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. :-)
Great job Greg, it seems that you enjoyed your trip over here.
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