Holiday in Belgium - part 3

Sunday - The Sights of Brussels (12/7)

We visited Brussels in the afternoon. The children were getting a bit stroppy with all the outings so we let them attend the movies. We took 2 cars to the The Village near the Atomium which has a cinema complex in it.

We parked the hire car there and crammed in to the Peugeot to visit the sights. We drove around some of the sights near the Atomium first up. We passed the King's palace neat the Chinese temple and Japanese Tower.

We then headed for the center of Brussels and the town square. The trip there was harrowing and I was glad Gilbert was driving and I wasn't trying to follow. The way the other drivers cut in to the narrowest of spaces was scary. The square was bit chaotic as they were setting up some temporary stages for the Belgian national day on the 21st of July. I was pleased to see the brewers had pride of place with one the buildings on the square dedicated to the brewers association.
We wandered down one of the narrow lanes off the square and found Mannekin Piss, the most famous statue of Belgium. Gilbert insisted on buying some snails for me to try. Salty and chewy comes to mind.

We then strolled through one of the shopping arcades. Marie looked in one of the specialty shops for a book on Henri Evenopoel. We the walked down another narrow that contained just restaurants.
After that we were back at the car so we got in and headed for the upper part of Brussels. This was a drive through trip where we looked at churches and government buildings.
We also passed a spot where an elevator could be taken between upper and lower Brussels. It is almost a cliff face at that point. We then turned back to the Atomium to pick up the kids. On the way back we took the inner ring road, which is a series of tunnels that dive under some the main streets of Brussels. It has a speed limit of 50 but like the other highways here there were plenty of idiots doing well above that speed. Some were doing 80-100kmph in the tunnels. We noticed others were paying for the privilege of the tour of Brussels.

When we got back to Atomium things had really picked up. There were tourists everywhere. We were 15 minutes early but it took us nearly that long to go around the block to where the car was parked. We also noticed some people sliding down from the very top on a rope tied to a prime mover.

The kids showed up on time and we headed off to visit Frederick and his house. He has a townhouse that is fairly newly renovated internally. His backyard was mostly grass with a Hazelnut tree in the middle of it. We stopped at a fast food place and had some dinner on the way back. Bernard had a fever when we got back.

Monday - stay at home with feverish Bernard (13/7)

We visted Paul briefly again to pick up some paperwork and then stopped at the supermarket to get a couple of things. Bernard began to shiver again in the supermarket so we headed back home. He slept through lunch, which was baked Turkey thighs with ratatouile, beetroot and baked creamy potatoes. It was preceded by Gilbert's famous Onion soup.

The others headed out to visit Raymond again. I stayed at home with Bernard. He ended up having a fairly high fever and sleeping most of the day. I worked on the blog a bit.

Tuesday - Westland Shopping Centre and more cousins (14/7)

Bernard woke up without fever. We headed into the Westland Shopping Center to do some more shopping. We bought some comic books in French for Georgina and her mates. They seem to like comics a lot over here. This was a book store.The food was bit more expensive here but still the same high standard.

Josee and Gilbert met us there a bit after 14:00 and we headed to the history museum in Brussels.

It closed at five so we wandered the grounds a bit and then sat down for a drink at a cafe. I had a
Maredsous Trappist beer.
We got back in the cars and headed to Linette's place again for dinner with there children and families.
We left pretty late but decided to head towards the Atomium to see it at night. Most other times we had driven home in daylight because of the long days.
We got home just before midnight and all fell asleep immediately.

Wednesday - last full day in Belgium (15/7)

We all slept in, even me to 8.30. I got up and started filling in photos on this blog. It is just about complete now.

Joris came over for lunch. We had sandwiches and it was very enjoyable, especially with the Chimay red. We watched a Joan of Arc DVD after lunch to take it easy. An ice cream van went past so Marie rushed out and bought some. Georgina was very partial to the Speculoos flavoured ice cream. Apparently they will be releasing a Speculoos flavoured spread soon too.

After that we took a final trip into Enghien to check out the the cemetery.
We found Marie's paternal grandparents' grave. On the way back through the town we stopped for cash and pastries. We were going to visit the other major town near us but stopped in to see what was happening for dinner. It was ready, so we sat down to a lamb roast. Those Belgians have it all! I had a floreval with the meal.

Marie visited the chalet next door where she lived for a few years as a girl. Marie had to post some letters so we did a small loop walk through the fields near the house, the same one I did the first day, but in reverse.
Thursday - return trip via Paris (16/7)

We drove into Brussels, dropped off the hire car. We couldn't stop for a quality photo of this old windmill.
We just made it for the TGV to Paris. Somehow we ended up in first class again. Free beer so I had a French beer - 1664 which was poor compared to the Belgian stuff. We had a huge stopover time as Marie wanted to visit Paris. The CDG airport is 30km out of town. At first it looked like it would be impossible to do. We had all our luggage and that would difficult. There was a baggage storage facility which took us quite a bit of walking to find. Bernard was in a hurry to start with.
When we finally found it they said they needed 6 hours to transfer it off site and return it. It was more for storage for days, rather than hours. Eventually we asked about early checkin and it was possible, unlike in Brisbane. We checked in the main luggage but we still had 5 pieces of cabin baggage of considerable weight to cart around (3 notebook computers and other heavy stuff.)

There was a bus tour that Marie found that runs to the Arc de Triomphe. It wasn't too expensive 24 euros each but with 5 of us and Bernard being free if worked out less with discounts. It was a stinking hot day and we were dressed for cooler weather. The bus was air conditioned but having trouble keeping up.
We left around 16:00 and arrived around 17:00. We ended up being exhausted almost immediately so had a drink in a cafe at huge cost.
After that we asked about a DVD shop and got some directions form the waiter. He was a bit off with them but further directions from a shop assistant got is there to FNAC, a bit like JB-hifi. Unfortunately the DVD of Diva was out of press so we struck out. We browsed a bit more and bought some others. When we entered the store we noticed it was a bit cooler but we didn't really cool down.

After that it was time to have dinner before heading back the airport. We noticed most of the cafes and restaurants were open, and therefore not air conditioned. Eventually Georgina and I spotted a Chinese restaurant down a narrow side street. This was at the end of the side street.
A quick recky showed it had reasonable prices for Paris and it was air conditioned. Decision was made, unanimously. We cooled off over excellent food. I had a Singha beer with the meal.
We got the bus back in plenty of time after a couple of photos of the landmark.The roundabouts in Paris take scaring me to another level. This one wasn't busy on the way back.
We had hoped to get a photo of the Concorde but the bus took a different route back to the airport where it wasn't visible. We lost Bernard for a bit going through security. He wandered off in a room full of people and nobody saw it. I managed to find him just before he launched himself down an escalator. He managed to skin his knees a bit. The escalator was going up not down.

Friday - in the air and Hong Kong (17/7)

Eleven hours of boredom with a bit of sleep followed by free wireless at Hong Kong airport, so while its still fresh in mind mind and we have a 6 hour stopover...

The terrain at the end of the flight over China was interesting and the view of the river was cool. The mountainous terrain inland was very pretty from the air. I'd love to see it from the ground some day.

The shopping at Hong Kong was limited inside the secure zone.
After our previous experiences with Bernard and security checks we decided to stay inside. There were plenty of shops in the insecure part of the airport. For some reason we needed to checkin again and that wasted a lot of time. The staff seem very slow in Hong Kong. There was evidence of Swine Flu checks everywhere. You need to sign a special health declaration before going through immigration as well. They had the heat sensors out. We ended up eating something at Starbucks because it was one of the few places that accepted credit cards. Some of the others would accept American dollars or Hong Kong dollars.
It was a bit confusing with the departures and arrivals. We had to go through security again to get to departures on the level above and when we did there were more shops, mostly selling luxuries. Singapore had more shops. Again we sat in the plane, waiting for a tardy passenger this time, and sweltered.

Saturday - final homeward leg (18/07)

A couple of German idiots behind me kept on talking and laughing when everybody was trying to sleep. I ended up just watching movies. Eventually I fell asleep with the food trolley for breakfast approaching - couldn't hold on, so missed it completely. It must have been only 20 minutes, but it helped. The plane overshot the stopping point at the terminal so there was a wait while a tug was brought in to push it back. We sweltered again. Eventually we disembarked to a lovely Brisbane winters day.
On the walk to customs there was an evacuation so we ended up on the tarmac. It was a false alarm. The queue was short thankfully but we were dreading inspections. We had declared farm visits and medications so were expecting something. To our surprise we just got asked a few questions and then told to go to the priority exit after baggage collection. Our luck was changing, NOT. My bag didn't show after a long wait. It had missed the flight in Paris. Hopefully it will be delivered tomorrow. After a quick pit stop we headed for the cab queue and managed to walk right up to a people mover immediately. Last time coming back from Noumea we had a long wait.

The house was intact, thankfully. I did some grocery shopping for some essentials. I also had to buy the one thing we should have tried in Belgium, but didn't for one reason or another. I got back around 15:00 to find all the kids crashed. Marie and I did the same. I woke around 17:00 and we had the brussel sprouts with dinner. They were beautiful. I wonder if the Belgian genuine article could be better. :-)

Holiday in Belgium - part 2

Monday - slow day (6/7)
Bernard slept through until around 11.00. We were a bit worried his medication might not take for a 3rd time. I gave it to to him in 2 parts, and both stayed down. When he finally woke up, he just wanted to go, so it looked like he was recovered. We wanted to be sure, so were a bit cautious about what food and drink we gave him. Josee had cooked up another superb lunch for us all. It was spare ribs with some very interesting vegetable dishes, their home grown, just in season beetroot and chips of course.

Late in the day I drove us to Enghien in Gilbert's Peugeot 206 and we looked at some of the local shops. We wanted to visit the local park again but decided we wouldn't really see much before closing time. It was also starting to get cool and rain. The bonus was we found another brilliant patisserie. We returned home for an early light supper, before going out visiting.

We visited Patrice, Josee and Gilbert's oldest son, and family. They live about 30 minutes away in and old cafe. It is old on the outside but new on the inside. Patrice and his brothers along with help from Gilbert and his brothers renovated the cafe. They gutted the downstairs area completely and from the pictures I saw, it looked like a huge amount of work. Patrice offered me a Jupiler beer which I accepted. It reminded me of XXXX, although probably not that bad. Apparently Maes, Jupiler and Stella Artois are the standard beers and as Gilbert says, all the rest are beautiful.

On the way back we visited Ludovic and his family. They live a townhouse that has also had some remodeling done. I think it must be quite common in Belgium to renovate the old buildings made of brick and stone. Ludovic offered me a Duvel but I declined, but made a mental note to try it at some point.

Tuesday - Parc D'Enghien again (7/7)

Bernard slept soundly all night an late into the morning. Josee and Gilbert had gone to golf so we had a slow start again. We left before lunch and arrived in Enghien to check out a few shops, before picking a cafe for lunch. It was fairly full so we figured it must be OK, and it was. After that we cruised a few more shops, and then headed for the Parc. We visited some of the bits that we had missed the first time. There was chill wind blowing most of the time. It was OK when the sun was shining but we had light showers coming through all the time. The trees provided enough shelter. We checked out the palace this time and wandered well into the backlots that weren't maintained. It must cost the government a fortune to maintain all these historical landmarks.


We visited Marie's cousin Joris for a while. He is close to Enghien. After that we headed back home and had supper. I tried a Hoegaarden Grande Cru. It reminded me of Coopers with its chewy bits in the bottom.

Patrice and family showed up after supper. This time we got to meet Kobe, the youngest. On Monday he had been visited with his mother's parents. Marie had given Amber, the daughter a tail which she loved and Kobe was given one as well. Amber had a sharks tail and Kobe chose a crocodile tail. Natalie, Patrice's wife liked the idea so took some photos of the other tails we had so she could make some herself. Marie had only ever found them at one place in Brisbane. For children of that age it is a very simple costume and with their active imaginations a cheap fun toy.

Wednesday - Belgian Castles (8/7)
We tried to leave early for the Ardennes in the south east and as usual didn't manage it. Along the way we stopped for camera batteries at a Colruyt store in Bierghes. It was a supermarket with warehouse style shelving and self service where you scan your own groceries before paying at another counter. We also stopped for petrol for the Peugot 206 at another self serve service station. You have to pay by card at the bowser, but you get petrol around .10 euros cheaper at 1.25 euros. Diesel was also cheaper at .93 euros.
After that an hour and half of amazing highways took us to the Ardennes. We stopped at the Chateau de Lavaux Sainte-Anne a castle of some note. It had 3 museums in it and a lot of the rooms in the castle were furnished and available for viewing. Because we had left late we arrived close to lunch so took a break half way through the tour to eat lunch in the restaurant. We were all pleasantly surprised the cost wasn't too high and even more surprised that the quality was exceptional as well. Gilbert and I had a Rochefort Trappist Beer with lunch. After lunch we continued the tour. One thing that truly amazed me was the size of the timbers and the amount of it inside the largest dome atop one of the spires.

After completing that castle tour we drove a little further into the Ardennes to visit another castle. It was build on a rock in steeper terrain, whereas the first was built on a flat with a moat around it. The displays in the 2nd castle were more formal in nature and contained more refined furniture and fittings but they were also roped off with security to prevent people touching them. There was also less to see so we finished viewing that one fairly quickly. It had a really good view of another castle on an adjacent ridge, that looked much more interesting with fabulous spires. Gilbert told us you used to be able to visit that one as well on the same entrance ticket but that it was now closed and in disrepair. It reminded me of the Disneyland castles.
We then drove onto the picturesque town of Dinant crammed onto the small piece of land between the river bank and cliff. I guess the Kangaroo point cliffs in Brisbane come close to the terrain but you need to scale up the cliff and the amount of land considerably. We parked the cars and strolled along the river back to the church at the base of the cliff. We had a quick look inside and then considered climbing to the 9th century citadel atop the cliffs. We were running out of time so passed as Gilbert said it would take over an hour to complete. There were an awful lot of steps to the top and they also a cable car setup going up.

On the way back we stopped to visit another of Marie's cousins, Alain and his family. He offered us some drinks - Chimay blue for me this time. Most of the others settled for coffee and pastries. Alaine was OK with the speaking English as he write scientific papers in the language. As a result his accent was fairly heavy but the grammar and structure was good and I had no trouble understanding him at all. We drove back in the rain to arrive home around 10:00pm - still light outside. Josee who had to work and had missed the outing had made apple turnovers for us. I am not fond of cooked apple but enjoyed one anyway. They seem to have a different variety of apple over here that is better for this sort of use.

Thursday - Bruges (9/7)

We visited a supermarket in the morning hoping to find another SD card as we had taken 365 photos in the previous day. Fail, but I did find a good selection beer so bought some. The better Trappist beers were just over a Euro in price and many were 0.88 or lower. I chose some Chimay Red, a couple of Westmalle, a couple of Duvell and some Floreval. The later was more of a brew specifically made for Delhaize, the supermarket.

We got back a bit after Josee had returned from work. We quickly had a bite for lunch and headed for Bruges. The traffic got pretty heavy close to Bruges so we crawled along for a bit. Because it is the 2nd most popular place in Belgium, after Brussels and has very narrow streets in the heart we parked at a parking station outside the city and bussed it in. You could walk it if you had to but the bus was free when you show your parking ticket.
We arrived in central city square around 15:00 and wandered around looking at the sights for a couple hours. There is a canal systems with boats that give guided tours. It would have taken a bit long so we just wandered around checking out the shops and old buildings. There were an awful lot of chocolate shops and lace shops, as Bruges is famous for both. We stopped at small cafe and had some chips with some sort of house beer that wasn't too bad. I bought some milk truffles in one of the chocolate shops on the way back to the square. Some of the shops had very different artistic shapes, including some that should be censored.
Bruges was very pretty and also very commercial. We got back late and had a Chimay red with a snack.

Friday - more relatives (10/7)

Josee and Gilbert were playing golf so we slept in a bit and then had a quick breakfast before heading off to see Yvette and Paul again. Marie found some paintings hanging on the wall that one of her relatives had done so she took photos of them. We had a home made cherry cake with coffee and Marie gave them some copies of her Mother's paintings. I missed most of the conversation as usual but also picked up a surprising amount. If I knew a few more french names for things I reckon I'd be understanding a lot more.

We stopped at a different patisserie on the way back home. We had lunch and then Josee and Gilbert arrived home. They grabbed a quick bite and Gilbert and I headed into Brussels to pick up another hire car. I ended up with another Toyota Auris. This one had done a few more kms and was a slightly lower optioned model, but still diesel powered. It seemed to have slightly more pickup that the previous one, perhaps because it was a bit looser with 25,000km on the odometer.

I got back to the house and pick up the rest of the family and us 5 headed to Beloeil to visit Sebastian and his family. The kids had been hoping to see a movie with him but we arrived too late to fit that in and as we had another appointment to visit another cousin later. Sebastian and his brothers, sisters and parents all play musical instruments, piano, clarinet, oboe, pan flute, xylophone to name a few. Seb played some music from the Lion King for us.

We arrived back for dinner and a beautiful tomato soup, followed by some ham steaks and home grown beans with new season potatoes from a local farm. We had a Floreval with the meal. I was a bit tired of visiting people as were the kids so we stayed at home and watched the DVD Subway. Marie, Josee and Gilbert visited another cousin, Bernadette.

Saturday - yet more relatives (11/7)

We had a visit in the morning from Caroline and here husband Maxime who had driven across from near Luxembourg. They brought a lot of food, beer and wine with them as well as some gifts for the children. We chatted with them and lunch as well. They had brought a special sort of meat pie with them which is local to their area. It was a bit like piroshki but much bigger. The meat had lots of spices in it and was encased in a bread like pastry.
The kids had almost an all day visit to Parc Paradiso with Seb. It is some sort of animal park/zoo so they only got to meet with Caroline for a small while. After Marie, Bernard and I headed for Tornai to meet Christiane the widow of Marie's father brother. She is in a nursing home now. Her son Daniel and his wife and daughter were there. Marie asked about another cousin who she hadn't been able to contact who lived near there. They gave us some directions.
We thought we could try and find it so headed there and didn't have too much trouble. On the way Seb rang and said they could drop the kids back at Bierghes. That meant we could spend a bit longer with the missing relatives. Corine and Bill and their 2 children live in a renovated shop in the main square of tiny village just outside of Tornai. When we arrived their son Antone opened the door. He had a very surprised look on his face when Marie told him where we were from. Bill was home and probably asleep as he surfaced a bit later and then madly began tidying the house. Corine was out visiting with her daughter but her son rang her immediately on the mobile so she soon turned up. Marie had never met her before. We were given a small performance on the small accordion.

We arrived back a bit late and quickly had dinner. We had one of the Orval beers that Caroline had brought. We didn't make it through dinner before the next lot of relatives showed up. Bernadette, her husband Nuncio, and Freddy her brother arrived. Nuncio brought his guitar and he played and sang us some songs as a lot of Sicilians can. Bernadette also played one more complex tune and he sang with her.