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Published: March 30th 2009
When you buy a travel guide for Brussels, it's more than likely that the towns of Ghent, Antwerp, and Bruges will also be highlighted in the same travel guide. This week, I did as the travel guides say and visited each of these cities. As this was technically supposed to be the last week of my internship, and it was the last week for a couple of the other interns, I decided to make the most of my time left in this country and really experience true Belgium this week.
Just to quickly explain why last week did not end up being the final week of my internship, after seeing how busy the Mission was during Secretary Clinton's visit I offered to extend my internship an extra week since I knew that President Obama would be in Europe the week after my internship was set to end. My supervisor, knowing how much extra reporting we would have to do this week, gladly accepted my offer to extend my internship. So, for one more week, I am an intern at the U.S. Mission to the European Union.
And now for the reminiscences of my truly Belgian week...
Monday I
didn't do anything too exciting or incredibly Belgian on Monday. Just worked and came home, but it did rain...so I guess that's pretty Belgian.
Tuesday The Rotary Club of Bruxelles Grand Gala Annual 2009
The Director of the European Media Center, or The Hub, where I am station invited everyone from our office as well as my roommate and another intern to attend her Rotary Club's gala. It was a formal concert of classical music featuring Abdel Rahman El Bacha on the piano and Hrachya Avanesyan on the violin. It was at the very elaborate Flagey concert hall. It was so much fun getting all dressed up, going out with my co-workers and listening to incredible music. I could get used to things like that.
Wednesday Ghent!
One of my co-workers, Laurens, had been nice enough to invite me to his home in Ghent for dinner a long time ago. Things finally worked out and on Wednesday Michael, another intern, and I went home to Ghent with Laurens after work and had one of the most incredible meals we'd had since we got to Brussels! Laurens had asked us what food we missed most from home. Our response:
Brussels Rotary Gala
Getting all dressed up and listening to classical violinists and pianists makes for a good night.Mexican food. Not something you find too much of in Belgium. We got to spend a little time with his two beautiful little girls before they went to bed and then enjoyed the most lovely dinner with Laurens and Anne-Lise. Anne-Lise not only made us the most amazing chicken tacos we ever had, but also an incredible vegetable soup, steak marinated in a balsamic vinaigrette with potatoes and salad, and for desert white and chocolate mousse. It was fabulous! After dinner Michael and I sat around talking with Laurens and Anne-Lise until Laurens looked at his watch at told us he had better take us to the train station because it was already after 11:00 p.m. and the last train to Brussels would be leaving soon. On the train home, Michael and I couldn't get over the incredible meal we just had and were almost giddy over how good it was.
Thursday Bier Circus, Waffles at the Grand Place and
A La Mort Subite Since Friday was the last day of Rachel and Michael's internship and people would be parting ways on Friday, all of us interns decided to have dinner together on Thursday and wanted to go somewhere
Dinner at Bier Circus
A truly Belgian restaurant with hundreds of Belgian beers and food marinated in them.
(Me, Rachel & Nancy) truly Belgian. Someone suggested we go to a place called Bier Circus and the name was enough to sell us. The place has hundreds of different Belgian beers and lots of different Belgian food marinated in various beers. Each of us got something different, but all very much enjoyed what we had. I went with the Supreme Chicken, a chicken breast marinated in raspberry beer. Delicieux!
To keep the night Belgian, even though it was raining (which was also very Belgian), we had to walk to the Grand Place and have a Belgian waffle by the Mannekin Pis statue. We really have come to love that little statue, and the waffle stand right next to him. I have yet to see him actually dressed up though and am convinced that they never really dress him.
After our waffles we headed over to
A La Mort Subite,a very famous bar in Belgium for a quick drink before heading back home. We hadn't made it to this bar yet and I really wanted everyone to go before they all left.
A La Mort Subite has the best frambois (raspberry lambic beer) in town, not something to be missed on a
A La Morte Subite
Best frambois in town!
Fellow interns Nancy and Chris. tour in Belgium!
Friday Nothing too exciting on Friday either. This would have been the last day of my internship, so it could have been a very sad day. But, luckily, I got to push that back another week.
One exciting thing did happen on Friday though. After Rachel and I co-authored the blog post for the State Department's Official Blog 'DipNotes,' we were asked to write something about our internship experience. So, we did and now it is linked on the front page of the U.S. Mission to the EU's website. If you're not sick of my writing yet and would like to see that, click here:
USEU Intern Blog .
Saturday Antwerp
One of the interns for the Embassy to Belgium spent 8 years of her childhood in Antwerp and still has family there. I had really been wanting to go to Antwerp since I hadn't made it there yet and had heard so many great things about it, so when Nancy offered to show me around for the day, I jumped on the train and headed to Antwerp.
Antwerp is the second largest city in Belgium and Antwerp's harbor is the second largest in Europe! It
Onze Lieve Vrouwe Kathedral
In Antwerp, the largest Gothic cathedral in Belgium. Work began in 1352, though it wasn't finished for two centuries. is now one of the leading fashion design cities in the world, which is very apparent by the chic stores and fashionable people you see walking around the streets.
Nancy took me all over the city, showing me the Grote Markt, the Onze Lieve Vrouwe Kathedraal, the Brabo Fountain, and for a walk along the harbor. As is normally true for Antwerp, it started raining as we were walking around. But, no problem. We just ducked into the Rubenshuis for a tour of the home of the famous 17th century painter Pieter Paul Rubens.
The Rubenshuis was absolutely incredible! It was simply mind-blowing to think that over 400 years ago the house we were in was home to one of the most amazing artists of the 17th century and would have been bustling with many of his students. We're not even sure how much time we spent in the Rubenshuis, but we enjoyed every minute of it. Unfortunately we couldn't take pictures inside but got some really beautiful and even funny pictures in the courtyard.
After all that walking and putting up with the rain, Nancy and I ducked into a ChocoBar for some of the most
The Brabo Fountain
A depiction of Silvius Brabo, supposedly the nephew of Julius Caesar, throwing the hand of the mythical giant, Antigonius. amazing hot chocolate I have ever had in my life! Melted Belgian chocolate mixed with milk, cinnamon and honey definitely hit the spot.
Next, we continued our walk around Antwerp and happened to end up in Antwerp's red light district. Much to my surprise, I was much more uncomfortable walking through the red light district in Antwerp than I was in Amsterdam. In Amsterdam the red light district seemed like more of a tourist attraction. In Antwerp it seemed much more down to business. We quickly noticed we were the only two girls in the area not behind a plane of glass, and quickly made our way out.
Before dinner, Nancy insisted that I try Jenever, an originally juniper-flavored liquor that evolved from gin which is very popular in the Flanders region. Jenever now comes in every flavor you can think of from melon to chocolate to cactus. Mmm, cactus. After our Jenever, we had dinner at a very nice pita place, Nancy showed me another bar that she really likes, and then it was back to Brussels for the night. But, our travels for the weekend were not quite over yet...
Sunday Bruges
Ahh, Bruges. Beautiful
Maritime Museum
Nancy and I being looked down upon by an ogre. Bruges. I had visited Bruges when I was in Belgium two years ago, but hadn't been back yet on this trip. I think it's almost essential that anyone who comes to Brussels visits Bruges. It is definitely one of the most picturesque cities in Belgium with it's canals and many Medieval buildings dating back to the 12th and 13th centuries.
Nancy and I started our tour of Bruges by climbing the 13th century Belfort, all 366 stairs to the top. With people coming up and going down the one narrow stairway to the top, a climb up the Belfort is always interesting, but the view from the top is worth all 366 stairs and the numerous people you have to squeeze by on those stairs to get to the top. The 360 degree view of Bruges can't be truly captured in words or pictures. To oversee a Medieval city that has not been overrun with cars or industry is truly a remarkable site.
After seeing Bruges by sky, we decided the next best thing to do would be to see it by sea. You know what that means! A canal ride! Since we were so lucky and had
Rubenshuis
In the courtyard of the home of the famous Flemish painter Pieter Paul Rubens who lived there in the 1600s. absolutely beautiful weather we took a canal ride through the city's canals and under, in some areas, the city's tiny bridges. Bruges by sea is just as pretty as Bruges by sky.
We ate lunch outside and were so happy to get to soak in the sun on this surprisingly sunny Belgian day. After seeing Bruges by sky and sea, we thought it was time to explore Bruges by soil. So, we continued to trek around the city visiting many of the famous churches and of course buying souvenirs. We visited one church, the Basilica of the Holy Blood which houses a phial that supposedly contains blood and water that Joseph of Arimathea washed from the body of Christ. To our surprise, a priest had the phial out when we visited so we got to see it!
Next, we found our way to Cafe Vlissinghe, a bar that dates back to 1515! We couldn't believe we were having a drink in the same place that people had been doing just that for almost 500 years! Wow. After our drink we continued our walk throughout Bruges, stopping at bridges and statues to take pictures along the way. Finally we
Pieter Paul Ruebens
A handout showing his famous self-portrait. decided we had better head back to Brussels. My truly Belgian week had come to an end.
I was a little sad when I didn't have anywhere extravagant to travel to this weekend. (I'm getting very spoiled, I'm well aware.) Rachel went to Madrid. Michael started his Micro-State tour in Andorra. (He'll be hitting up Monaco and Liechtenstein before I meet in him in Rome and we go to Vatican City and San Marino together...he's crazy.) But, Nancy and I had such a great time exploring more of Belgium together. I'm so glad I got visit Antwerp and Bruges before I left Brussels, and also that I got to visit Ghent as well this week. They really are incredible cities. All with their own special nuances and charm.
With only one week left at my internship and two weeks total left before I come back to the States, I can tell I'm really going to miss Belgium. I'm so grateful I was able to dedicate a whole week to truly experience all the greatness of this country before I have to leave it for my own.
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