Unexpected stop-over...

Just when we thought everything was going so well and went for another look at the departures board at Gare du Nord we were met by the news that first, our train was 21/2 hours late, then eventually that it was cancelled!

Sadly someone had chosen to end their lives by stepping in front of the train - it certainly put our troubles into perspective!

We were told that we could take the next train to Brussels where we could catch a train to finish our trip to Amsterdam. This solution meant that all the passengers from our train had to be accommodated in the Brussels train - not easy. We were told that it would be on a first come first served basis.so you can imagine the scene, We managed to get seated but all around us people were arriving to claim their previously reserved seats and there was quite a bit of reorganisation by the hard-pressed guards. We were lucky that we had picked seats that apparently had not been reserved previously.

We arrived at Brussels station where we headed for the Thalys help desk to see what options were available to us - she asked if we wanted to use the Intercity train that was just about to leave and when we said 'yes', stamped our tickets to allow us to do so.

So we got to see a little of the Belgium capital from the train window. Our decision proved not to be a good one as it took us another 3 hrs to reach Amsterdam! - but we did eventually...

11 hours after leaving Le Grand Pressigny!