Brussels | Brussels, Belgium

So it's been a week since the Brussels attacks that I'm sure you've all heard about. We were lucky enough not to be caught in either the airport or metro station at the time of the attacks, but I thought I'd tell you a bit about what it was like to be in the city while they were going on.

It was a bit before 9am and we were eating breakfast and getting ready to head to Brugge for the day. As we were eating, I received a frantic phone call from Fernando's Mom asking if we were alright. We had no idea what she was talking about! Within a few minutes after hanging up, you could tell the rest of the people in the restaurant were hearing about the attacks, too. We were told to stay in the hotel, because the city was on lockdown. All forms of transportation were stopped and they wanted people off the streets. There were constant sirens and helicopters. But amidst the panic, I have to say, I felt safe in our hotel.

Around 6pm we were finally able to leave the hotel and get some dinner. The streets were quiet, but there was still some life. You could tell people were nervous.

We were supposed to fly to London the next day, but the airport was closed (and still is, I believe.) Instead, we bought some last minute train tickets and left on schedule.

Like I said, we weren't caught in any of the wrong places at the wrong time, but I can't help but think what could have been. We were in that subway station the day before and would have been in the airport at the same time the next day.

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Una semana ha pasado desde los ataques en Bruselas. Tuvimos la suerte de no estar ni en el aeropuerto ni en el metro, pero quiero contaros nuestra experiencia en la cuidad en el tiempo de los ataques.

Fue un poco antes de las 9 y estuvimos desayunando. Teniamos planes de ir con el tren a Brujas. Recibimos una llamada de la madre de Fernando preguntando si estábamos bien. No teníamos ni idea de que estaba hablando! Minutos después de colgar la llamada, podías notar que la gente en el restaurante estaba escuchando las noticias también. Dijeron que había que quedarse en el hotel porque la ciudad estaba en lockdown. Todas las formas de transporte estaban paradas y la gente tuvo que estar fuera de las calles. Había una constancia de sirenas y helicópteros. Pero dentro de todo el pánico puedo decir que me sentía segura en el hotel.

Sobre las 18:00 quitaron el lockdown y salimos para cenar rapido. Había gente en las calles pero podías notar que estaban nerviosas.

Teníamos que volar a Londres el día siguiente, pero el aeropuerto estaba cerrado (creo que todavía esta.) Al final, compramos billetes de tren y salimos.

Como he dicho, no estuvimos en el mal sitio en el mal tiempo, pero no puedo parar de pensar como podría haber ido. Estuvimos en el metro Molenbeek el día antes y teníamos que estar en el aeropuerto en la misma hora el día siguiente.