BRUGGE & GARDEN PARTY (DAYS 12, 13)

On Friday evening, we made the one-hour drive northwest to picturesque Brugge, the Venice of the North. Alternately spelled Bruges, the city is filled with well-preserved architectural and artistic treasures as well as a lovely Crown Plaza hotel that served as our base of operations for the weekend. We were right around the corner from the town square which resembled Grand Place in Brussels with its wide plaza ringed by ornate, gilded buildings.   

We set out to explore right away and were drawn to the fragrant scent of chocolate wafting out of the magnificent sweet shops. We managed to resist since a nice box of chocolates had greeted us in our hotel room thanks to Betsy's frequent-guest status. The city also has a tradition of lacemaking and there were several stores selling fine examples of the delicate material.

We wanted to get back to our room fairly quickly, however, so we could enjoy a live airing of the opening ceremonies of the Olympics. While we are unable to see any event video from the US telecasts on TV or online, it has been interesting to watch the BBC coverage as well as the Belgian TV broadcasts. We do miss Bob Costas and getting to closely follow all of the American stories but I expect our visit to London in less than two weeks will take a little of the sting away.

The timing of our travels continues to be impeccable as we escaped a major rain in Brussels and found ourselves in the middle of a music festival weekend. There were concerts in another square right on the doorstep of our hotel all weekend long including this one in Saturday night featuring Lady Linn, a popular singer/songwriter who's all the rage in Europe.

After a dip in the hotel pool on Saturday morning, we enjoyed a half-hour boat tour through the canals of the city that took us by many of the main sights. In the first picture you can see one of the boats that are constantly cruising up and down the waterways as the guides describe each of the landmarks in Dutch, French and then English. Later, as we strolled through the city wandering through narrow cobbled passageways and historic buildings at every turn, we naturally began to build up a thirst. We decided to learn more about the unending variety of available beers by taking in a brewery tour at the De Halve Maan (Half Moon) family brewery.

The brewery, still active today, has been producing beer since 1856. We were introduced to the interesting world of malt and hops and enjoyed hearing a lot of fun anecdotes about the history of the building and its machinery. 

These giant tanks once held the beer as it seasoned and had to be thoroughly cleaned between each filling. It was a dangerous job because of the alcohol vapors and lack of oxygen making its way through the tiny door. Two workers always had to be present; one would stand guard outside to ensure the safety of the man inside who would whistle or sing as he scrubbed. When the whistling stopped or the singing became garbled it was time to get out!

The tour also included a stop on the roof of the building which offered a panoramic view of the entire city. The boys made sure to announce to everyone present that I was scared of heights so I had to climb up and down the see-through stairs while everyone watched to see if I would lose it. Fortunately we all made it up and down just fine.

The tour concluded with a refreshing glass of Zot Blond for the adults and a hot chocolate for the kids, all included with our admission.

We have learned already to find eateries just off the main tourist areas in towns like these. While you may sacrifice a bit of ambience, the tens of Euros saved are worth it. In addition, most of the restaurants surrounding the town squares all offer a similar menu of local dishes. We were delighted to find two memorably different and inexpensive meals in a little Italian place down a one-way street and a delicious pitalier a block off the main plaza during our visit to Brugge.

There are also numerous food carts but I usually take one look at the menu and decide it's time to move on. How can one ever choose between a bitterballen, some kippenvleugels or a garnalenkroket?!

Fortunately, our dining options for dinner on Sunday upon our return to Brussels were settled days ago. One of Betsy's friends from work, Rebecca Sheridan, and her husband Simon hosted a lovely garden party with an international array of friends and neighbors. It was fun to talk to a lot of interesting people and the food, capped off by a tableful of wonderful homemade desserts was excellent.

Finally, the kids picked out their Belgian souvenirs in Brugge and made some very fine choices. The boys opted for a couple of matching shields and swords, complete with leather scabbards, while Quinn couldn't resist this sweet little Snowy doll.

We're having a quiet Monday in the flat today enjoying the Olympics but will hit the town again tomorrow when all of the museums open for the week. See you next time! 

MOVIE, BACK IN TIME & LAUNDRY (DAYS 9,10,11)

Perhaps our stomachs were feeling a bit homesick on Wednesday as we looked for a place to grab lunch before heading to the cinema. It was between a Pizza Hut lunch buffet (can't seem to find one near us in Minnesota) and a burger joint.

Despite the brown mustard and white cheese on the burgers (we wanted American cheese, damnit!) it hit the spot. Afterwards we opted for Madagascar 3 in French with no subtitles. Apparently they show movies here in English with subtitles for the first week or so until no one comes to those, then they only show the French versions. It was still funny but we definitely missed a few laughs. Figuring out the movie routine and purchasing the tickets, like every transaction I attempt to make here, was an ordeal. At home when I see someone who doesn't speak English struggling through such things they seem, well, stupid. Now that's me! Every day!

Case in point; our adventure on Thursday began at the train station with grand plans to rendezvous with our friend Frank in Tongeren, the "oldest city in Belgium." Betsy used her limited French to secure our tickets and escort us to the appropriate track at the appropriate time before bidding us farewell and heading to work. We boarded the train and sped off, waving and laughing as our journey got underway.

As Betsy started up the stairs, she saw another train pull in on the same track with its sign flashing TONGEREN. The train we were on had been late, messing up the schedule. Uh oh! She contacted a worker for help, who radioed the crew on our train. The kids and I were taking in the passing countryside when a conductor walked up to tell me to get my shoes off the seat (being comfortable is apparently another nasty American habit) and that I was on the wrong train. I'm not sure how long it would've taken me to figure out that we were speeding toward Luxembourg. A couple of stations later, we were finally on the right train and, about ninety minutes later, we were strolling through Tongeren with Frank.

Tongeren was wonderful. The city was founded in 15 B.C. as a base and supply station for Roman troops in the region. The statue above is of local legend and town symbol Ambiorix, an ancient Gallic chieftain and Hulk Hogan-lookalike who led the fight against Julius Ceasar's invading troops around 52 B.C. before fleeing across the Rhine as the Romans took power.

What is bound to be one of the highlights of our entire trip was our visit to the Gallo-Roman museum located in the heart of the city at the exact spot where a large, luxurious Roman villa once stood. The underground of Tongeren is one large archeological archive dating back 500,000 years and the museum sweeps visitors from Neolithic times through the stone and copper ages and up to Roman life 2,000 years ago.   

There were several great activities for the kids, beginning with a pretend archaeological dig site where we learned the proper techniques of unearthing, protecting and cataloging items. They also got to make Neanderthal-style amulet necklaces, paper Ambiorix and Roman soldier figures and replicas of Roman belt clasps.

We also enjoyed making friends with the realistic figures throughout the galleries.

Seeing the Roman artifacts was a dream come true. There were some amazing pieces that brought to life so many details about Roman artistry, technology, innovation and daily life that I'd only previously read about. We walked over an actual mosaic floor that once lay in a covered gallery of a luxury townhouse and saw remnants of a hypocaustum, an underfloor and inner-wall heating system.

Intricate items like hair pins, mirrors, cloak pins, jewelry, toiletry items and these delicate glass vials reveal the artistry and attention to detail of their makers.

The gallery is filled with fascinating items like statue and pillar fragments with images of gods and goddesses, often with inscriptions such as "To Vulcan. The Roman citizens of the centuria of Valentinus of the unit of the Gaesatae placed this stone."

We saw pipes for plumbing and lead bars for their manufacture such as this rare piece with the abbreviated inscription "Property of Emperor Tiberius Caesar Augustus, lead from Germania." Of all the objects ever found in Tongeren, this bar is the only object that is marked with the name of an emperor. 

A highlight for Frank was a display of the items found in nearby Heers just a few hundred meters from his childhood home. He was present as archaeologists unearthed items such as a bottle that still contained wine from the treasure-laden burial mounds of wealthy Roman families.

To see all of that in person served to reinforce the mystery of the middle ages, when all of these incredible advancements were swept aside by the conquering invaders at the fall of the Roman Empire. That we can so closely identify with these items and have seen the redevelopment of most of the technology is the theme of the museum, embodied by a quote that appears in a variety of languages in the entryway:

"What follows is always organically related to what went before..." 

- Marcus Aurelius, Roman emperor, 121-180 A.D.

The visit was capped off by the one thing I had to see before the end of our European travels; outdoor remnants of a Roman wall. A first wall was built around Tongeren to protect it from the Germanic tribes beyond the Rhine. A second wall was built in the 4th century, parts of which have still survived to this day. This section included the addition of turrets during medieval times for added protection, but the base of the wall and most of the bricks and mortar in it were about 1,700 years old.

We enjoyed giant sundaes on the idyllic town square as church bells rang every fifteen minutes to remind us to soak in the scene and appreciate how fortunate we are to be here.

On the way back to Brussels, we made a stop at Frank's house to meet his parents and his two dogs. The Schoofs tend a beautiful garden and enjoy the protection of Juanita, a behemoth great Dane who was thrilled to see the kids.

As I write this on Friday afternoon, we are about to pack up for a weekend sojourn to Brugge. We're excited to get out of the hustle and bustle of the city and into an air-conditioned hotel with a pool.

We woke up this morning with the one goal of finally getting our laundry clean before moving on to something fun. Unfortunately, the effort to get the wash done monopolized our day, knocking me off my Roman pedestal and back down to the level of befuddled foreigner. When we arrived last week and inquired about the facilities, we were told to look in the unit's parking garage around the corner but found all the doors locked. A few days later we finally got a key (they said they had forgotten they recently installed a lock on the door) and found out that we needed to get some proper change together. So today, with a deadline looming, we all got up early to walk down with Betsy and get the first load in. When the washer swallowed our Euros and failed to start, we removed all the soapy clothes and headed back up to the flat to wait for our contact to advise us. He then informed us that he forgot that the washer was broken and directed me to a laundromat about five blocks away. So the kids and I marched through the streets dragging a suitcase full of dirty clothes only to find a sign in French on the door telling us that the laundromat was closed each year from July 16-28. Lovely. A few texts and a map search revealed another possibility five blocks in the other direction. It was on a street we had started to go down several days earlier but turned around because we didn't feel too safe! Fortunately, it felt safer during daylight and my three patient helpers and I eventually returned "home" with a suitcase full of clean laundry six hours after our initial attempt. 

LAZY DAY + PALACE (DAYS 7,8)

Since all of the museums and palaces are closed on Mondays in Brussels, the kids and I didn't do anything special during the day on the 23rd besides taking the scooters out for another spin at the skate park after loading up on groceries in the morning. We try to take different routes each time out to explore new parts of the city and that day it paid off in the form of a fine pair of boobs on this swimmer statute.

When Betsy returned, a postprandial stroll to Grand Place for some ice cream for the kids and a waffle for dad sounded like a great idea. 

Throughout the city are comic murals and I had heard that this one of Tintin and Haddock descending a fire escape in The Calculus Affair was right across from Mannekin Pis. We missed it on our last visit but were pleased to find it this time.

Tuesday marked the first day of the summer that the Royal Palace opened its doors to the public and we were among the first to gain entry. The price was right...admission was free and an English tour brochure was available for just one Euro.  

While the current King and Queen, Albert II and his wife, Paola, live in a chateau on the outskirts of the city near the Atomium, the Palais Royal de Bruxelles is the official palace of the King of the Belgians and is still used by the royal family for audiences, affairs of the state and receptions. The building also houses offices and apartments for visiting Heads of State.  

The site dates from medieval times (the palace was built over previous structures when the area was leveled out - see Belvue Museum, Day 4) but construction on this building began in 1783. Various renovations and innovations, including the addition of the current facade around 1900 have transformed it to the wonder it is today. The interior, as one would expect, is ostentatious to the extreme. 

Each generation of the royal family has put its own artistic stamp on various rooms; a series of tapestries in the Goya Room based on the artists' work, a series of murals over the Venice Staircase depicting the City of Water, bas-reliefs by Rodin in the throne room (below) and more. 

A look overhead in the long Grand Gallery reveals three ceiling murals; The Morning (below), The Day and The Evening. 

The Hall of Mirrors features Heaven of Delight, the most recent artistic addition to the palace; a shimmering emerald-green ceiling and chandelier covered with 1.6 million Thai green-jewel beetle wing casings. The fried beetles are consumed in Thailand and the wing casings, called elytra, are usually simply discarded. Their use here was stunning. The dancing patterns juxtaposed with the ornate white ceiling and majestic fireplace made this room the highlight of the visit.

Well, it was the highlight of my visit. The kids were quite literally exposed to a whole new level of artistic excitement when they discovered that sculptures here feature not only boobs, but the occasional wiener as well. The statue on the left of Bacchus and a fawn is in the main entryway while the African phone booth of love (click on that one for a closer look) was part of a special exhibit in the throne room. Game on, Belgium!

DINANT (DAY 6)

Since we slept in until noon on Sunday, we decided to change our plans a little and swap the day's planned trip to Cologne for a closer excursion to Dinant, just over an hour southeast of Brussels by car. The steep cliffs and rolling hills on the bank of the river made the town a strategic fortification in the past and a charming tourist destination today. This rock, le rocher Bayard, stands completely separated from the main rock and was separated with an explosion to provide passage for the French troops of Louis XIV after they took Dinant. Legend says that a giant Bayard horse split the rock with its hoof as it jumped from here over the river. It's a tight squeeze and probably yet another reason we haven't seen any Escalades or Suburbans around here.

Populated since neolithic times, the name Dinant was first recorded about 800 BC. Located on the Muese River, the town is famous for the Collegiate Church of Notre Dame and the fortified cliff-top Citadel overlooking the entire valley. 

The church, originally completed in the 10th century, was damaged by rocks falling from the cliff in 1227 and was rebuilt in Gothic style on the existing foundation. Though it has undergone several reconstructions and renovations due to various battles, some of the stained glass windows date from the late 15th century. The detail and storytelling in this giant example were captivating.

The signature pear-shaped dome was originally completed in 1566 and the tomb of Gérard de Blanmostier in the left transept is dated 1356. The interior is filled with artwork and relics, including the first genuine crown any of us had ever seen!

We declined to climb the 408-step staircase - which was built in 1577 - for the modern convince of the steepest cable car ascent in the world to get to the top of the cliff for a tour of the citadel.

The fortress has been a central point for some very dramatic clashes throughout history. In 1466, Charles the Bold sacked Dinant. The town and castle were destroyed and he ordered 800 workers to be tied together in pairs and tossed into the river. The citadel was rebuilt in 1523 and the town flourished until Louis XIV's army invaded and took control. He and his engineers made many improvements to the castle but what we see today is a product of the Dutch who rebuilt it after it was destroyed between 1818 and 1821. We really enjoyed seeing the archers windows and imagining firing arrows down on advancing marauders as well as looking out cannon openings like this one defending the bridge below.

Most of the artifacts inside were from the early 19th century as the fortress housed WWI-era soldiers and their supplies. Below is a guardroom in the prison section of the fortress. 

The prisoners weren't captured enemies. Rather, they were soldiers or villagers who were being punished for various misdeeds. It wasn't clear if the guillotine we saw in the torture room was ever used here but the axe and chopping block "used to cut off the right hand of people who murdered their parents" definitely was.

The fortress was demilitarized in 1868 to allow tourists to visit the area for views like this from the terrifying observation deck.

However, violent conflicts were fought within the walls during both World Wars, including a harrowing account of almost 100 soldiers cornered in a narrow passage and fighting each other hand-to-hand with bayonets to the death in August, 1914. Here's the effect of German shells on the town in WWI.

Dinant is also the birthplace of Adolphe Sax, a flautist and clarinetist who, in 1844, introduced the saxophone to the world.

There's no doubt we were among the only Americans in town even though it was a busy Sunday afternoon. While Dinant is a tourist destination for Europeans, it's a rare stop for US visitors. Fortunately we were able to blend in nicely by making like the locals.