For our last day in Belgium, we stuck around Brussels for the tour de E.U. It was a little drizzly all day so I was happy to have the brand-new umbrella that I bought in Ypres (so I guess that counts as an extra souvenir). The umbrella is black with a large red poppy on the outside - it does a lot to brighten up a grey day!


Our first stop was the European Council building to check out the Czech installation that pokes fun at E.U. member states. It's a bit difficult to tell why from the above picture but you can get the general gist. France is represented by a giant 'Greve' sign (meaning 'strike'), Italy by obscene soccer players, Austria by nuclear power plants (due to their firmly anti-nuc stance), Sweden by a giant Ikea box, and the U.K. is represented by an empty space in the top left corner. The Czech Republic commissioned this installation, called Entropa, and believed that it was being created by 27 artists from the different member states. Instead, it was all part of an elaborate scam by Czech artist David Cerny - a fact not revealed until the start of the Czech Republic's six-month term in the E.U. presidency. Bulgaria is particularly upset by the national stereotypes portrayed as their nation is represented by the base of a Turkish toilet. Our timing was fortunate - several days following our departure, the Czechs bowed to Bulgarian pressure to cover their portion of the installation.


After a stroll through the Park Van Brussel, we came out the other side to two sights. The famous one was the Palais Royal de Bruxelles. While it was once the home of Belgian kings, it is now only used for the king and royal family when conducting business. While not in any guidebooks (at least, none I know of), my preferred site is pictured below. I think this lion had the funniest expression on it's face - like if the Wizard of Oz's Cowardly Lion was frozen in cement.


After coffee, lunch, and more walking, we made it to Mary's Chocolatier. I mentioned the yummy chocolates we bought and the marzipan but I did NOT mention the chocolate sculpture of the famous Mannequin Pis.


Before heading to the Petit Sablon to get more expressos and hot cocoas, we took in the scene overlooking Brussels. A new way to see a very familiar city.

Eating through Belgium

I've been meaning to write up our last day in Brussels for a couple of days now but have been ridiculously tired! Instead, I'm going to cheat and make a posting about all we ATE in Brussels. Yummy.

Thanks to EasyJet's two hour delay, we ended up missing our dinner reservations in Brussels and having to settle for crummy Malpensa Terminal 2 food. Fun fact: it's worse than Terminal 1. No pictures but trust me, you aren't missing much.

Our first meal out ended up being in Luxembourg. For lunch, we ended up in a restaurant where the menu offered the sandwich "Barack O" and classified Gin as a 'health food'. I think this is worth noting. Luckily, it got better from here.


Frites were a frequent companion during this trip. They're everywhere and they are uniformly delicious, especially when sprinkled with just a smidgen of sea salt.


Frites accompanied our moules, or mussels, for dinner Saturday night. Our friend's favorite restaurant offered mussels in many different styles but I opted to go with the traditional white wine and garlic version (Mark went for a shared Chateaubriand which, while delicious, came out practically mooing). While au pairing in France, the mom I worked for taught me that the traditional way of eating moules is by using one empty shell to clamp down on the meat in another. From my informal survey of the rest of the restaurant (well, the part I could see), it appeared as though a full 50% of the mussels-eating patrons were employing this technique. The other 50% were using forks, of course.


After dinner, we strolled a bit around the Grand Place, trying to make room in our stomachs for dessert. When we felt ready, we popped into a waffle shop to debate and test the merits of a Lieges waffle versus the Brussels waffle. My verdict: both delicious. I ordered mine Brussels-style with strawberries. It was eaten too quickly to be photographed.

More than waffles or frites, Belgium is famous of it's beers and it did not disappoint. I wrote earlier about our trip to a Trappist monastery to taste one of the world's most coveted brews. Many others were sampled during our trip (especially considering that Mark headed to a sports bar to catch the Eagles-Cardinals game) and reminded us that very little in life beats hanging out with friends, laughing, and drinking a beer or two.


While at the aforementioned Trappist brewery, we ordered the cheese plate to accompany our beers. I have no idea what kind of cheese it was but it went FAST. Before leaving, we stopped by the gift shop and purchased a substitute souvenir for the beer we couldn't buy: cheese soaked in beer. Judging by the smell of my carry-on when I unpacked it back in Milan, it's a strong one that we'll probably be trying out this weekend.


While in Ypres, I also had the chance to try Carbonnade a la Flamande, a Flemish beer-based stew. I make a version at home that I like to think it pretty good, however, this was my first taste of the "real thing". Thick and beer-y, the meat was practically falling apart. The side of frites was a little too much for my tastes, I think I'll still with my home version with egg noodles!


While everything was delicious, what would a trip to Belgium be without sampling the chocolates? On our day in Brussels, our host took us to his favorite chocolate shop in town, Mary's Chocolatier. The shop is small but the rich scent of chocolate practically knocks you over when you open the door.


Winter is marzipan season, judging from shop windows over Europe, and Mary's was no exception. Their piggies and mushrooms were practically too cute to eat with the piggies giving each other exasperated expressions. While I don't personally care for the sweet, it reminded me of my grandmother who REALLY loved them.

Mary's isn't a chocolate shop for nothing, though. Photographs of famous fans of the chocolatier lined the shop's walls. For Belgian royalty and George W. Bush, this is the place to buy chocolate. We made sure to leave with a container of 16 pieces chosen from the below selection as well as a baggie of orangettes (candied oranges covered in chocolate).


Beer-soaked cheese, chocolate, and a mug purchased in Ypres (with the British military recruiting slogan from WWI!) ended up being our chosen souvenirs. The chocolate disappeared sometime last week and the cheese will go this weekend but with the upcoming Torino Chocolate Festival, I think we'll make do locally!

Ypres, Belgium

After several years of spending holidays and vacations with my parents in Brussels, I feel like I have had a good run of the city. It's beautiful and the beer is good but when our friends suggested heading out of town, we both jumped at the opportunity! Enticed by the sounds of an exclusive Trappist beer monastery and World War I history, we hopped in a friend's car and headed to Flanders.


We landed Ypres, an ancient town with history dating back to the first century B.C. when it was invaded by the Romans. Ypres has had a number of unwelcome visitors over the years, most notably the Germans during WWI. In the first battle of Ypres, the Allied forces took back the town but during the second battle, the Germans used poison gas for the first time on the Western Front. However, it was the third battle of Ypres (or the Battle of Passchendaele) that reserved a place in history for this town. Fought from late July to early November 1917, the battle cost tens of thousands of Canadian, British, French, Australian, Kiwi, and even Pakistani and Sikh lives. The city was devastated and most of the original buildings, including the great Cloth Hall (pictured above), were rebuilt after the war with German reparation money.


A large arch in the center of town, the Menin Gate Memorial, commemorates the lives of British Commonwealth soldiers lost. Engraved in all of the walls are the names of the deceased whose bodies were never recovered.


Poppies, both real and paper, wreath and single flowers, are placed near the names to pay tribute. The significance of this flower comes from the poem "In Flanders Field" written by Lt. Col. John McCrae in 1915. He wrote the poem after the loss of a friend in the battlefields of Flanders. The Canadian doctor and soldier's poem ends with the line

We shall not sleep, though poppies grow
In Flanders fields.

While out in the country, we visited the Essex Farm Military Cemetery. During WWI, this area was used as a field dressing station and eventual grave site. There are 1,199 grave sites at this location, most of them with touches of poppies left by visitors.


Between the cemetery and the town of Ypres is the St. Sixtus Trappist Abbey. Adjacent is the Westvleteren Brewery, run by the Abbey's monks. The brewery was founded in 1893 and only produced three types of beers. These beers are not produced commercially and are only available for sale on the grounds of the abbey. Unfortunately, our visit fell on a Sunday and while I didn't think that Blue Laws existed in Europe, we probably shouldn't have been surprised to find out that we couldn't take any of the famous beers home. Instead, we relaxed with 10.2% beers and a local cheese inside the brewery's bar. Savoring my Westvleteren 12, I enjoyed the rich taste of the beer - the only Trappist beer still produced by monks (they only employ three secular employees for this production!)


As the sun started to set, we began our drive back to Brussels. Though robbed of the beautiful scenery by the darkness, I was able to settle back into my seat to reflect on all the amazing things I saw earlier.

Luxembourg City, Luxembourg

On MLK Jr weekend last year, we spent the long weekend in Las Vegas. We saw some shows, hiked through the Red Rocks, and drove out to the Hoover Dam. It was warm and sunny, beautiful weather. While this holiday's weather was pretty much the opposite of "warm and sunny", we were lucky to have a wonderful weekend spent with good friends in Brussels.

On our first full day in Brussels, we hopped on a train to get out of the city. The Duchy of Luxembourg is located about 3 hours from Brussels and is probably the only European country that nobody (aside from our host who lives in Brussels) in our group had ever traveled to. Well, maybe none of us have been to Andorra but really, who has?

Less than 1000 square miles large, Luxembourg is the 175th (out of 231) smallest country in the world. It used to be double this size though, until the late 1800s when half of the original territory was turned over to the Belgians. I've been to both of the smallest countries in the world (Monaco and Vatican City) and I have to say, this one didn't feel all that bigger!

When we arrived in Luxembourg City, the sky was grey and drizzly. Crossing the Petrusse River on the Viaduc bridge, we soon came across the Monument to National Unity. During WWII, Luxembourg was the only country to stage a strike against their Nazi occupiers. This monument commemorates the patriotism of those who fought with an Eternal Flame.


Moving forward, we eventually hit the Cathedral of Notre Dame (pictured along the top and below). The work on this Roman Catholic church originally began in 1613. While the bulk of the structure is heavy on the late Gothic architectural influences of the time, many of the smaller detail added later contain elements of the Renaissance movement. For a long time, this church was simply a church. However, Pope Pius IX elevated it to a cathedral in 1870. The stained glass windows inside were beautiful even in our rainy weather - I wish I'd had a chance to see them with light shining through.

By the time we hit the town square, we were ready for lunch. Though we'd purposely travelled on a Saturday to have a wide choice of shops and restaurants, we were dismayed to see that quite a bit of the city was closed. But you can always count on the American chains to be open!

While we didn't actually end up at Chi-Chi's, I think we got roped into something worse. Our lunch restaurants served burgers called '"THE" Whazzzuuuppp' and in their 'classique brassiere', they had a 'Filet Barak O.' My 'Whazzzuuuppp' chicken sandwich was ok.


After lunch, we stopped by the Luxembourg Museum of History and Art and waited out some of the rain. We headed back outdoors to the Duke's palace.


Guarded by a Luxembourgian soldier, the Ducal Palace is still the official residence of the Duke though it's also served as the Department of Forests and the Luxembourg Town Hall. During the Nazi occupation, a significant amount of damage was done to the interior but, unfortunately, nobody invited us in to see.


With a two and three-quarter hours ride back (we caught a tail wind), we soon had to return to the train station.