Thursday 9.30.2010


Rainy Brussels


Well, here we go again. We wake to a constant drizzle this morning that looks like it will last all day. Our breakfast is served in a first floor dining room and is the usual Euro fare of meats, cheeses, hard-boiled eggs and breads with coffee and juice. We have become good breakfast eaters and lunch skippers on this trip.


We bite the bullet and finally go out in the rain at about 10:30. Our walk takes us again to the Grand Place and sideways to the Bourse, the Wall Street of Europe. Like Wall Street, the Bourse is surrounded by crash barriers and security measures. Just south of the Grand Place is the Manekin Pis which is a statue of a little boy peeing into a bigger fountain. Strangely enough this used to be one of the main sources of water for the city in its early years.

Right next door to the little pisser is the best looking waffle shop we have seen so far. Can’t go to Belgium without getting a waffle. John opts for one topped with whipped cream, fresh strawberries and chocolate, all of which wind up all over his face and clothes, but it’s good. Mary watches from a safe distance.


Brussels is divided into Lower Town and Upper Town. We have been in Lower Town until now but start up the hill to see what’s up. There is a palace on every other corner with parks interspersed and on a sunny day might be very impressive. Today, it is hard to focus on sight seeing as we dodge umbrellas and drenched joggers. As we pass the Belgian national buildings and approach the EU buildings there is a decided increase in large black sedans and massive office buildings.


There is a 3:00 tour of the European Union Parliament, which we show up for at 2:30 just to be out of the rain. The tour is by headphones in the 23 languages of the 27 countries represented here. They give you an Ipod and you just punch in your flag and you’re off and running. There is a group a few minutes ahead of us that has to be some sort of former-Communist trade delegation, all suited and serious with not very stylish looks. Bulgarian we decide. We have to do something to entertain ourselves.


The tour is brief with a look at a 2-story welcoming sculpture and then we take a seat in the Parliament visitor’s area to listen to our Ipods. It seems to us that the 500 duly elected members of the EU Parliament are there to give speeches and make each other feel good about themselves. The individual countries seem to do as they please regardless of EU guidelines. We have a great deal of trouble getting our states to think alike and we’ve been trying for a couple hundred years. Interesting nonetheless and this is the reason we came to Brussels.


The good news is that the sun has peeked out while we were on our tour so our spirits brighten with the sky. We don’t feel like repeating our four-hour walk that we took to get here so we plot a new route back to our hotel. This takes us through about 6 different cultures from North African to East African to Arabic to Southeast Asian to wealthy European, literally within blocks of each other. We’re not sure why Brussels has become such a melting pot of nationalities. Perhaps it is because of its position in the EU that it feels necessary to be welcoming or perhaps it has always been like this. Chicken or egg? We’ll have to look it up.


Our new route leads us to an outdoor elevator that drops us back down from Upper to Lower Town and we’re back to the hotel before 5:00. Our four-hour walk from this morning is less than an hour returning.


After a little nap we check with the guy at the front desk about restaurants in the neighborhood. He points us across the street to a little two-story bistro (Houtsi Plou) that serves traditional Belgian food along with steaks, pastas and monster burgers. There is a big table next to us that has all of the “English” menus so we get a big beer (John), a small carafe of red wine (Mary) and a French menu. We’re able to make out everything except the “Pain de Veau.” When our waiter returns we find out that the Pain de Veau is a Belgian meat loaf with mushroom-cream gravy and Stoemp (mashed potatoes with carrots). We’ll take two of those and an order of cheese croquettes. Fantastic. Maybe this is why we came to Brussels. A nice walk around the neighborhood and off to bed.


A bit of bad news. Brother Joe let us know that Dana’s Mom passed away after a long struggle. She was a great golfer and a fun, smart lady. She will have a Memorial service on the 16th so we will toast her memory.


Today’s weather: Clouds and rain, clearing late. Low 48, high 58