Two more days in Brussels: October 14 & 15

 October 14 - A rainy day in Brussels

   We have been on the road for a month and a half and have had few rainy days. Today was rainy, but no downpours. 

Grand Place Square with old guild halls

Yummy Bowl

More guild halls

   Most museums on Brussels close on Mondays, so we had not planned a busy day anyhow. So, we walked out this morning in the drizzle just to explore. We went through a covered gallery of expensive stores and then got coffee in the Grand Place.

   Later we had lunch at La Boussole, a restaurant recommended by Meaghan Lynch who is living here. (She happens to be back in the States while we are here which is too bad.) It was excellent, very local, with neighbors eating there. Barbara had seafood bouillabaisse and Mark had cod in a mustardy cream sauce. Both were excellent.

    We walked a bit more, got some snacks for the hotel and had a nice quiet day of reading and catching up with things.

October 15 Visit to Musical Instruments Museum

   We started out chilly, but the clouds cleared and we had sun and it got into the low 60s. Wow - it felt warm. 

    We walked about 4+ miles. First, we headed to the Musical Instruments Museum near the Royal Palace area. It was an interesting museum and critical to use headphones. It was just the right size for us and we were able to linger over the many instruments. The building itself was beautiful, too.

My Day, Iraqi restaurant

    After that, we walked to My Day, an small Iraqi restaurant recommended by Meaghan. And, again, her recommendation did not disappoint. It was delicious. Barbara had an eggplant stew which warmed the stomach. Mark had a veal shwarma plate with other appetizers around it such as hummus, tabouleh etc. All so good.

     From there, we walked "home" exploring. We came across an old "Halles" which seemed like a community meeting place. There were people playing chess and two young people playing the piano that was available. Not much else was going on at the time, but it is clearly a space used for events in the community.

    Later, we walked back out to get a baguette etc for dinner and strolled the Grand Place Square with the guild halls, Hotel de Ville and the former Royal Palace, not the Museum of Brussels. People were out and about strolling. It was a nice way to end our trip to Brussels.

In Grand Place Square

  

Huge gutted building which was amazing

    

Bruge for a day - Then train to Brussels, October 12 & 13

Bruge, October 12- A Full Day. 

      We had a great night's sleep in our medieval bedroom and woke to a cool day - in the low 50s.

      The day started with a really big breakfast! David believes in giving his patrons protein, fiber, fruits, & vegetables. So, we started with fruit and yogurt, a separate fruit cup with nuts and freshly-squeezed orange juice. That was followed by two eggs with mushrooms, cherry tomatoes & parsley. Then, came a third course - stewed oranges, fried bananas and blueberries. And...latte! Wow!

     We strolled in a different direction, along one of the canals where there was a market of antiques and trinkets.

        Our first tourist stop was in the Burg, a square with a basilica and other buildings of a variety of arcitectual styles. A wedding had just begun; the bikes of the attendees were decorated with balloons.

The Belfry of Bruges (13th C)  This is where we saw the art exhibit.

        Our second tourist stop was at the Markt, a big square with the Belfry of Bruges made even more famous by the movie, In Bruges. We went into a free art exhibit in two of the big halls.

      On one side was an exhibit by Ria Verhaeghe, called Mama and dedicated to her mother, one of 40,000 Hungarians refugees who were settled in Europe in 1950. Her mother was a child who was resettled in Bruge.

     On the other side, was an exhibit by a group of artists with disabilities - physical (blindness, for example) or mental. Mark talked with the curator about one of the artists who is actually staying with him and who will have an exhibit in London.

 

Passageway to the restaurant, Malesherbes

    We had a WONDERFUL lunch at a French bistro, Malesherbes on a tiny passageway. The restaurant has only 6 tables, so we made a reservation. The owner/chef has had the restaurant for 36 years. She and her partner do all of it - including

washing the dishes. She took Mark into her kitchen to show him and it's amazing she could produce the food she does in that space. Impressive. We met, and chatted, with a lovely husband-wife team who live in Amsterdam. He's from Australia and she's from Botswana. Mark had a sea bass with leeks; Barbara had lamb with scalloped potatoes, green beans and mushrooms. Both were excellent.

    After that, we took a canal boat tour with an entertaining young man who spoke the spiel in English, French and Spanish. It wasn't a long tour, but pretty good. We went right past "our" guest house and under "our" bridge.

   As the day went on, Bruges got more and more crowded. Tour groups from busses and cruise ships abounded, and it is also a weekend. After the boat ride, we sat for a latte and then walked the rest of the day, getting out of center Bruges and then back.We came upon a canal with canal boats and big boats. We also came upon one of the 4 remaining city gates. We walked 4.5 miles today. A very good day.

On to Brussels, October 13

    Today we started out with another amazing breakfast put on by David and his daughter, Fleur. 

    We took a last walk around and visited the Church of our Savior, another beautiful church.

 

  Then we went back to our boarding house and took a cab to the station. The time on our ticket did not match the train schedule. So, we checked the board and got on then next train going to Brussels. It was not a direct train as our ticket had indicated, but...this is because we used a platform for the tickets, I think. Tip: Go with the train line itself. But, no harm done. It just was longer journey by about an hour and a half.  The ride itself was comfortable and uneventful.

    We arrived at Brussels Central Station and walked to our hotel through crowds of Sunday walkers. It was only about a 15 minute walk and we found the OPO hotel which was formerly a Post Office. The room is fine and the location is excellent. It has none of the character of the medieval room we had the last two nights.

    We walked to a fish restaurant nearby, but it the wait would have been long and we didn't want to sit outside as it is in the low 50s. So, we walked to another restaurant, Yummy Bowl which Mark read about. It turned out to be a vegetarian/vegan restaurant in an unremarkable setting, but the food was delicious. Mark had the Dragon Bowl; Barbara had the Glory Bowl.

"Manhole" cover - Brussels

     On our way home we chanced upon the Grand Place of Brussels, considered one of the most beautiful squares in the world with old guildhouses, City Hall and Maison du Roi. It is so much closer to our hotel than we had expected.

Grand Place

Grand Place

    

  

Last Day in Amsterdam, Onto Bruges, Belgium, October 10 & 11

 October 10 Last day in Amsterdam

      Today we woke up and had an absolutely scrumptious breakfast at the hotel which had been given to us as an apology for the room not being properly made up when we arrived. We both had omelets, large lattes, smoked salmon, brie and baguettes and juice! Wow. The restaurant chef had a long talk with Mark about Indonesia peanut sauce, too. 

   

 We tried to get tickets to the Van Gogh Museum, but it was sold out. Then, we tried to get a reservation at a restaurant recommended by Russell - 't zwanntje but it was also sold out. Instead, we got a reservation at The Seafood Bar near the Rijksmuseum for a late lunch. Waiting to find out what we'd be doing turned out to be fortunate because we had a brief, but heavy, downpour.

   By the time we were ready to go, the skies had cleared. So, we had another day of walking and gazing and being part of this interesting and beautiful city. Again, we walked over 4 miles today. Mark bought some daffodils that have a custom's stamp on them to get into the States. Our luggage is getting heavier!

     A few more facts about the canals and bridges: The 62 miles of canals average 3 meters in depth. There are over 1800 bridges in Amsterdam.

The three main canals (and we are on one of them- Prinsengracht) were built in the 17th Century.The river is the Amstel. Houses are built on piles and most of the city is below sea level. The city dredges for bicycles that have fallen/pushed into the canals and extract about 10,000 per year.

Vondel Park

    We went to lunch around 2 p.m., again walked through part of the Vondel Park where we heard and saw a carrion crow and saw a great blue heron. 

     Lunch was delicious, truly. Mark had a salmon dish with grilled leeks and potatoes which were green in color, so mixed with some vegetable, maybe green onions. Barbara had cod with mushrooms, peas and diced pumpkin. And, we shared grilled cauliflower. Everything was in a sauce, so...probably a LOT of calories in this particular lunch.

     

Reptiles behind us!

More walking and enjoying the ambiance. We may not have visited museums on this trip, but we feel we really enjoyed the pulse and atmosphere of the city.

October 11 In Bruges, Belgium!

      The hotel in Amsterdam called a taxi for us as we had an early morning bus to Bruges. The bus changed the schedule to half an hour later, so we had quite a chilly wait, but it was okay. There were an amazing number of Flix busses going here and there.

From the bus - fields surrounded by polders & windmill in distance

     This time the bus was a double decker and we had two front seats in the top. It was definitely more comfortable and newer than the bus to Luxembourg. The ride was about 4 hours. By the end, we had to admit that the toilet smell was evident. It was nice to drive by the fields of polders as we reminisced about leaving Scruffy at a kennel there in 1996 so we could travel to England.

Our double window is in the middle of this photo!

   We arrived just after noon in Bruges Train/Bus station which was bigger and busier than we had expected. But, it is a Friday and the start of a weekend and Bruges is a popular destination.

    We walked just over a kilometer to the amazing guest house that we booked. Artist David de Graef owns this mid-1500s medieval house on one of the canals. He rents two beautiful rooms. We are in the "Pasionaria" room on the 3rd floor at the top of the building. (More spiral stairs!) Words won't do the room justice, but it is very special and full of atmosphere. And, our view toward the Church of St. Mary is spectacular.

     David gave us a map and suggestions for walks and restaurants. First, we visited the Church of Our Lady which is beautiful and also features several huge murals, titled Creation painted by our host. It is progressive of the church to have commissioned them. The church also has a recently-discovered mural from 1370, one of the few of its kind. Most churches had painted walls in the time period, but few have been preserved.

David de Graef's work in the Church of Our Lady

Inside Church of our Lady

   

Traces of color from 1370 in Church of Our Lady

We walked around, trying to get our bearings and ate at a beer and spaghetti house, Bavet. We were really hungry by then, not having eaten breakfast and it was around 2:30. The restaurants that David suggested were closed and not reopening until dinner. Not only were we hungry, but it was also chilly - about 51 degrees.