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Published: August 5th 2014
Brussels 10 - 18 July 2014 14 July Monday Paris on to Brussels
We woke thinking we had plenty of time, but soon discovered that our train was an hour earlier than anticipated due to Dave's misread of the train ticket (he looked at the time of day he purchased the ticket in Perth instead of the train departure time), so we had a mild panic to get to Gare du Nord. It was Bastille Day public holiday and roads were closed for the parade. There were no taxis available from hotel, but the concierge suggested we walk to the rank at Rue de Bac. Fortune was smiling upon us. We made it to station in time but there had been no time for postage stamps or breakfast.
Our train was more up market than that from London to Paris. The trip from Paris to Brussels was 1 hr 20 minutes and a smooth ride.
We arrived at Brussels and exited the train station straight to good quality cafés to collect our thoughts. It was sunny for a change so we looked for a table in the shade. I had a great omelette with tomato,
basil and mozzarella. Dave went for ham egg and cheese pancake. The beer Dave ordered never arrived. Nor did the bill. The waitress was under the pump. So the food was good quality but service poor. By the way we did actually pay.
We decided a taxi to our hotel was the best option, as it was just a little too far to walk with heavy suitcases in an unfamiliar location. Wow, Hotel Dominican was very posh and central. Like chalk and cheese to our Paris hotel. We had a decent size room, a lift that more than one person can fit in, secure access to lift and room, a real overhead shower and separate shower nozzle, arm chairs, no low / sloping ceilings to hit one's head upon, controllable bathroom fan and air conditioning, big bed, and it felt safe for fire exits and so on and so on. Well done Dave.
We walked around town and found both good shops and scenic architecture really close by. First up was a kitchen shop on the adjacent corner where we replaced Dave's broken wine opener. The local tabac shop had barrels of either cigarettes or tobacco on display
in the window. I know I keep going on about it, but smoking is so popular here. We wonder what the medical costs and life expectancy are in Europe.
We searched for the elusive Chinese collar shirt and found some and on sale, but the wrong material. Oh dear. After more hunting the next day, Dave finally relented and forked out a whole 7 Euros to buy it even though it didn't totally fit the bill (or is that "fit the Dave").
It is hard to believe how many chocolate shops you can fit in a small perimeter. How do you know which one(s) to try? There were also many familiar shops like Crocs, Geoxx, H&M.
We happened upon the Grand Square and were confronted by magnificent architectural variations in the buildings. The square was crowded but not as bad as Paris landmarks. We did our tourist photos and walked around. We found a couple of little arcades and the Tin Tin cartoon shop, then ended up in a seafood restaurant lane. We took note of where we were for later. Meanwhile it was time for a refreshing beer and glass of red at the Delirium Monasterium
bar. Everything we have had so far is much cheaper than Paris. Pint of beer 3 euros and 125 ml wine 3.8 euros. We stopped at a supermarket, also very handy to the hotel, and purchased a few essentials since this hotel also has a bar fridge and coffee making facilities unlike our Paris hotel. Right now Brussels is getting my vote over Paris!
After a break, we ventured back to the seafood lane off the Grand Square Grass Market. There were lots of men touting for our business with offers of free first drink. After about 10 of these and a switch of lane (seems to be 3 or 4 of them) we gave in, on the basis we could sit inside and away from the smokers. The restaurant was named Le Jardin De L'Lilot Sacre. We didn't go for the 3 course special - Pam chose seafood linguini and Dave the rabbit. Our starter was cheese croquettes which seem to be a speciality here. We opted for free champagne. What we received was a non sparkling Rose which was only just drinkable. In fact, Dave gave up on his. Sacre Bleu. The cheese croquettes were of the
frozen variety. The linguine was spaghetti and the seafood was plentiful but overcooked and rubbery with a mountain of mozzarella cheese grated on top. Dave's rabbit was tasty but the side of vegetables was straight from the freezer and mushy. Hmm, best to stay away from this area in future. We will have to find somewhere else to have the famous moules and frites for which Brussels is famous.
15 July Tuesday Brussels
To quote a famous movie, "it's Tuesday, it must be Brussels"! Bad news, the Paris rain has caught up with us, lots of persistent drizzle today.
Yesterday we were an hour late for our train, but today we were a day early for our booked bus tour, but they were obliging and allowed us to do it that day. The "bus tour" started with a guided walk around the Grand Square and it was interesting to hear some of the history. The whole area was wiped out in early 1690s then rebuilt in 4 years. The architecture reflects the different building purposes, eg bakery, versus beer house, versus residences for the King of Spain.
After a short walk, we
were on to the bus and drove through many areas of Brussels, the canals (both industrial and "beach" areas), antique shops, Kings Office and monument, Kings residence, Atomium (the huge spheres joined to look like an atom), churches galore, etc. We stopped at the Atomium for photos. It was built for a world fair. We may go back there to see the exhibitions in each sphere. We also stopped at the Basilica Koekelberg, the 5th largest church in the world. We decided to get some exercise and walked the 300 or so steps to the viewing panorama level. The day was hazy and damp, so not the best opportunity for photos. We finished the tour by going past various museums. Perfect tour for us to get a feel for where everything is in Brussels.
We had our first Belgian chocolates today from Leonardis in the oldest covered mall in Europe, Galleries St Hubert. It is quite a long mall, very old world, with a lovely domed roof of curved glass panels. The mall consists of many small speciality shops and houses the oldest chocolate shop, Meert, from 1761. One of the windows had Queen Elizabeth figurines with waving hands
like those chinese cat ornaments. They also had really brightly coloured porcelain animals, such as cows.
We found a very efficient post office, and sent the postcards meant to have been mailed from Paris. Postage was expensive from Brussels.
We had a light lunch of cous cous and a ratatouille of vegetables including potatoes (they are in everything in Brussels) and eggplant. Yum - made up for last night. This was at the cafe almost at our door step of the Dominican hotel.
Later, we visited the Musical Instrument Museum which had a feature exhibition of saxophones. Entrance included a sound device so when you stepped up to each exhibit, it played music from that instrument. Very clever and very interesting. There were ancient instruments from all different countries, and in the Saxophone floor, lots of history. The exhibition was based on Rudolph Sax, inventor of the saxophone and other odd brass instruments. The building itself had a magnificent ornate facade.
We found an out of the way bar for a late afternoon refreshment. Dave did a beer degustation of 4 bieres which came with a platter of cheese and mustard. I tried an Eau de
ville, with a touch of cranberry, lime, and mint. It wasn't too sweet and we both enjoyed our experimental drinks. When we left, we saw a black cat ("le chat noir") sitting in the window sill up on the first floor. Dave did his cat whistle (aka Carlos and Bacchus) and we nearly had a cat to take home with us!
We stayed in for the evening, not feeling like yet another big meal. We had snacks instead, camembert, salami and fresh green beans, along with another vin rouge from France.
16 July Wednesday Brussels
The only thing I remember about today is walking a million miles to find a laundromat. We were surprised to find that the hotel had no idea about where a laundrette might be located and Dave hadn't been that successful on the intranet either, but at least had identified one about 1.5 kms away.
When we finally found the elusive laundromat, it turned out to be a real dive with washing piled miles high all over the floor, and the front entrance roller door being covered in masses of graffiti. Hmm, no way Pam was going to
use this place, not to mention the fees being very high as well. Not sure it was self service. And to get there we had seemingly walked in several circular routes, had to push our way through a demonstration against Israel outside parliament, and stopping an interminable number of times to check maps and to try to work out where we were.
Not deterred we went in search of another possibility, through peak hour car and people traffic, and along a long street, to find the right address but that there was no laundromat there, well not any more anyway. We continued our walk through this shopping area, including a laneway of shops that were all african hairdresser salons, if I can call them that. We walked wearily home, feeling despondent. We had a dilemma since the cruise boat has no laundering facilities, apart from potentially hotel high priced individual item service.
On a high note, we discovered that we had our days wrong so we had one more day in Brussels than we thought. An opportunity to get the laundry done after all.
We also made the decision not to travel to Brugge or Ghent as
there is plenty to do in Brussels and another train trip for several hours was not appealing. Something to do next time we travel to Belgium.
Now, when I look at our photos from this day, I can see that we did do some other things in the morning, which is why the laundrette searching in the afternoon was so taxing.
We went back to the main square to visit Musee de Ville. This is the main Brussels history museum. No seniors entry in Brussels as you need to be 65. There was a whole room in this museum which housed the many years of costumes that have been placed on the Manneken Pis, the little peeing boy statue. They were presented on replica statues or in sliding display drawers. The costumes sometimes covered historical events, sporting events, and famous people, eg Elvis Presley. Very strange. We actually saw the real peeing boy statue/fountain later in the day, along with hundreds of other tourists milling around it. It is very famous, but surprises everyone as it is a lot smaller than what you would expect.
Back to the museum visit. It also housed sculptures, historical city models,
art, and some beautiful china vases, and some weird table ware.
After a replenishing paper cone of chocolate dipped strawberries from the Godiva Chocolate shop, we continued up the hill to the Royal Musee of Fine Art. This was huge, so we had to select which collections we were to visit and buy tickets accordingly. We saw many floors of beautiful art in great gallery surrounds, although on occasions the art was surprisingly poorly lit, so the only way you could see the full piece was to stand at various angles to it. The artists included extensive collection of Flemish paintings by Brugel, Rogier van Weyden, Campin, and the Ruben's room, etc. The museum also displayed some great art deco furniture and lamps. And although we didn't have tickets to this section, we saw a taste of some modern but weird sculptures, eg the man with many pipes.
Our late afternoon beer stop was on a corner cafe, Le Cafe Nova, with very colourful tables and a view down the adjacent winding cobbled streets. Something I haven't mentioned yet is that there are a lot more beggars on the streets of Brussels, similar to what you find in
Paris Metro and rail stations. Sometimes they play musical instruments, but other times they just sit and beg with dogs at their sides, or babies in their arms. It seems to be a real industry.
For our evening meal we chose a restaurant close to our hotel due to our weary feet. It was the Cafe De L'Opera in the square at the front of the Grand Opera House. Here Dave at last got to try the famous Brussels meal of moules and frites and really enjoyed them. We sat outside and watched the families enjoying the warm weather and children playing in the water spouts in the adjacent square.
17 July Thursday Brussels
We had a late start. Am I starting to sound like a broken record? Brunch at the cafe near the hotel again, but today sitting outside in the fresh air (with the obligatory smokers of course).
Then we recommended the search for the elusive laundromat again. Dave had done hours of internet research again the night before. We found one near the grotty one from yesterday, and without walking the convoluted way we went previously. It was self
serve, clean and organised, which was what we were after.
We decided we needed to have lunch before fetching the dirty laundry, so stopped at a little side street, which in turn had a little lane way housing a restaurant called L'Estrille Du Vieux Bruxelles in a 1587 building. This was the best food and service we had had in Brussels to date and lovely surrounds as we sat in the little quiet courtyard outside the restaurant. Dave had the special of the day which was a whole fish with veges, and I had Duck terrine.
We enjoyed our break, then trekked back to the hotel then trudged back again in very warm weather loaded up with dirty laundry. Our washing was completed surprisingly quickly and hassle free, and for a reasonable price, just over 6 Euros. While Pam watched the laundry, Dave wandered around the nearby antique and second hand shops, and surprisingly came back empty handed.
The walk back to the hotel didn't seem so bad since we finally had clean clothes, and there was a mid way stop at Godiva's for another paper cone of fresh strawberries dipped in dark chocolate. It is amazing
how buses, cars and trucks traverse the tiny winding streets. A couple of amusing traffic events included a log jam of buses trying to get past each other when a truck had double parked to unload goods, and the other was a guy in an old but immaculate open topped Rolls Royce that just pulled up and parked at 90 degrees to the curb in the middle of a small cobbled roundabout. Not sure whether he thought it was the nearby parking area or whether he felt he had the right to park wherever he wished.
After an afternoon break, we went out for yet more food to the nearby arcade Galleries St Hubert. Found a little spot under the roof of the arcade but outside which meant not impacted by smokers. Had a nice meal looking down the lovely arcade and people watching the constant flow of tourists.
18 July Friday Brussels
We managed a slightly earlier start today. We had a mission in mind. First a light breakfast at the Grass Market square, croissant, custard tart and coffee. Then, despite Dave's persistent attempts to use public transport and not being able
to work out which subway lines and trams and buses we needed, we walked up the hilly streets again. The weather is much warmer and forecast to be in 30s today.
We went to the shopping street of Rue de Ixelles which we had discovered in our long journeys in search of laundromats. There are heaps of sales on and earlier in the day not quite as crowded. Found some zany tight pants more like tights for Pam for only 3 Euro each - bargain. Then it took 3 hours of shops and trying dozens of tops on to find something to wear with them, keeping in mind that our luggage is already full, and they needed to be light, easy to wash and wear as well. Persistence paid off and the mission was accomplished and my purse only slightly lighter. Dave was the most patient man ever! Speaking of which he did find another shirt with a chinese collar, so he is now the proud owner of two. It was warm enough today to make walking in the shade, and staying in air conditioned shops a necessity.
At 3:30, it was time to find a cold drink
and lunch, the latter being elusive as kitchens were closed. So, a beer, wine and cheese platter (served with mayonnaise mustard, cornichons, and celery salt) was the way to go. Cheese is so cheap here, so quantities are huge, although lacking in variety.
Afterwards Dave's dream was realised as I agreed to catch a bus home since I actually recognised the location it was going to. We just needed to figure out the ticket machines, a bit of a challenge given the sun shining on the display panel making it totally unreadable. So we walked to the next stop that had a ticket machine in the shade. Successful purchase at last, and a bus arrived in a few minutes. Once on board, we needed to figure out how to stop the bus and get the doors open. They are long articulated buses. So we missed our stop since we didn't ring the bell, and although the bus stopped where we needed, the doors didn't open. Oh well, the next stop wasn't too far away.
I think I have convinced Dave that a taxi to the train station tomorrow may be more reliable even if only 10-15 minutes away.
Atomium
BrusselsUnfortunately it is too far to walk with laden suitcases over cobbled streets and paving.
Dave did some afternoon scouting to find some suitable restaurant options for,our last night in Brussels. We had a fantastic dinner tonight, at the best restaurant we have been to in Brussels. It is called Brussel and is in Rue des Chapelier. I was a bit reticent given how close it was situated to the Grand Square, but I couldn't have been more pleasantly surprised. It was down a little lane way, slightly away from the square. Very small, and with a 24 Euro 3 course menu deal, where you can go for extras. I had the best ever foie gras served with little toast and salad. Dave had the pork tartare (raw bacon) served with popcorn. For main I had chicken fricassee which came in a pot with mash on the side and some more salad very fresh and lightly vinaigretted. Dave had fillet steak medium rare, with frites and cream mushroom sauce on the side. The wines were from a blackboard menu, reasonably priced, and the Malbec we had from Argentina was great. The food so far was so good, we decided
to have dessert. Mine was coffee and caramel panacotta served with a chocolate slice and a lace butter biscuit. Dave had strawberries three ways - fresh, stewed and in yoghurt. Yum, and our purse wasn't dented too much either. One to put in travellers diaries.
We have really enjoyed our time in Brussels and will be sure to visit again, perhaps next time also reaching out to Ghent and Brugge.
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