Bruxelles

That's Brussels, for you non-Francophiles. We took a day trip there on Tuesday, as it's only a 1.5 hour train ride from Paris.

Paris's Gare du Nord
(I considered it quite a feat that we were all ready to leave at 7:55 to get to the train station!)

Even though Marc went to the Belgium Brussels mission, he only spent one month in Brussels. Most of his time was actually in France.

We started to make our way to the Grand Place.

First stop: waffles! If you've never had the pleasure of eating a gaufre liégoise, it is a dense, delicious treat filled with bits of caramelized pearl sugar. They are delicious hot off the waffle iron, but we went for:

chocolate/banana/whipped cream/nuts (Marc, Michelle & Max); chocolate sauce with sprinkles for Lucas and Eva. Oh my oh my. This alone was practically worth the trip.

We sat on benches in the Grand Place and ate while Marc read to us from the Michelin guide.

I thought these window boxes were darling with their tiny, bright green trees.

I love cobblestones, but they can be quite a liability when you're pushing a stroller!

I was so glad I thought to bring Eva's gloves at the last minute -- it was her first time wearing them, and it was a little cold and windy.

Belgians are big into comic books, and we saw several of these Tintin murals around the city (Hervé was a Belge). Marc was a big Tintin fan in his youth. Astérix, however... not so much (we saw a mural of that as well).

I was oh so smitten by this pink coat -- the scalloped edge! The velvet buttons!

This is my photo of the Mannekin Pis statue. I was there, I saw it, but I much preferred the ironwork gate. We saw countless examples of the Mannekin Pis rendered in chocolate, lollipops, and even in lace. Originally the fountain was a water supply for the city. Oh those Belges and their bathroom humor...

I loved this old faded sign. Somehow in Europe, things like this just seem full of character. But if I saw something similar at home, I wonder if it would just seem shabby?

We passed by a tiny church and stepped in to have a look around. Though a Christian church, it had banners with Arabic writing. A sign explained that the leader of their parish had done much to help the Muslim community.

As we walked along, we were delighted to see this escargots stand. Because nothing is as satisfying as happening upon an escargots stand when you're just really in the mood for snails. ?! (no, we didn't have any) I've never seen anything like it!

I think lemons are beautiful. Snails, not so much.

Can you guess what this is?

If you guess McDonald's, give yourself a pat on the back. We stopped to get Eva a Happy Meal. I found it highly entertaining that you could order a McFlurry with either m&ms, pecans, Cornetto ice cream cone bits, or crumbled Speculoos (famous spiced Belgian cookies) mixed in.

The contents of Eva's Happy Meal: chicken nuggets, fries, orange juice, a yogurt drink, carrot sticks, and a Star Wars toy. Not bad!

The rest of us saved our appetites for Belgian frites (Belgium is actually the origin of "French" fries). They fry them twice to get them crispy on the outside and soft in the middle, and serve them in a paper cone, with sauce and a tiny wooden fork. The stand we went to offered 16 sauces, some of which were a mystery to us: pili-pili, Brazil... Marc ordered Samurai sauce, and Max and I ordered Andalouse. (Lucas prefers his fries nature.) De.li.cious.

It takes a little while to make real fries, and while we were waiting we saw this across the street:

A store called Stress? Because everyone needs a little more stress in their lives...

I spotted this mailman, delivering on his route with his mail cart. I thought that was rather picturesque.

Max was definitely taken with this musical mural, noting immediately that it was written in 9/8 time.

We spotted this pagoda-like building from afar and were intrigued.

When we got closer, we saw this it was covered with thousands of Japanese lanterns!

Lucas looking all the way to the top.

We were making our way to check out the modern art museum, but we stumbled upon the new Magritte Museum, which wasn't in our guidebook and just opened last summer. The museum was closing in 45 minutes. Eva had fallen asleep in her stroller, and they didn't allow strollers (a pet peeve). I saw in the lobby with Eva so as not to incur her wrath by waking her before she was ready, and the guys did a quick walk-through. Marc came back to relieve me, and I was able to squeeze in a 15-minute visit. I loved it and was disappointed that photos were also prohibited. We were all happy about this unexpected find.

Magritte self-portrait

We came out to find a huge downpour, and ducked into the museum gift shop to wait it out.

Fortunately, it didn't last long, and then we were treated to the city lit up at night, glistening with rain.

What you can't see here is an accordion-player just to the left. I guess they have those in Belgium, too!

We were all entertained by this store filled with portraits of distinguished dogs in suits or full military regalia. They have human hands, that's just creepy!


It is staggering how many chocolate shops there are in Brussels -- it seemed like even more bakeries than there are in Paris per square meter! I would estimate every 3rd or 4th store was a chocolate one. Even though I loved this packaging, we went to Léonidas to buy a box of chocolates to take home. Those Belgians have such a way with that hazelnut praliné filling....


But before returning to Paris, the kids had room for one more waffle...

We got home around 9:30 p.m., exhausted, and we all agreed that it seemed much longer than just one day away! A long, delicious, good day in Brussels.