Saturday, October 22, 2011

Another new adventure -- Brussels, Belgium (a blog from Jill)

Another new adventure...early Thursday morning high speed train ride to Brussels,Belgium. I was very excited! I really enjoy traveling by train, especially a high speed train!!! And since it is Mark's line of work, it is important to support the train and metro business! There is no hassle traveling by train...you can pack what you like and carry anything on the train with no worries! You arrive 20 minutes before departure, find your very comfortable seat, get settled and relax while speeding through the French country side-what could be better than that? One hour and 20 minutes later, we arrived in Brussels. We walked through the train station, out the door, crossed the street and there was our hotel-how convenient!

Historically Brussels, the capital of Belgium, was a Dutch speaking country. But over the 19th and 20th centuries Brussels became increasingly French speaking. Most people of Brussels are French speaking today, but both languages are evident. The street signs, menus and such are written in both languages. I must say I was very fascinated by the Dutch language. It was fun to listen to and I couldn't help but think about my Dutch ancestors! At one point of our trip, Mark and I tired, wet, cold and exhausted from traipsing around the city found a very beautiful large cathedral(Cathedrales Bruxellensis SS Michaelis et Gudulae). We went inside to look around and as luck would have it, mass was beginning. Being wet, cold and good Catholics we decided to stay and participate in the mass of this beautiful church. We took our seats, got out of our wet coats and settled in...a very young Priest started to speak and much to our surprise he spoke Dutch!!! We are very used to listening to mass in French, but this was our first mass in Flemish. I was thoroughly engrossed in listening to the homily, the Priest seemed so joyful in his presentation...he spoke and sang so nicely-only wish we could have understood what he was saying!!! It was a pleasure to attend this mass and shake the Priests hand when it was over...a very memorable experience!!!


Brussels City is quickly becoming one of the top 5 destination cities to visit in Europe. Katie was just telling how she learned about it in one of her classes this semester! Mark and I found it fun and interesting...the architecture was very similar to what we see everyday in Paris, but you could see many, many Dutch influences. The Grand Place or Grote Market (in Dutch) is a beautiful old city square. Traditionally the Grand Place was a market place were people came to sell and buy food. Now, beautiful old buildings stand in its place...the Maison de Roi or King's House, the Hotel de Ville or town hall with it's gothic tower is often mistaken as a church or castle! I can attest to this-Mark and I both thought it was a church!





In a narrow alleyway not far from the Grand Place is the Mannekin Pis or peeing boy fountain. I was surprised to find the peeing boy to be so small, only about 1 1/2 feet tall. So much was made of it being such a huge tourist attraction, I thought it would be much larger!!! It was still fun to see. We just happened to notice a bar kitty corner to the statue called the Mannekin Tavern. We stopped and enjoyed a very fine Belgium beer. I believe I tried a local beer made by the Tappist Monks...it was a Belgium blonde beer. I found I really enjoyed the blonde beers. The fruity beers were very popular-SWEET and fruity! They were good in very small doses! Of course, around the corner were several waffle stands...We had to try the waffles! Yummmmm...the waffle had banana, strawberries, whipped cream and a drizzle of chocolate!





The food was very good too! What I read and found to be true is that the food is very French in style with the larger serving sizes of Germany. Our first meal in Belgium was at a restaurant that cooked all it's meat on an open wood fire. As you walk in the door of the restaurant, the meat was cooking on the wood fire grill, juices were dripping and smelling delicious! Mark and I were hooked...the place was busy, but they had a table for two. I ordered the lamb chops with garlic, cheese potatoes and vegetables. Mark ordered an Argentinian beef filet and baked potato. We agreed dinner was delicious!!! Too much of everything though, we couldn't eat it all:(


There aren't many foods that are traditionally Belgium...waffles, beer, chocolate and mussels with fries! Mark really enjoyed the mussels! The come to the table in a small cast iron pot and they were cooked perfectly-he had a hard time finishing them but he gave it a good effort!

Saturday,the only full day we had to sight-see was very rainy! The rain and damp just seeped through our bones, but we made the most of it and enjoyed ourselves. We were prepared for the weather with raincoats, umbrellas, and rain boots and managed to do a full day of walking, touring and shopping!!! Our stay in Brussels was great, the train home was relaxing and best of all we arrived in Paris safely and on time!



We spent this past Saturday in Paris and had a very nice day. We started the day with coffee and breakfast at home. Went to Inno for groceries...had to carry large, very heavy bags home. We had a quick lunch and took the JILL train to Le Jardin des Plantes-a very beautiful garden of flowers, small trees and even a few vegetables. We found the zoo(menagerie), a labyrinth to a lovely gazebo at the top of a hill. We walked and watched the children having so much fun crawling through the bushes of the maze and we sat and enjoyed the view when we reached the top!

We continued on our journey to Rue de Moufftard, a fun street full of little shops, brasseries, restaurants and bars. We continued our wanderings past l'eglise St. Genevieve, the Pantheon to le Jardin de Luxembourge. From there we walked to the latin district and had dinner at Le Latin-one of our favorite, consistently good, inexpensive restaurants! We took the RER home. It was an enjoyable, long day in Paris!!! We have to start traveling outside the city of Paris to other areas of France(Normandy, Champagne or Provence). Maybe this weekend...So far Fall has been beautiful-cool, crisp beautiful sunny days!!!

Tot ziens("toht zeens")! See you later in Dutch:)

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