Everyday is not a highlight reel unfortunately 4-10 &11-15

These last two days have been fairly quiet, yesterday we spent time getting some logistical issues addressed.  We took the metro down to Gare de l'Est and purchased French rail passes that are available to residents over the age of 60.  These will allow us to travel on the SNCF (French Railways) at up to 50% discounts depending on time of day and routing.  This is a great deal since we will be travelling around France a lot more in the near future. 

So our first planned trip is to Brussels, pure whim and maybe good flowers.  So once we got the passes we made our reservations only to find out that the discounts are good for France, Luxembourg, and Germany but not Belgium (mai oui)!  So we bit the bullet and got tickets, once we got home and started a little research it turned out that the best time to visit Brussels is on the weekends, not mid-week, when all the business people are trying to feed at the European Union trough.  Ouch, things are expensive but that's water down the pissoir.  Now of course we're in dread of getting our summons to appear at the immigration office during that time period.  This was not really well thought out I think, so I look in the mirror for the fool that thought it up.  A bright note however was how extremely courteous and nice the woman who assisted us at the railway ticketing office was.

 Yesterday it was overcast and threatening to rain so of course we headed over to Place des Fetes, which is a neighborhood outdoor market where there was also a marche des brochantes.   As you know too well we're addicted to 'fleecing the locals' when it comes to little antiques and bits of art and ephemera.   We made a couple small purchases and gloated on our perceived good luck.



 1914 Marseille
    
                          

                                1 euro- Nocturne W.C.

Then it was a really good lunch at a local restaurant which as it turns out is very highly thought of on some of the internet sights.  You would never guess it from the street appearance. La Laumiere specializes in seafood and food from Brittany, wow what a good lunch!