Belgium by Alёna

June 25th

Today we are moving to our final destination of this trip — Brussels. We reserved our train tickets in advance and the whole ride was supposed to last around 2 hours. This is not what happened though. First, about 1.5 hours prior to departure, Daniеl got a message that the train was delayed. Then, about 40 minutes before the planned departure, the train was canceled altogether.

We left the kids in the hotel and rushed to the train station (less than 5 minute walk) to exchange our tickets. The clerk told us that all ICE trains to Brussels will be most probably canceled and that if we want to get there we need to take 2 local trains and change to a faster ICE train in Belgium, or take a bus. First option will take 3-4 hours, second 5-6. The old tickets could be used, so we didn’t need to buy new ones, although the old ones were more expensive. Refunding the money and getting the new tickets would have been a headache and would have required sending a letter with request somewhere, so we decided not to do it.

We rushed to the hotel, grabbed our children and luggage, checked out and made it in time for the nearest local train. An hour later we successfully transferred to a tiny two-car train operated by Belgian train lines and after 9 minutes or riding got off. Our ICE train was supposed to come to the same platform in 5 minutes. In those 5 minutes Daniеl realized that he left his new backpack with all our iPads, Aaron’s iPhone, all the chargers and Daniеl’s favorite pair of casual shoes in that little train.

We waived goodbye to the ICE train and started to look around for some help. Daniеl ran to the office building, but all the doors appeared to be locked. I’ve noticed some worker in a yellow reflective jacket, but he only spoke French. We were devastated. Kids even shed some tears. Luckily, Daniеl noticed two guys in blue railway uniforms on on another platform and raced to them to ask for help. Luckily, one of the guys spoke very good English. He listened to us and then called some worker on otherer station. When the train reached it, she went in to look for the backpack (we gave the description and approximate location). She was able to find it. We had to wait for an hour for her to bring it back on the train going in the opposite direction and then another 45 minutes to catch an ICE train to Brussels.

We were a little worried that somehow the backpack will note get to us, or that it will be a wrong one, or that some items will be missing. But we got lucky — everything worked out just as the station chef promised. I’m very happy that this mistake only cost us a few hours. The people who helped us were very nice! Also, so far all the trains here in Belgium ran on time (we only saw a few, but still), unlike the German trains that we used. There were running with significant delays and cancelations (we had to rebook our fist train from Berlin to Cologne as well, but ta least not at the last minute).

We arrived to Brussels at 5 pm. Our hotel was just a few minutes walk away from the station. Very convenient, just as in Cologne. We checked into Hilton hotel and got a family room on the 5th floor. We briefly considered the last, 6th floor since it has slightly slanted walls which create more interesting experience, but were advised against it by the hotel clerk, who said it gets quite hot on the top floor. The room had two beds already prepared and we asked for another one to be brought in. There was plenty of room for it.

We asked the same clerk for dinner place advice and following his recommendation went to a restaurant called T’Kelderke, which was located right on the Grand Plaza. It was a very hot day with temperature reaching 89F and we got seats outside. Daniеl and I got beers, but I was not even able to finish mine since it got warm rather quickly. I ate a warm goat cheese and honey salad, which was very good. Anna got salmon (she ate well, although there was still a lot of food left on her plate), Aaron got sausages (he ate one of two, but was not a huge fan) and Daniеl got beef stewed in beer (he was Ok with it, but said that yesterday’s goulash had better flavor).

We also stopped by our executive lounge for happy hour to get more drinks. Aaron drank two Fanta bottles (at a restaurant each 200 ml. bottle of drink was almost 5 euros), I had a nice cup of tea and Daniеl got Fanta and a bit of beer. The clerked who checked us in was happy to see us and he insisted that Daniеl should drink more beer and despite our protests poured him a glass. He also brought us some crackers to go with it (there were snacks available, but not crackers at the moment), so we did not want to offend him and ate almost all. Who can say no to a short, slightly pudgy, older, but very energetic and well-meaning Belgian? Not us apparently.

June 26th

So we are on our two last days of vacation. The children are starting to get homesick. They still enjoy everything there is to do and see here, but miss their home, beds and… Nintendo. I get it though. I remember feeling homesick on longer vacations (not that I had that many of them) as a child.

Yesterday when we turned all the lights off at 22:20 we were surprised at how much light was still getting in through the cracks in the curtains. I checked and was amazed to see that the sunset here was at 22:00 (as opposed to 20:30 in our hometown).

Today was our day to go to Bruges. The weather was on the cooler side, which was a definite plus, although Anna was getting cold from time to time and we kept trying to find her a nice jacket in one of thee souvenir shops (to no avail). After breakfast and all the morning procedures we saw that we have 15 minutes left until the next train to Bruges. If we don’t make it, we’ll have to wait extra 30 minutes. We raced to the station, bought tickets with flexible times (day passes; Anna could ride for free) and ran to the platform. After about a minute of running we realized that we got to the subway entrance and away from the train platforms that we needed. So we ran back and it seemed that our train still did not leave. I have to say that the whole Belgian train system is a little confusing since the trains are not clearly marked in all cases and the time table also has a lot of thing on it and some of them showed time which already passed. I’m sure if we used the system often it would be much easier to navigate. Long story short, we boarded the train to Bruges, but it was not the one that we thought it was, so it took us longer to get there. No matter. We made it to this beautiful town some time after 11 am. We walked to the center with the whole bunch of other tourists.

I tried to take in all the charming little houses, standing shoulder to shoulder on narrow cobblestone streets, with their orange roof tiles and pretty flowers in pots; and all the bicyclists, weaving carefully around people; and all history, which seemed to e permeating the air around us. I tried to imagine what the Minsk would have been like if it was not so damaged during the second WW. We had one little piece of history surviving (Troetskoe Predmestie) and I loved it as a child. I also remember that my grandma’s village used to have cobblestone road as well, but then it got replaced by asphalt one, which I guess makes sense. I’m happy places like Bruges exist though, so that we call can enjoy looking a few centuries or more back and imagining a slower different life.

The first church that we visited was St. Salvator’s Cathedral, which towers prominently in the center of the town. It had a few organs, pretty rose windows, some statues and painting. To be honest, it does not stand our in my memory. Yes, it’s grand and beautiful and worth visiting and admiring, but in my mind it just lumps together with numerous other churches which we visited on this and other trips.

Then we walked to the nearby Church of our Lady. Also nice, also mixed in with others in my minds already. After that we walked along Bruges’ canals to the main square. Canals undoubtedly add a lot of charm to Bruges. There were a lot of little boats filled with tourists swimming in different directions, but I had zero desire to take a boat tour. We saw a slightly concerned-looking mother duck making her way through one of the canals. She was followed by 6 or 7 young ducklings still in their soft baby-feather outfits. A group of excited Asian tourists was oohing and aahing and taking multiple pictures of this family of natives.

The main square of Bruges is very beautiful. The row of gingerbread-looking houses on one side, provincial court on the other side, horse-drawn carriages and numerous cafes on the perimeter. Love it! We ate lunch in Bistro Bruges. Kids ordered pastas — Aaron got the one that was called the vegetable spaghetti and Anna ordered on from the kids menu. The vegetable one had lots of veggies, including broccoli and brussel sprouts, and Aaron shared them with Anna, who got some weird meaty sauce on the side. Daniеl and I got mussels in white wine and cheese croquette. Mussels were soft and fresh, but the flavor was a bit weak. We still enjoyed them. The croquette turned out to be completely different from what I expected. It looked like a deep-fried breaded cutlet and was warm and gooey inside and crunchy on the outside. Very delicious.

After lunch we went to the Bell Tower in order to climb to the top and get a panoramic view of Bruges. To our disappointment the next available entrance time was at 15:45, which meant that we had to wait for 2.5 hours. We decided to get the tickets of course and enjoy some Belgian waffles in the meantime. One of the waffle places that we saw always had a crowd of people by the window, so we checked its rating on TripAdvisor (it was great) and joined the line. To be honest, my previous experience with Belgian waffles left me absolutely partial to this dessert, so beloved by many. But waffles were definitely on our “have to eat it in Belgium” list, so I ordered a plain waffle for myself. Boy, was I in for a treat! It was delicious, warm, crunchy and chewy and the right amount of sweet. I loved it! The children ordered waffles with toppings — banana and whipped cream for Aaron, strawberries and chocolate for Anna. They really liked the waffles too, although I think that toping actually took away from the purity of the waffle taste. The coffee we bought them from is called House of Waffles by the way. I was annoyed by the person ahead of me in the line who was filming his girlfriend ordering and then getting a waffle without bothering to ask a waffle house employee for permission. Maddening! In one of the bars I saw a sign that specifically stated not to film employees without their permission and that people who do it will be heavily fined. I think that’s the right approach.

After this we walked around more and went to check another church that I wanted to see — Basilica of the Holy Blood. It has unusual looking entrance which reminded me of Venice, and not less interesting looking interior. The ceiling had wooden panels, there was a lot of gold and bright colors. I liked this church and I remember it better than some other ones. We also visited a bunch of souvenir shops and got me, Aaron and Daniеl some sweatshirts and t-shirts.

We still had about 20 minutes before our assigned entrance time, but we decided to see if maybe we’ll be allowed to go in. It’s a good thing that we tried since we were let in without as much as a raised eyebrow.

There are 366 steps one need to take in order to climb to the observation point on Belfry. However, during the accent there are areas where people can rest and look at different artifacts.

The first stop was by wrought iron doors which were made around 1290 and had 10 locks. Behind them were chests with important city documents and the keys to the doors were given to important people, such as the mayor, deacons and the guild masters. To open the gates, all 10 needed to be present, so that none of the important documents will be taken our or amended without the consent of different power elites. I find this fascinating!

Another stop featured some of the bells and explained how depending on the sound of the bell and time of day people knew what is happening (starting of workday, lunch time, closing city gates, call to battle, victory bell, etc.). There was also a trumpet, which was used to notify the citizens in the event of fire. Again, fascinating!

At yet another stop we could see the drum, which was hooked up to the Belfry bells and governed the melodical ringing which the tower produces at regular intervals.

The view from the top was absolutely amazing!

After we descended the tower we rushed to the train station to take the train back to Brussels. The train was pretty full, so we weren’t able to find 4 seats next to each other. Daniеl ended up sitting with the children and I found myself next to a young and very pleasant girl and across from an elderly couple, who was smiling at me and the girl quite enthusiastically. In a few minutes we found ourselves having a conversation and I enjoyed their company up until they all left at the Ghent stop. The older couple was very nice. They were both Belgian and the husband spoke a very good English. He was 74, retired and used to make pool tables and keys during his 45 year career. The wife did not speak much, but had a kind smile on her face all the time. She was 78, very elegant, with black hair and blue eyes. She wore a white crocheted blouse and a little bit of tasteful make up. The American girl was 23 and she just graduated from some Belgian university with the degree in marketing. She wanted to stay in Europe, so she was looking for a job and was taking a trip to see Bruges and Ghent with her sister and a friend. The Belgian man said that his travel dream is to see the Grand Canyon, but he thinks there is little chance of that happening. When the older couple was leaving, the lady kissed me and the American girl and the gentleman patted us on the head. It was somehow not invasive, but very sweet and endearing.

When we arrived to our hotel we took a bit of rest and went to have dinner. I suggested that we go to one of the Belgian fries shops. I can’t say that Daniеl was extremely enthusiastic about this idea, but since none of us were truly hungry and the children took to this plan with such ardor, he went along. We went to the same fries shop as last time, and got fries with different toppings — Brazilian for Daniеl, Samurai for Aaron and I and ketchup for Anna. I did not really like my sauce and it was squirted directly on my fries order, so I had to eat a bunch of it. Daniеl’s sauce was the best, but I should have just ordered them plain.

Afterwards we walked around the center of Brussels. We visited the famous Manneken-pis, which had a bunch of people around it taking photos. Aaron and Anna were underwhelmed with the statue. Some of souvenir mannekens were larger than the real thing.

We thought that maybe it’ll be a good idea to shop by one of the pubs and get some beer. We went to the most famous one — Delirium, which we visited on our previous trip as well. The Delirium seemed to have grown from a few-storied bar to the whole block kind of deal. Maybe it changes with seasons, not sure. After seeing some people hauling big treys with invitingly looking samples, we decided to follow suite. It took us a while to find the place where the samples were dispensed (we bounced from floor to floor of this giant establishment on our mission). The sampler included 10 beers. We asked for no IPAs (no thank you, I don’t like my beer bitter) and the bartender switched them up with something more up to our tastes. There were blond, lager, dark, wheat, like and cactus wheat, amber, cherry and raspberry ales on that sampler menu. The children asked us to rate the beers from 1 to 10 and our mutual favorite was “Floris White” wheat beer (no surprises there). I also liked raspberry ale and Kwak amber. We have not finished all of the beer, just some of our favorites. It was a fun experience!

Seeing how we got 3 out of 4 food/beverage things that people love to consume in Belgium, we decided to go into one of the chocolate stores and get some sweets for the kids. They were very happy about this development. They each got a little plastic bag and selected a bunch of chocolates which looked the most attractive to them. Funny things — one of the candies that Anna picked had liquor, but we did not realize it. She ate it later at home and said that it tasted terrible, like “a spicy nail polish”. I ate the rest of her alcoholic candy and it was delicious!