Brussels

Brussels

I am so excited to get started on a new adventure to share and experience! A tale of jetlag, chocolate, and Mini Europe- I present to you… Brussels! 

We touched down at about 10:30 AM Brussels time, which is 4:30 AM New York time. I really wanted to go to sleep, but I pushed myself to go out and explore.

WHY BRUSSELS?

We chose to start our trek in Brussels because we had been to Brussels before. We really enjoyed it when we visited two years earlier. We found it to be nice and digestible, with a good ole’ medieval square, sweet little peeing boy statue, and chocolatiers galore. We wanted to start somewhere easy so that we could get used to being on the trip. It’s like slowly easing into the pool. 

We found our hotel, the Adagio Aparthotel.  We walked up and down the street that our hotel was located on and found it to be populated with lots of stores and restaurants. We also strolled through the lovely Galeries Royales Saint-Hubert, an airy shopping arcade. I really love this arcade, because it’s very beautiful and for some miraculous reason, it doesn’t trap heat in and it’s nice and cool! This was just  killing time leading up to the chocolate tour by Global Enterprises Bvba that we had signed up for. We chose to start with the chocolate tour to keep us awake. We had taken the red-eye to try to triumph over jet lag. We now needed an extra boost to stay awake until night in Brussels- chocolate! Once we met our tour group, we departed. We went from chocolate place to chocolate place sampling sumptuous chocolates. We were also taught the difference between a confectioner and chocolatier. Confectioners receive the pure chocolate premade and go from there to make the chocolate bars and bites that we see in stores. Chocolatiers start from scratch. They roast their own beans, process them, and turn them into chocolate bars. It’s very prestigious to become a chocolatier. Also, we learned the difference between modern chocolate and old chocolate. Modern chocolate is simple and a one-bite thing, while old style chocolate has layers of flavor and isn’t trying to be modest.

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I tended to like the old chocolate stores because they had all the caramel (yum!!!). As if this wasn’t already enough chocolate, we went to a chocolate making class after with the tour. It was super fun to learn to be our very own confectioners (our chocolate wasn’t made from scratch on premises), even if our chocolate bars ended up looking like poop with sprinkles, they tasted pretty good!  Also, it helped us stay awake, even if my brother got sick from too much chocolate. After that, we picked up food at Exki (a take-away cafe place) and ate it at the hotel on our terrace with a view of the Tour De France from our balcony. This was an amazing way to end the day. I finally got to go to bed. How about that, jet lag?

The next day, per my brother Josh’s request, we took a tour of World War One battlefields by 2Xplore. Josh had read a few books about World War One in school and wanted to see the sights for himself. Before the tour, we explored the town near the battlefields, Ieper, in French, or Ypres, in Belgian. The town wasn’t very touristy and had a nice large square. It was very picturesque. It was like walking inside a postcard. It was beautiful. We ate on the square at a place called Frituur ‘t Kattekwaad. Most of the food was mediocre at best, but the fries were great. When we finished eating, we met our tour guide and we were told that the beautiful gothic town hall and the buildings on the outside of the square were all reconstructed after World War One because of the damage to the town. This was astounding because the buildings look so old. We got into the car with our tour group and then headed off to our first stop, Flanders Fields. This is where the iconic poem, In Flanders Fields by John McCrae, was written. McCrae was a soldier stationed in the area as a medic and when a close friend of his was killed in battle, he wrote this:

In Flanders fields the poppies blow

Between the crosses, row on row,

That mark our place; and in the sky

The larks, still bravely singing, fly

Scarce heard amid the guns below.

We are the Dead. Short days ago

We lived, felt dawn, saw sunset glow,

Loved, and were loved, and now we lie

In Flanders fields.

Take up our quarrel with the foe:

To you from failing hands we throw

The torch; be yours to hold it high.

If ye break faith with us who die

We shall not sleep, though poppies grow

In Flanders fields.

This poem is the reason that poppies took on the symbol of remembrance.  It’s a moving poem that helps me remember that the peace we have took sacrifice. Looking at the place, where he wrote that poem, I tried to imagine what his life would have been like, and how he would have been feeling after that battle, finding that his friend had died. We also saw a graveyard there along with a dressing bunker for wounded soldiers. When we had finished exploring and learning about the battle there, we headed off to our next destination, a re-created trench. Along the way, we could see many cemeteries in fields off of the road. Once we reached the trench, we learned why the trenches were constructed in a zig-zag pattern. If the opposing army’s soldiers got into the trench, they could not shoot straight and kill lots of people. We got to walk through the trench. After that, we headed to the German Military Cemetery of Langemark. It’s a German cemetery, not a Belgian one. As opposed to the cemetery in Flanders Fields, there were many mass graves and gravestones were dark and foreboding. There was a statue of four mourning soldiers over a large mass grave of almost 25,000 people. The Germans didn’t frown on being buried in a mass grave, for them it was a sign of solidarity. After visiting here, we took the car to a Canadian memorial, The Brooding Soldier. It is 36 feet tall. The statue is in the pose that a mourning soldier would take. It was pretty sad. After seeing this memorial, we went on to the Tyne Cot Cemetery. This is where they took all of the bodies from the older, smaller cemeteries and condensed them into one big one. It’s pretty sad because I wasn’t really expecting there to be that many people that died. It just always seemed crazy that so many people could be killed surrounding the same conflict, but in the cemetery, you could really feel how devastating the war had been. After this, we headed to Hill 60, a bumpy area of land that had been bombed during the war. It was a nice walk and there were a few leftover bricks from bunkers. The highlight was the big ditch in the middle of the field. The Allies used lots of explosives to disrupt the Germans. A key tactic they used was boring tunnels under enemy lines and then putting explosives beneath German positions. It was a big turning point in the war, because their digging strategy was more efficient that the Germans.  One interesting and clever thing the allies did is to recruit British miners, who were experts in digging tunnels, and turning them into soldiers for this secret mission. I never knew about this, but I can’t imagine how it must have felt to know that there may be explosives right nearby, waiting to be triggered. The ditch was formed when tons of explosives went off to disrupt the Germans. Later, in World War Two, a plaque placed in the park memorializing the war was destroyed by the Germans because they felt that it was offensive since it referred to their use of poison gas. After this, we returned to the car. In the car, we heard about the “iron harvest,” when unexploded shells come to the surface, usually found by farmers tilling their fields. The shells are from World War One and they just never exploded. After the war, about 100 hundred years ago, people are still dealing with consequences, and we even saw an old bomb by the roadside that was waiting for a crew to come take it away and safely dispose of it. After digesting all of the interesting information, we drove through the Menin Gate, a large gate to the city that serves as a memorial to all of the missing soldiers of World War One. It is covered in the names of all of the soldiers who are either missing or dead. It is moving and a great way to conclude the tour. We said goodbye to our guide and headed off to get a quick bite to eat at a juice bar, MAONA Shakes & Bites. Turns out  that there was nothing to eat there, so we just got some really good juices and headed back to the square. We found a nice restaurant with a good view, the In ‘t Klein Stadhuis. I ordered a croquette and got some artificial tasting cheese. The rest of my family loved the food, but for me it wasn’t amazing. Still, it was nice to sit after such a long day and take in the beautiful square that looks hundreds of years old and is actually all rebuilt from the rubble of World War II. After our meal, we took the train back to Brussels and went to bed.

The next day, we woke up and hopped onto the subway. Our stop was the Atomium and Mini-Europe. We had seen the Atomium on our previous visit to Brussels. It is a big metal cube with big metal balls on each corner, which had been constructed for a World Fair. This is a pretty impressive piece of architecture.We went inside last time, so we didn’t feel the need to do it again. What we did want to revisit was Mini-Europe. It’s really fun to look at each place, noting where we’ve been and where we want to go. I love how you can explore many countries within a matter of hours. It’s like watching a preview. They also have some new exhibits on the European Union. It’s not very interesting, but they have a few interactive parts, like a quiz/game show, a VR-type experience, and a place where you can write a message and post it on a board. After this, we took the subway back to Brussels and enjoyed a nice stroll around Brussels Park. This took up most of the afternoon and we grabbed a quick bite at Love Ciabatta, where we got really good sandwiches and juice. Right nearby was the uninteresting Musical Instruments Museum. We took a glance at it, but sadly, the only interesting part of this Museum is the facade. The facade is pretty nice, though. When we finished, we took a walk to the Cinquantenaire park. On the way, we spotted the E.U. building. The Tour De France was going on, so we had to dodge the barricades and crowds. At the Parc du Cinquantenaire, we admired lovely architecture and fountains. Finally, we took a self guided tour of subway art. We saw images of Tin-Tin at the Stockel station, layered landscapes at the Vandervelde station, flying statues at the Comte de Flandre, and what looked like hastily drawn faces at the Maelbeek station.

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The flying statues scared me a bit, since I have a fear (phobia) of lifelike statues. I also didn’t like how they could fall at any moment. Even if they didn’t, it still felt weird, because if those mannequins came alive, they would have the advantage of flying. The subway art felt a lot like the subway art in NYC while also being completely unique. I was astounded to find out that the artist to who did the questionably safe art also made a statue to put on the moon! I had never even heard of it. Our last stop was The Avocado Show, a restaurant devoted to avocados- a thing of dreams. We got nachos with guacamole, salads, and (what I ordered) avocado bun burgers. That is pretty much a burger with an avocado instead of a bun. I mean, come on! To end a delicious dinner, we headed to the store and bought some Speculoos cookie ice cream cups, which were really good! 

The next day, we took the train to an adventure in Bruges. We made a point of getting there early to avoid the lines on the top attraction- the Belfry of Bruges. We were early enough to barely have a wait time and soon climbed the 366 steps in the bell tower. We saw the main bell, which weighs 6 tons. I didn’t love taking the stairs because they were so steep and there wasn’t a handrail for most of it, but I made it! We were at the top of the tower at eleven am, so the bells where playing while we were in it. When we finished, we headed to That’s Toast, an amazing toast place. I split the french toast and avocado toast with my brother and I loved it so much!!! The bread was fresh and it was seasoned perfectly… it made my mouth so happy! When we were full, we headed out and took one of the many boat tours offered through Bruges. It was fun. I didn’t pay much attention to the tour guide, however, I just enjoyed the view. It was also nice on the water and with a breeze, it made for a perfect excursion. When our boat stopped, it was time for a snack. We went to Aux Merveilleux de Fred, a big bakery just off the main square. I love meringues, and I got one. It was so good. When we were all snacked to the brim, we headed to Burg Square using the Rick Steves audio guide. The square is very pretty… But the real focus should be on the Crowne Plaza Brugge. One may think that it’s just a simple hotel… but no! It’s built over ruins. On days when no one is holding a meeting there, you can enter the hotel and go down to the basement and see it for free. The hotel was only allowed to build on the site if they let visitors in to see the ruins, so that’s what they do! It’s pretty amazing. There are also displays of artifacts that they found there. Once we walked around the entirety of the ruins, we turned our Rick Steves audio guide back on. On the tour, we saw the original  hinges to the gates of Bruges, the old fish market, and the Church of Our Lady, an old and still functioning abbey. We were feeling pretty tired out by then and we took the train back to Brussels. For dinner, we grabbed some groceries – olives, bread and cheese in addition to frites from a delicious frite place, Friterie Tabora. We’ve visited Brussels three times, and this is a reliably delicious meal. This made for a wonderful dinner and the perfect way to say goodbye to Brussels…

GET READY FOR MY NEXT ADVENTURE… PARIS!

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Dora