In Belgium

First you take the half cup of bittersweet chocolate chips then you put them in the scalding hot glass of milk, stir, its DEADLY! The other glass is coffee in a chocolate covered glass, a force to be reckoned with, as well.

this is the interior of the Mozart Hotel, bizarre and too much fun
check the windows of the Magritte Museum


LIZ SAYS: Dick decided to go to the Spa 24 care race, in Spa Belgium. Well, if the town is called Spa, there must be a . . . Spa! Liz is packed and ready to go! I’ll skip the race, thank you. [Dick says: Ah, but you don’t know what you’re missing! It’s in the kettle moraine country of the Ardenne Bleu!]


Well, since we are going to Belgium, why not check out Brussels. I had seen an Art Nouveau exhibition and every other label mentioned Brussels. So, I thought it would be a great place to see Art Nouveau architecture. There is also a newly opened (June) Magritte museum.

Brussels (Bruxelle) was all rain. Dick picked a hotel because of its central location. It was in the middle of the tourist district, which was great, since we were only going to be there for 2 days. The art nouveau buildings are scattered all over town, however. So, we quickly learned that it would be a good place to have a car. The area we were in was very small and beautiful in parts but very limited. There was lace, chocolate and a whole street of almost exclusively greek restaurants, complete with guys hawking their places, cough, cough “Excuse me, Madame!”, with pointed finger as he veered towards me. Yeah, that is what I went to Brussels for, gyros. It did remind me of State street in the ‘80s at night with a lot more color and only the restaurants.

During the day, we went to the Horta House. Horta is a father of Art Nouveau Architecture. We took a taxi to get there during one of the sunny spells. The house was magnificent, and, of course, photos were not allowed. All brass curves, sycamore wood curled around some darker wood to make doorways, arches, cubbies and cabinets. Lots of light, some from uncharacteristically large windows with curlicued
brass sashes. Everything was immaculate and reflected the art nouveau aesthetic. Utterly unlike the Brussels we saw.
Everything was being torn down and rebuilt or refurbished. Whole streets were giant holes several blocks long. Almost all the buildings that were not in the Grand Place were scaffolded, including the Royal Palace. The cobblestone streets in the old area had cobbles missing, making 6 inch holes, so we had to be very careful when walked. If you ever go to Brussels, take highly padded shoes for walking on the cobbles, they were the most intense I have ever experienced. They were similar to the cobbles in old Italian city centers.

The people were very kind and friendly. They were trilingual in most cases. They all joked and complained about how bad the rain was and helped you get out of it. Everyone said “Bonjour” and “Au Revoir” everywhere.
My guess is that it is suffering from the ‘crise’ AND it is going through a period of renewal. The Grand Place was splendid, it was a large cobbled square lined with gilded guild’s halls and the city hall. It is stunning, even in the rain. There were sunny bits and the sun did indeed glint off of the buildings. There were cafes in the place which served gigantic stemmed mugs o’ beer and lots of red faced men enjoying them.