belgium

On our first full day in France, we went to Belgium!

It was a sunny, gorgeous day here on Saturday.  We had coffee on the terrace, which is on the 5th floor overlooking grass, trees, with another condo across the way.  For breakfast, we had cereal with chocolate bits in it (made by Nestle and called “Fitness” haha!), with chocolate powder mixed into the milk and fresh strawberries.  Really!?

No one was in a rush. The sun comes up at 5:45 a.m. and sets at 9:45 p.m. during the summer.  We had slept so well and just relaxing in France felt like absolute luxury.

Around noon Katie and her friend told me we were driving to Brussels!  After 10 minutes on the road we were already in Belgium.  There was no “border crossing,” you just drive right in, like going north and crossing into Georgia.

The drive was beautiful with mile after mile of tall woods and fields with new spring crops.  Several fields had actual scarecrows!  In about an hour we were exiting the smooth Belgian highway into the capital city of Brussels.  Located in the middle of Belgium, there are about 2 million people in the metropolitan area.

We parked underground again near the city center.  There are stores here I recognize from Paris and the US.  Again people moved more slowly, so different than Osaka.  Many languages are spoken here, with French being the most common, and lots of people speak English and Flemish.

Katie had explained from her previous visit that Belgium is famous for 4 things:  fries, waffles, beer, and chocolate.  I was ready to relocate, sight unseen!  Since it was past lunch time when we arrived, we went straight for Fritland–famous for its fries. We ordered 3 dips:  house tartar, which was similar to tarter sauce but less pickly and more flavorful.  The “Dallas” orange sauce was sweet but spicy.  And mayonnaise, which is a common dip for fries in Europe, even more than ketchup.  The brown things are sausages; eaten plain and very yummy, not too salty.  I noticed some people were eating sausage sandwiches with fries on the top, yikes!

There were a lot of tourists about and probably the city looked different because it was the weekend.  Soon we were in city center, where I just stood and looked and admired everything in every direction.  Every single structure was ornate, with stone or gold leaf or statues or all of the above.  The city was clean and shiny with lovely cafes and everyone was sitting outside on this magnificent sunny day.  No matter which direction you looked in the huge square, there was an amazing, photo-worthy piece of architecture.

I could see a jet flying across the sky so high above the square.  Maybe it was going to Japan?

And the cathedrals……..

The streets are cobblestone and brick, so you have to really watch your step, just as in other European cities.  We walked and walked and I tried to put my phone away to stop taking pictures, but it wasn’t possible.  Finally though, it was time for waffles!

When Katie was here in 2015 she sent me a picture of the waffle she was eating.  It was then I decided to stop eating chocolate and sugar until I was in Belgium.  Mike had quit a year before and felt much better.  It was absolutely worth the wait. 

The waffle was light and fluffy inside, and slightly crispy on the outside.  I thought it was dipped in chocolate, but no, in fact is was smothered in dark chocolate sauce.  Need I say more?

Belgium has a monarchy.  The current king is King Philippe and this is where he lives. 

There were also parks, of course, with elaborate statues of stone and bronze.  There was a jazz festival going on over the weekend, so you could hear music throughout the day.  The city was an interesting mix of old and new.  

It was pretty hot walking around and we still needed to have some Belgian beer.  We found a place called Delirium, with 2,000 selections.  It was dim and grunge, with loud metal music playing.  And yes, the beer is in fact tasty and one was enough with the increased alcohol content.  On the plane I watched a video about beer and they reported that it is not only the 3rd most popular drink in the world after water and tea, Belgians drink more beer per capita than anywhere else.

Surprisingly most of the shops in Brussels closed at 7 p.m. on Saturdays.  We found one store open, an H&M, where Katie was able to find the cute lightweight pants the women were wearing here.  We found the retail area where we parked the car, but all the stores were closed which blocked the garage entrance.  Hmmm.  Fortunately her friend found a fellow French speaking garage employee who cheerfully walked us to another elevator and I thought, See, there is always someone willing to help!

By now it was 8 p.m. and still completely light outside, which made for an enjoyable ride home.  We ate a dinner of salad and tortellini on the terrace at 9:30 p.m. in the cool evening while the sun set.  It was 4 a.m. to Katie and me, but even as I lay in bed that night, I already couldn’t wait for the morning.

Photo:  Brussels, Belgium