Brussels to London St Pancras Train #9139

A couple of hours in Brussels and we could have gone to see the weeing boy fountain OR we could go through UK border patrol and luxuriate in the feeling of nearly being back home. We chose the latter and had a large glass of Stella Artois- even more reassuringly expensive in a train station lounge! The train was due to leave at 2:30pm and it was a bit of a crush to get out of the departure lounge. Once on the platform we found our carriage and watched the rain falling down. The Eurostar is as smooth as advertised and it was an easy two hours, apart from Harry demanding to know when we would be going under the sea. We had been preparing him for days that the tunnel might be less dramatic than he had imagined but to no avail. "Where are the fish? When are we going under the sea?" "We ARE under the sea, but remember, we are in a tunnel." "D'oh...this is BORING."

We arrived back into St Pancras by 3:30pm GMT and were greeted by Liz, Tony, Clive and Oliver. We were finally home! After a couple of days of decompression later, we packed our waterproofs and headed to the Tate Gallery. It was lovely to see everyone; a big thank you to everyone who made it and to all those who weren't able to, but wished they could! The rain

It was a wonderful experience and, despite the fact that the children have probably been put off train travel for life, one of those trips that take a long time to work through their long term effects. We spent five weeks crammed together in a small metal box and didn't actually fall out with each other too much, we saw some remarkable things and met some lovely people; you can't really ask for much more in life, can you?