Going home

We had a good meeting and then took our farewells, the hotel staff located the sunglasses I had mislaid and then I walked down to Brussel Zuid. It wasn't as hot as the day before and it was a nice walk. On the way I passed a beggar who had decided to do his begging with style—he was royally seated in a large red upholstered chair and kept up a constant patter in Bruxellois at the passers-by. Not being able to make my mind up about food on the way there, I ended up with a pizza on the station.

The THALYS to Cologne was on time and so was the connecting night train. On this leg I did not get the compartment to myself but had to share it with a kindly Danish gentleman. I found that the top bunk actually was easier to sleep in as my legs could stick out over the end. The Danish gentleman solved his sleeping problems by drinking himself into a stupor. Or, at least he had a beer before he turned in.

In the middle of the night I woke up from the distinct smell of tobacco smoke, apparently someone nearby was smoking in flagrant breach of all rules, but I couldn't really do anything about it, except try to crank up the air conditioning, which didn't necessarily help. The car attendant also smelled it but couldn't pinpoint the source.

I had worried that I would be deposited in Odense as on the way down, but we did get all the way to Copenhagen. Quick transfer to the Malmö train and from there to Stockholm. For some reason I couldn't reach the wireless net on the train, so I had to make do without on the way up. I think my laptop is slowly giving up.