Last Day Solo

On my last day in Belgium, I walked over to the Cathédral des Saints Michel et Gudule. It's where royal weddings and funerals have taken place. Here's a photo of the exterior and some of the stained glass windows:



A few blocks away, I went to the Centre Belge de la Bande Dessinée, also known as the CBBD, or the Comic Strip museum. Belgium is known for not only loving comic strips, but the birthplace of Tintin and the Smurfs. There was an extensive overview about how comic strips are made, the history, and various memorabilia. There's a also an exhibit of Brussels in comic strips. It was fun to see various places I've visited sketched in as the setting of various stories. Here are some collages:





On my way to St. Catherine's place, I walked through the Place des Martyrs where apparently 445 Belgians died and were buried during the Belgian Revolution of 1830. The Memorial below:



St. Catherine's Place is known for their fish shops and restaurants. Belgium is also well known for the local seafood as it is on the North Sea. I went to Nordzee or La Mer de la Nord for my brunch. It came up often in my restaurant research and Athena had mentioned it. It's only open during the day and for take away only. I had oysters, shrimp croquettes, and a shrimp salad sandwich. All super fresh and cleanly prepared. A collage below:



After my lunch, I headed back to my hotel and picked up my luggage. I could take the tram to Brussels Zuid - Midi station, but that requires more walking and dragging of luggage. So I popped in to Central station and hopped on one of the many regional trains for the 3 minute ride. When I researched this, there were trains every 3 minutes. Athena described it as taking the Metro-North from Grand Central to 125th St, instead of taking the subway. Very true...

My Thalys high speed train took less than 1.5 hours to get to Paris Nord station shown below:



I took the RER regional train one stop to Châtelet - Les Halle's and walked 2 blocks to our AirBnB apartment which is rented out by the owner. We thought this was a better deal as we're staying 7 nights. Mikey, my longtime Georgetown friend was waiting for me. The apartment is super cute. Here's a profile of the apartment: https://www.airbnb.com/rooms/2213213?euid=55173476-4ffe-0550-4edc-51e01fa22562

We had dinner reservations at l'Atelier de Joel Robuchon, one of the best restaurants in the world. We had the price fixe of about 10 tastes and I had the lamb while Mikey ordered the quail, as shown by the 2 collages:





We walked to and from the restaurant and it was beautiful. Here's a photo of us in front of the Notre Dame Cathedral. We cannot wait for Rachel to arrive tomorrow!

Ghent

I slept in this morning as Ghent is only about 30 minutes away connected by frequent trains. I decided to have my first Belgian waffle in Belgium. I enjoy them often in NY from the Wafel & Dinges food truck that parks in front of my old office building multiple mornings a week. Here's photo of the different kinds - I got the one with speculoos:



In the midst of my breakfast, I managed to help a Korean get to the Central Station. My good deed for the day!

As I waited on the platform for my train, an Asian girl walked by - I realized it was Athena! I had met her in May in Madrid as we were both traveling alone. As we both work in NY, we actually share a friend in common. She's in Brussels for work and decided to stay an extra few days to sight see. She was on her way to Bruges! What are the chances that I meet Athena in Madrid and run into her in Brussels! Here are some posts down memory lane about hanging with Athena in Madrid:

• http://leadingalifeofcyn.blogspot.com/2014/05/spain.html
• http://leadingalifeofcyn.blogspot.com/2014/05/parks-and-art.html

We quickly made plans for dinner back in Brussels and I got off at the Ghent - St. Pieters train station. I took the #1 tram that goes to the center of the city.  

I made my way in the misty rain to St. Bavo's Cathedral where the van Eyck brothers' "Adoration of the Mystic Lamb" is on display. This is also known as "The Ghent Altarpiece" which is made up of 12 panels from the 15th century, double sided so there are panels for when it's open and closed. Here's more info: http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ghent_Altarpiece

It has been stolen or threatened to be destroyed several times - looting, a fire, World War I, and as highlighted in the movie "Monuments Men", stolen by the Nazis and hidden in a salt mine during World War II. Here's more info on the movie: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt2177771/

You cannot take photos of the original which is undergoing restoration, so various original panels are missing and in black and white. A copy of which you can take photos, is located in another dark chapel and pictured below with a few zoomed in shots in the collage:





After a walk through the Cathedral and finishing the hour audio guide, I walked by the Belfry and the Town Hall, but decided not to go in. A picture of the Belfry:



I then had lunch at a brasserie next to Korenmarkt which is in the center of the city. I had a hot tea and a sesame chicken wrap. It was around 2 pm at this point and it started to rain, so I took cover in St. Nicholas Church. A photo of the altar below:



It was sunny by the time I got out and decided to walk back to the train station instead of taking the tram. The walk took about half an hour.

When I arrived, the station was a complete zoo. Not only were there a ton of students, none of the monitors were working! Everyone was referring to paper timetables and a nice gentleman from the info center directed me to the track. The paper timetables are unfortunately not reliable when there's a track change! As such, a nice Indian Brit woman whose name is Cynthia as well and I had to figure out from the Dutch announcements and the exodus of people from our platform, there was a track change! We luckily got to the right track in time.

30 minutes later and I was in the center of Brussels again. I rested at the hotel while I waited for Athena to return from Bruges. We agreed to meet around 8 pm and after researching, we ended up at Peï & Meï in Sablon. We had the tasting menu as pictured below, but I forgot to take photos of the meat course:



The company was great as we caught up and chatted about our mutual interests - travel, food, and etc... After our meal, we walked to the Grand Place and Athena had one last Belgian waffle prior to her early flight tomorrow. We also took many pictures of ourselves, trying to send to our mutual friend, Chris - a series represented below:

So we both leave Belgium tomorrow - Athena to NY and I to Paris!

(In) Bruges

Conveniently, my hotel is about one block from the Central train station. In going through a shopping passageway, I was in the middle of the station in minutes. I bought my round trip ticket to Bruges and the trip took about an hour.

Two reasons why my trip is designed the way it is: 1) I really wanted to go to the Van Gogh museum in Amsterdam and 2) go to Bruges after having seen the movie "In Bruges" - it just seemed like a really special city. Here's a link about the movie for those who don't know (ahem, dad...): http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0780536/

I also had made dinner reservations at De Karmeliet about 2 months ago. I had looked up the Greatest Restaurants in the World rankings which I often do before I travel. Many on the list that were in the Netherlands and Belgium, weren't near the major cities as they were true farm to table. However, De Karmeliet is in Bruge center. De Karmeliet has been awarded 3 Michelin stars.

So what I saw today in beautiful Bruges:





Lots of canals! Right? Well, when I arrived, I learned there was a trade union strike of municipal workers including museum employees per the signage and the news (http://news.yahoo.com/thousands-workers-protest-belgian-labor-reform-100413429.html):



So no....

• Michelangelo statue of "Mother and Son" in the Church of Our Lady which was in the movie, "Monuments Men" (http://www.imdb.com/title/tt2177771/) 
• Van Eycks or Memlings in the converted hospital turn museum
• Bosch's "The Last Judgment" in the art museum 
• Walk up the Belfry like in the movie 

Tour groups walked around standing in front of famous sites without being able to go in. Spanish ones. Italian ones. Old lady ones. 

I wondered if I should have stayed in Brussels or gone to Ghent today instead? But I learned this strike was national, but just for one day. So my decision to change plans would have been moot and per the news, it appears there were some clashes with the police and about 50 - 60 people were injured near the southern train station in Brussels.

So I went to the Begijnhof or Béguinage, similar to the one in Amsterdam. Women who were devout, but not necessarily nuns resided here. Now it's a monastery and very pretty. There was a church and museum you could visit. Essentially, a B-List tour site. A pretty picture below of the white-washed residences:



I then walked up to the Markt (it's spelled without the "e") or city square. Here's a picture of the Belfry where supposedly, there are breathtaking views of the city:



While sitting in the square and getting pretty hungry, I decided perhaps I could switch my dinner reservation at De Karmeliet to lunch. About 650 meters away from the square, I walked over when it began to rain. The service team was very polite and kindly accommodated my request. I told them I didn't know what I would do with myself until 7 pm, if everything is closed and I came in from Brussels.

The meal was fantastic, but even more wonderful was the service. I ordered the following (pasted from the website):

• Roasted French scallops, burrata cheese, risotto with cepe mushrooms and iberico ham 
• Pheasant with green cabbage, parmentier of the legs, seasonal vegetables and fruits

Then I had a choice of a chocolate or fruit dessert, and I picked chocolate. I would never have ordered the pheasant, but one of my many waiters said it was in season. I'm so glad I ordered it as it was super tender and the parmentier was excellent. I also had 2 glasses of wine - one white paired with my scallops and one red with my pheasant, both selected by the nice sommelier.

The waiters were impressive as I heard them explain dishes in French, Dutch, German - the 3 official languages of Belgium and also in Engliah. The amount of detail to explain high end cooking makes my head spin in English, so I was impressed with their explanations. They also gave me a book of the best restaurants in the world which obviously includes them. Here's a photo of my meal with the various amuse-bouches:



It stopped raining and the sun was out by the time my 2.5 hour lunch was over. I walked over to the Burg, the old site of a 10th century castle and the Town Hall. It forms a square with various buildings including the Basilica of the Holy Blood. The church was unique and its prized reliquary was a vial of Jesus' blood which was out for veneration. I, of course, took the time to pray in front of it. Here's a photo of the church:



Underneath the Basilica, is St. Basil's Chapel which was dark and austere. Both places felt super Holy.

I then wandered the afternoon visiting canals and meandering the cobble stone streets, and popped into St. Salvator's Cathedral. A little sad that I couldn't see and do the same things that Colin Farrell did in the movie, but here's a selfie as the sun started to set:



Although I was sad, this dog made me smile as it watched canal boat tours passing by:



I walked toward the station, and decided to stop into a teahouse as my throat was sore. I've been trying to stave off a cold and wanted to get some rest. I was also in no hurry to rush back to Brussels. It's probably for the better that I took it easy today (I did, however, walk over 17,000 steps).

When I arrived back in Brussels, you could hear the music from the Grand Place where there was a light and music show that projected on the Town Hall and Guildhalls. Here's a video: https://youtu.be/zwIl1P1qD8g

I ended up having dinner at the restaurant across the street from my hotel. I orderd meatballs in tomato sauce and fries which is apparently very Belgian and a framboise lambic beer as shown below:



Although I'm sad that I didn't see everything I wanted to, I had a relaxing day and have something to look forward to in the future!

Brussels

This morning, I woke up and ate the hotel breakfast that was included in my rate. I checked out and walked over to the Antwerp train station. I needed to buy my ticket to Brussels, but the ticket man accidentally charged my card 117€ instead of 7€! He was pretty embarrassed and instead of canceling the transaction, he refunded me the difference. As I was low on cash and my card doesn't have a conversion fee, it was a win!

After about 40 minutes, I arrived in Brussels. My hotel, Ibis, was about 200 meters from the central station. I checked in and researched on the local city map.

I decided to head to MIM, or Musée des Instruments de Musique which translates to the Museum of Musical Instruments. It's not something I'd particularly be interested in, but my guidebook has it as one of the top 10 things to see in Belgium. Also I thought it was free on the 1st Wednesday of the month - apparently that's only in the afternoon, so my guidebook was wrong about that.

What my guidebook wasn't wrong about was the museum. To say this museum was a delight is an understatement - or perhaps I had no expectations. It's housed in the Old England building which is an art nouveau former department store. There are more than 9,000 pieces in the museum. They give you a headset and when you walk over headset logos on the floor, it plays the music of the instrument in front of you. You just meander listening to excellent music. In the Adolphe Sax exhibit, I must have listened to a trumpet solo of Verdi's Triumphal March from Aida about 10 times. The top floor cafe also has splendid views of the city. Here's a collage of the building, top floor view, some brass instruments, and a selfie in the department store mirror with some accordions behind me:



As I had time to kill before the Royal Museums of the Fine Arts offers free admission at 1 pm on the 1st Wednesday of the month, I walked down to Sablon where there is Notre Dame Church. The church was nice and sandwiched between Petit Place and Grand Place of Sablon. In Grand Place, there are antique stores (ironically right next to an Ethan Allen) and Belgium's best chocolate stores.

As it was almost 1 pm, I headed to the museum which is actually multiple connected museums. I first went to the Magritte Museum, dedicated to the Surrealist's life work. My combo ticket included the Fin de Siècle Museum which includes 19th and 20th century art. But of course, the highlights are the Belgium Masters included in the Old Masters Museum. Brueghel and Rubens abound and the religious artwork is impressive. Included in the collage below of my visit is Jacques-Louis David's famous "The Death of Marat":



By mid-afternoon, I was pretty hungry as I hadn't had lunch. So I walked down to Sablon and bought a croissant from Wittamer and an éclair from Marcolini - both are famous chocolatiers. I also tried a Hot Chocolate, but it was too bitter for my taste as it was pure chocolate. Here's a photo from Marcolini:




I meandered through the city and found the Manneken-Pis. This bronze statue of a boy peeing is a cherished symbol of Brussels. Here's a selfie which was difficult due to the crowds:



The statue is near the Grand Place where there is the Town Hall and the Guildhalls, pictured below:





For dinner, I made my way to Chez Lėon which is supposed to have great mussels and fries, the Belgian specialty. I ordered the white wine sauce mussels and a Duvel beer. Although it was good, I think Granville Moore's in DC is better! Here's a picture of the before and after:



It started to rain after dinner, so I headed back to the hotel. On my way back, I did swing through the Galeries Royale St. Hubert which is a famous shopping arcade. The energy in the area was great as there was live music and lots of people near Grand Place.

I have to say, all day, I have been all jumbled in my brain. Spanish keeps wanting to come out as I keep wanting to say "donde". At the Museum of Musical Instruments, the woman asked me in French what language I needed for my headset. I responded: "en anglais, s'il vous plaît, gracias." Boy, am I in trouble!