The joys of traveling in Europe in the summer: beware!

[DFW]

58. You dodged a lot of inconvenient bullets

I live here, so when there's anything going wrong somewhere, I have a better than even chance of being affected. This coming week I was supposed to go down to France on Wednesday, but the Thalys trains are all being worked on except on Tuesday. They go as far as Paris to Brussels, but not onward to Germany or Holland. I called my usual hotel in Brussels to see if I could get a room for both Tuesday and Wednesday nights. My usual hotel in Paris was just about fully booked, and their website said €1007 for a night. If I want to get fired after 47 years with my employer, booking a hotel room for €1007 for one night should do the trick. My hotel in Brussels listed their last room at €861 per night on the website, but I know the management there, and they gave me 75% off of the listed price when I asked for help. Now THAT I could justify. So, I'll commute on Tuesday evening up to Brussels, down again to Paris Wednesday morning, back up to Brussels Wednesday night, get my work done in Brussels Thursday, and get the evening train home Thursday night--I hope!!