Another adventure in Brussels (November 2013): Black out in the hotel

I should be in Brussels, today, for another business trip, for another meeting. But I’m not. It’s holiday here, my company is close! YEAHHH!!! And I’m at home, handling my spring cleaning. I’m not sure it’s better. I miss Brussels, probably.

So, let me talk about a previous adventure in Brussels, last November, when I stayed for 3 days.

The first evening I requested the automatic alarm clock at the reception. Well, I’m fortunately early riser, so I woke up widely before 7 o’clock (the requested time). And I immediately noticed that something wasn’t working. I couldn’t switch on the light, no light at all. At the beginning I thought that I was my fault: the day before I had some problem with the electronic card that opened the door and allow me to switch on the light. But the problem was general and I verified this when at 7:20 an operator knocked on my door saying:

-          This is the alarm clock!

-          Oh, really?

-          There is a black out in the entire hotel.

And in fact the hallway was completely dark and not even emergency light was on.

I washed and got dressed using merely the emergency app present in my smartphone. The room was quite cold, because of the black out.

I opened the curtains but, you can imagine, the external light was not enough: I was in Brussels in the end of November. It’s dark, dark, dark.

 

Anyway, the major problem was reaching the reception. I was on the 4^th or 5^th floor and I had gone up by the elevator the evening before! I attempted to call the reception to ask them to help me, but the phone in my room was out of order (because of the black out).

I searched for an emergency stair, using just the light of my mobile phone, and finally I found it: it was completely dark! No emergency light on! Just the light of a skylight, but increasingly thinner as I went down. It was a nightmare! I thought: how is it possible? Am I not in a perfectly organized Nordic Country???

Anyway, I succeeded in my challenge and I reached the reception without tumbling down the stairs.

And when I opened the door, I saw this spectral sight:

 

 

The continental breakfast, included in my price, was not available, of course. So, I  went directly to the meeting.

And the day after? The day after no problem. The matter had been solved, meanwhile. Of course, I was in a well organized Nordic Country.

But after dinner my German colleagues invited me in an Irish pub. There was a football match and all they were following it on the screen present in the pub. England-Germany. I was forced to support Germany, that night. And Germany won, however. The center of Brussels was overcrowded, as you can see.

© Copyright Elena G. Santoro April 2014