BELGIUM and LUXEMBOURG
Mar. 27th, 2009 12:37 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
fluffymarkGosh, the Eurostar is cheap and fast nowadays. Less than 2 hours to Brussels. They even fed me a huge breakfast onboard, as I’d paid a little more. I must do that more often. Now, why was I going to Belgium? I’ve been a few times before, but never felt I’d really ever “got” Brussels. I knew I was missing something, and was just in an adventurous mood to find the real heart of Brussels. Lets see how I did. Arrived at Brussels Zuid/Midi (TWO CONFUSING NAMES ARGH!) and instantly got lost trying to navigate the Brussels Metro. My guidebook map has 2 Metro lines BUT all the maps and signs there suggested there were 6 lines. But those lines didn’t seem to actually exist, or go where the signs said they went to. How was I to know that they’d totally rerouted their entire metro system, but that the new system only starts at the beginning of next month. They’d just put up the new maps and signs a little early, just to confuse me. Meh! Finally figured it all out, and I found my way to Atomium. Yes, it’s a giant molecule, not a giant atom. But it’s still AWESOME. The weather was perfect (and stayed perfect blue sky niceness the whole time I was there) - from the top are lovely views over Brussels, and the Atomium itself is SHINY and allows for good reflective photos. Inside it, of course, was ANTARCTICA, where it was cold.
Art Nouveau was next on my mind, so after a peek at the beautiful Maison Cauchie (sadly not open), I arrived at the pretty pretty Horta Museum (which I finally found open!). Horta (who, you know, practically invented art nouveau) lived here, and they turned his house into a museum. I almost DIED of the pretty. Everything in that house is art nouveau - EVERYTHING. The walls, the ceilings, the doors, the furniture, the lamps, the foppish pieces of art, just EVERYTHING. It was like living inside an art nouveau sketch. Pure escapism, of the most outlandish kind. If I ever become very rich, I’m going to make my house just like that (which I think says something strange about me, but there you go). The Horta Museum made my trip worthwhile all on its own. It’s that awesome.
When I finally pulled myself away from the pretties, I was accosted by huge orange rabbits, wandered around the murals in the gay district of Brussels, and, oh yes, the Grand Place is still very nice, but I’d been there before, and I’d much rather take photos of pacman shop windows instead. I had a drink in a Horta-designed art nouveau bar called Falstaff (an excellent name for a bar, but this was a french-speaking bar, so a bit of an odd choice there!), and then, because odd names were the happening thing, dined in a lovely Indian restaurant called Shamrock (seemed to be an irish pub in a previous incarnation). Here I noticed a strange phenomenon. Belgium is bilingual French/Flemish, right? And you can offend the locals if you speak the wrong language to them. So being a complete tourist and speaking in English is actually the best thing to do. I noticed that even native Belgians, upon entering a place they didn’t know which of French or Flemish was spoken, also try English first. It almost makes sense, in a twisted polite kind of way. Anyways, dinner was delicious, but expensive (ow that exchange rate hurts). I then headed to a delightful cellar bar named “La Porte Noire” (from the picture above the bar, a Tolkien reference), got talking to the barman about which belgian beers to try, and he pointed out he had trappist beer on tap, and then it was all downhill from there really. Ahem.
Somehow, Saturday morning I was awake before sunrise to flee to the next country, catching the first train of the day to Luxembourg. Not been to Luxembourg before, so it was about time to explore somewhere new and exciting. In fact, I’d only ever been to the flat-as-a-pancake Flanders part of Belgium before, and this train went through Wallonia and the Ardennes, and it was all up-and-down and much nicer. Luxembourg city was not my first point of call, I wanted to explore a castle first, on the far side of the country, in the village of Vianden, right on the German border. Fortunately Luxembourg is very small. A one-day travelcard for the entire country costs a whole €4! The hills around Vianden are very steep indeed, and perched imposingly on top of one of them is the lovely fairy-tale Vianden Castle. After a good long walk up the hill, it was lots of fun to explore this awesome castle. It has pointy towers and spiraly staircases and dragons living there, and pretty views across the hills into Germany. Everything a castle should be, so I was satisfied.
Where do I start with Luxembourg city? A strange place, it takes some getting used to. Basically it’s a fortress-city. Around the historic centre are steep cliffs on three sides. That’s a lot of cliffs, and makes for an unusual city layout, where the whole city centre towers above the river that goes around it. It’s really quite pretty indeed, and a joy to wander around, as there are unexpected vistas and views all over the place. The only problem is all the steep climbs. Underneath the city, carved out of the rock the city stands on, there are the Casemates (old tunnels) to explore. But that’s all I had time for, and had to grab an evening train back to Brussels. For dinner I finally found a place serving CHIPS AND MAYO. Done properly in a paper cone with real proper chips and everything. I’d discovered it at a music festival I went to in Belgium way back in 2000, and been deprived of it ever since. CHIPS AND MAYO! I was very happy. Finished the evening with proper lambic Kreik. Yummy.
Sunday was museum-day for me, and I decided to trust my guidebook’s raving reviews, and started off at the Musical Instrument Museum, much to my surprise. I feared this might be dull displays of old instruments, with descriptions in Flemish, and I’d be bored. In fact, it was quite the awesome. Firstly, the building was pure art nouveau, with a GIANT BLUE BRAIN on the roof. Inside it was even better. And there were headphones, and rather than boring descriptions, they had recordings of all the instruments. It was all location-sensitive, so you wander around hearing each instrument play as you pass it. This was so much fun! They had such a wide range of instruments, all the classical stuff, but also instruments from all around the world - Tibetan monasteries, Chinese temples and ... everywhere, really. And they went right up to modern electric music - synthesizers and theremins and the like. On the rooftop, by the GIANT BLUE BRAIN was a cafe where I had lunch, with spectacular views over Brussels. I never did figure out why the brain was there, sadly. There must be a good story in it somewhere. :)
I then might have distracted by chocolate shops, and then stumbled across the DEKADENCE exhibition in the city hall. Art from Bohemia from 1880-1914. So lots of fin-de-siècle paintings about despair, malaise, decadence, tortured souls, vampires, sex, lust and death. I almost forgot about the chocolate, it was that good. Final museum of the day was the comics museum. Again a pretty art nouveau building. They had a special exhibition on about Manga. I was in my own little happy place. In the evening I found a pretty 1920s bar called Mort Subite (instant death) serving Lambic beer and braved the touristy food places near the Grand Place for a nice dinner of mussels. Yummy.
Monday morning I found myself in a brewery. The Cantillon Brewery, where they make lambic beer. I also sprained my ankle badly on the way there, so was limping around it. I got a detailed description of how a lambic beer is different from normal beer (it spontaneously ferments, apparently), and a tour of the brewery, and it was all fascinating and informative. And then got given a glass of Gueuze and a glass of Kreik to try. I acually love the sour lambic taste - my main worry is that it was still morning. Oh well, two glasses of beer for breakfast it was, then. My main destination of the day was lovely Bruges. Bruges is one of my happy places, and I can’t quite say how or why, it just IS so. The cobbled streets, the old buildings, the towers, the canals, the shops selling strange stuff, the climb to the belfry (which then gave me a severe earworm of Beethoven’s 9th). It’s all a bit magical. Even with my limping and hobbling on my bad ankle - and yes, I still made it up the scary spiral staircase of doom in the belfry with that. IT WAS WORTH ALL THE PAIN. And then sad farewells, as with the rainclouds incoming, it was time to go home. It had been a good adventure.
Oh yes, lots of photos. Best ones are up in my photo Gallery. Brussels photos and Luxembourg photos. I already had lots of good Bruges photos, and didn't feel the need to take any more there.
More adventure is on the way, fear not. In less than a week I’ll be in Portugal. Mainly around Porto and Lisbon. WHAT TO DO THERE? Any advice on where to go is welcome, as I don’t know Portugal at all. I’ve heard Sintra is good, and think I might brave Braga in Holy Week. I suspect there will be lots of lounging around bars reading a big book.
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Date: 2009-03-27 12:51 am (UTC)I've never really been to Belgium (well, I've been to a garage there and bought some sweets, and used the toilets, that kind of thing, on my way through to Germany, a few times, but never actually stopped there for any length of time.) I shall have to try it some day when I'm back on the other side of the world. Portugal I've never been to either, so no advice from me!
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Date: 2009-03-28 12:15 am (UTC)I've been to Belgium lots of times. Two weeks when I was 18 in Ghent for a International Bridge competition. A couple of summers I went camping for the weekend at the Eurorock festival in Neerpelt. I've been to Bruges for a long weekend back in 2004. Spent a night in Brussels once, but never really got to see very much of it. Also visited Antwerp and Ostend breifly. And also service-station stops on the way through to Amsterdam a couple of times. I guess I felt it was time I did Brussels properly! :)
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Date: 2009-03-27 09:31 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2009-03-28 12:16 am (UTC)This is what happens when rabbits eat too many carrots. They become huge and orange.
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Date: 2009-03-27 11:49 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2009-03-28 12:19 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2009-03-27 12:48 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2009-03-28 12:19 am (UTC)A Gentleman of Leisure Writes...
Date: 2009-03-27 03:44 pm (UTC)Meanwhile, I saw this and thought of you:
Thanks to
Re: A Gentleman of Leisure Writes...
Date: 2009-03-28 12:20 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2009-03-27 04:19 pm (UTC)When trying to order drinks (in French) at La Porte Noire, I accidently spoke a little German, and got the reply in English, "I'm sorry, I do not speak Flemish". It was quite an amusing moment at the time!
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Date: 2009-03-28 12:33 am (UTC)My French is so bad now, I usually gave up on attempting French and went straight to English. But I was beaten in the speaking-bad-French stakes by a couple of Japanese men in a restaurant. They were obviously reading bad French from a phrasebook, and it was all misapplied and badly pronounced and they had the French people sitting at the next two tables and myself in giggles throughout the meal. The waiter was also joking around, and deliberately bemused them by speaking complicated French very quickly at them, just to get more hilarious responses from them. The Japanese men could speak English, but kept insisting on attempting to speak French, and making fools of themselves. When the waiter actually wanted a comprehensible reply from them, he pointedly spoke to them in slow English, until they replied in same. I felt very sorry for the Japanese men, and felt like attempting to speak Japanese to them just to make a fool of myself too, but they left before I attempted that.
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Date: 2009-03-28 05:12 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2009-03-28 12:00 pm (UTC)Would also be nice to go on holiday with you again sometime. :)
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Date: 2009-03-30 01:09 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2009-03-30 11:59 pm (UTC)