We were booked to see an André Rieu concert in Maastricht and stay in Helmond. The trip was organised by Newmarket Holidays. We were to travel to Brussels by Eurostar and then by coach into the The Netherlands to a town close to Maastricht. We were scheduled on an early Eurostar train from St Pancras on Saturday morning and we had decided to stay overnight in London the evening before.
Day 1: Friday 11th July 2025: Street art in the Leake Street tunnel
To get to our London hotel it wasn’t too far out of our way to walk through the Leake Street arches from Waterloo station.
Here are the other images from the arches. Please do take a look at my dedicated Street Art feed on Instagram here.
Day 1: Friday 11th July 2025: Lambeth
We stayed at the Waterloo Premiere Inn on Lambeth Road. This was an eleven storey modern hotel just 10 minutes walk from Waterloo. We were upgraded to a deluxe room on the top floor which had fabulous views.
The Fire Station
From the hotel we walked up Kennington Road to Waterloo Road and to the Fire Station gastropub where we had a table booked.
The restaurant part of the pub is through the bar at the back of the large space.
What a friendly place and my steak was excellent! Walking back to the hotel we past the crane and open space where Waterloo-City Underground carriages are raised and lowered and the very busy Cubana pub.
We had a drink in the reception area of the hotel. The evening views from our room were spectacular.
Day 2: Saturday 12th July July 2025: Travel to Brussels Midi station
The early morning views from the 11th floor were just as spectacular as the previous evening. We were supposed to be at St Pancras at 7:15 am for the train. This meant a 5am start …
This early start meant that we were too early for breakfast at the hotel. We walked up to Lambeth North Underground to catch a Bakerloo Line train. Lucky for us the Underground was running and even better we only had a few minutes to wait.
It was spooky being the only people on the platform at Lambeth North. Our Bakerloo Line carriage was plastered with graffiti. The carriage filled as the train travelled to Piccadilly Circus where we left to switch lines. To get to the Piccadilly Line we had to up and down multiple stairs, not easy with bgs and a suitcase. We arrived at St Pancras just after 7am and went for hot oatmeal for breakfast at Starbucks. There was a queue from the Eurostar terminal past all the shops until there was a Disney maze in the concourse. We wee told in no uncertain terms that despite what our ticket said we were early and would have to wait till after 8am.
We found a bench and sat and waited. There were 3 or 4 trains before ours and there clearly was not enough room in the terminal for everyone. Once our train was called were quickly through security and the various immigration gates – one for the Uk, an automated one of the EU and finally a person to stamp our passports.
On Eurostar
We settled in our seats on our train and as it entered the long tunnel out of London we had coffees and KitKats from the nearby buffet car. On the train were representatives of Newmarket who checked us off their lists and gave us directions once we reached Brussels. After a short stop at Lille the train was soon at Brussels Midi station. There we were met and gathered outside with all the other attendees. We walked past a line of Flix buses both loading and unloading passengers until we reached our coaches. Each coach had a different destination hotel and on there we met our tour manager, Linda.
Travel to Helmond, The Netherlands
The coach went North towards Antwerp before turning East towards Eindhoven. There was a lot of traffic and after about an hour we stopped for a short break off the E313 after Wommelgem.
Despite only supposed to have a 10 minute stop we were there for over 20 minutes. Easily understood as everyone had to queue and pay one Euro for the loos! I picked up a French stick sandwich for a very late lunch. Our coach had a couple of extra passengers who were staying in a hotel in the middle of Eindhoven. A delay but we did get to see Eindhoven Centre and some street art!
And this house on the outskirts…
The coach had to make a few detours around Helmond as there was a street market and closed roads blocking our way to the hotel, the West End Golden Tulip.
We dumped our bags and went out for a walk and to have dinner. I had printed a map of a walk around the street art of Helmond. As we walked from the hotel we passed this art.
We crossed the canal.
and then walked along the past the bars and restaurants.
Gastrobar
Our first stop was to have a drink and to check out the menu at the Gastrobar. After our long wait for a drink and nothing speaking to us off the menu we moved on.
And we were squeezed around a table underneath the stage.
La Perla
Around the corner we came to the Italian restaurant, La Perla. We sat outside and enjoyed our meal. Both the service and food was excellent.
Back in our room we finished unpacking and settled down with our books looking forward to the concert in Maastricht on Sunday.