Part 4: A stranger in a strange place

an exit sign saying centre, this is this where i need to go, so i change lanes, and change lanes again, trying to follow the centre that is moving in front of me. a tunnel, another lane, and there i am, unceremoniously arriving at my destination, crossing the line without even realizing it. but then i am not there yet, the hardest part is still waiting out there, the way through the labyrinth of an unknown city towards a place you only know by a line on a paper. and so i drive on, the wheel in one hand, the city map in the other hand, my eyes scanning the road ahead for any hint where to go. a red travel light gives me a break, i try to figure out where i am, i have no real idea, i am in a long grey street that leads from crossing to crossing. turn left here maybe? or not? toss a coin maybe? follow the yellow car cause it looks like it knows where it wants to go? another crossing, i turn right for no apparent reason, another long chain of buildings made of concrete and glass, is this really the city i want to be in? this looks like bureaucrassels, this looks odd. i turn right, zigaging my way through this maze, zigaging through emotions that run from amusement to frustration to capitulation.

and then, out of the blue, i am in front of a palace. a huge beautiful palace, old, elegant, wise. i stop the car to say hello to Brussels, i take a photo of this place, i turn the map in circles in my hand while i count the sights that are numbered with red triangles, i still have no idea where i am. a woman passes by, i wave with the map, do my best lost foreigner, which isn't hard in this situation. i can't help but smile as i see how she turns the map in circles just like i did. blame it on the map, blame it on the moon, blame it on the sun that still blazes down, even though it is long past noon. the woman finally finds us in between the white paper lines, turn left and then right and then straight on, this sounds easy enough, i know that it hardly will be as easy as this, but then there always is hope, that is what keeps you afloat in moments like this, hope and the excitement of being a stranger in a strange place, hope and the sights along an unknown way. i pass a statue, i see the top of a church, i am getting closer, i go down a lane, i thank the God of traffic lights for giving me another long red one, this is all i want at the moment, this is all i need, a red light, and a crossing that comes with street signs that tell me where i am, and it is there, at the red triangle number three, at the Colonne du Congres, that i finally find my self, that the map stops spinning, that the points of the compass fall into place. just two more crossings, and then i am in the right road, grinning like Cheshire cat, and there it is, the hotel sign, i made it, all alone, all the way, all through the miles of road and road, i made the reference to get a residence.

Part 5: Is this just fantasy?

this travelogue is part of the subside travelzine
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