Stormy Nights.

We stepped out of the bar into, what soon transpired to be, the tail end of a hurricane that was sweeping its way across Europe. A quick run into a side street, in an attempt to keep us out of the rain, found us outside of the Tintin Store.

Instantly I fell in love. Full of classic comic book memorabilia, the store does not disappoint. I wanted to walk away with every thing, however due to the limitations of a rucksack and the terrifying thought of attempting to carry a rocket ship on trains across Belgium with me, I sensibly opted for a t-shirt. 

As we ducked and dived between streets, attempting to keep out of the rain, we stumbled across a selection of chocolate shops.

After resisting the temptation to try, and buy, one of everything we headed into a supermarket to grab something to eat. By the time we returned to our apartment in the far corner of the city, the dark had settled and the storm had well and truly hit. The wind howled outside the old, rattling windows, half the lights didn't work and any heating there may have been in the apartment leaked out of the large windows that overlooked a dark crevice, down the side of the building, filled with pigeons who had ceased to be.

Our experience of the local cuisine for the evening, as purchased in the supermarket, consisted of frozen pizza, the left over remnants of the hint-of-curry from the night before, and a bag of Carrefore Belgian waffles. (Which are far more representative of a stale digestive than any Belgian waffle I had experienced either before or indeed since.)

As we tucked into another bottle of wine, we decided to put our evening to use and pulled out our guide and maps. We planned for the next day, by which time we hoped the storm would have resided and we could leave the building without fear of being blown over in the hurricane winds.