam, which I keep misspelling as Rotherham, especially after seeing a giant rat waddle unaccompanied into a restaurant. I won't be eating there, I thought. On that occasion I was staying in an easyHotel, which is basically a room and that's it: no breakfast, no wardrobes and no desk, but it was fine, especially after my adventure in Nashville where I was first introduced to the concept of hotel rooms without wardrobes and desks. These things are sent to try us and ultimately I find myself accepting whatever I initially thought of as a problem. In fact, where the Moxy was concerned, I felt a little guilty about criticising the hotel as it all worked out in the end.

We've just left Liege in Belgium and the weather is piss poor: grey skies and drizzly rain. In fact, everything is grey, not just the sky but the roads and the buildings and probably the people too, everybody shuffling around in puffa coats and trainers. Or perhaps that's just the UK.

I'm now in Exki, it's a cafe on Brussels Midi station. I was here on the way out on Tuesday morning as I needed somewhere with wifi so I could attempt to book a train online. Why couldn't I use the ticket office like normal? Because there was a three-day public services strike and there were no ticket people working. It proved a huge problem and in the end I even considered flying to Dusseldorf, but in the end help was at hand and one person checked me in for a train to my favourite German city. Now I'm back, awaiting the 1756 EuroStar to London. I can't wait. I've ordered roughly the same as I ordered when I was last here on Tuesday afternoon, but again I have to complain about the cuisine. When you're on the road, the food is basically a load of rubbish. Here it was all cheese again: cheese quiche (I hate quiche) followed by a cheesecake and, foolishly, I bought a cookie, which I've yet to eat. I'd buy a cup of tea in which to dunk said cookie but time is running out and I'd probably miss my train.

Time is a real issue at the moment. It doesn't matter how early you get up, time seems to catch up with you. On the way out here I was awake around 0330hrs knowing that my alarm was going off at 0600hrs, but I couldn't sleep as I didn't want to oversleep and miss my train, so I got up and got everything ready and then I was given a lift to the station and I jumped on the 0709 train to London Victoria, took the tube to St Pancras International and then, after going through security and what have you and despite seemingly having enough time, it turned out that there was no time to chill whatsoever. I  just about managed to eat a custard Danish and drink a cup of tea and it was time to go. Soon the train was called, Platform Five, and suddenly we were off, heading for Brussels. And when I got to my destination I was told of the public services strike and time crept up on me again. I figured if the worse came to the worse I would fly, but as I said above, everything was suddenly fine, but by the time I reached Dusseldorf and checked into my hotel time was running out fast. There were no tables at my favourite restaurant and suddenly time was in free fall again. But you know all of this, I'm just saying how odd it is that even if you 'leave enough time' you soon don't have any left. It's like now, I've only got around 20 minutes before my alarm goes off and I have to check in for the EuroStar home, everything seems to run after everything else, I can't get off the roundabout. The only occasion when time stands still is if you get to the airport early, security is fast and you have the full two hours in a cafe somewhere.

So I'm sitting in Exki and for good reason. I could have gone through the barriers for the Eurostar but I know there's nothing there, nowhere to chill, just a shop selling tacky duty free tatterama and I don't want that, no sir. The friendly woman on the door so to speak told me that there would be an Exki inside the terminal in the new year, which is great. I'll remember that for when I next find myself here in Brussels.

Lastly, I don't know about you, but I really resent having to pay to go to the restrooms. I firmly believe that if "they" could charge you for the air you breathe they would. And something else, lights on timer switches. No! How many times have I fallen foul of them (read one of my previous posts on the Quo Vadis hotel in Udine for more). This time, I was in a cubicle when it went pitch black and again, I found myself waving my arms about trying to get the light to come on again. It did but I decided there and then to use my iphone light for when it goes off again (which it didn't). It's all very annoying. While I get the point of energy saving lights, not in the cubicle of a toilet, have some respect for heaven's sake. The last thing I need is to piss all over the floor because I can't see where I'm aiming. Surely, make sure the lights in the toilets are not on a timer OR that the timer is set to be on for, I don't know, 10-15 minutes. Give people a chance. It's 1648hrs and I've got around 10 minutes before my alarm sounds and I have to make my way to the EuroStar terminal for the last leg of my journey. I simply can't wait to get home, but I can say that it's been a very successful trip.

The ride to London was boring. Having eaten a lot of rubbish, I decided not to tempt myself by visiting the buffet car. I read a bit of my book, The Absence by Budgie, the former drummer of the Banshees. It's a great book and well written. We arrived home bang on time at 1900hrs and then I crossed London on the tube and took a train to my home town.