Now we come to October, which was a really busy month for me since I had a client with a September year-end and a 3rd quarter review for yet another. But we still needed to keep our planned one trip a month, so we squeezed in quick drive to Brussels.
The most memorable (or at least most amusing) was the location of our hotel. The side street was so small that it wasn't showing up on the maps of Wes' phone or mine. Needless to say we were a bit concerned, since it was nearly 22.00 (that's 10pm American). After arguing a bit in the street, we finally asked someone - they pointed us towards a side street next to the National Theater. As we walked down the street, all we could see were "ladies of the night" who were plying their services. I was definitely not sure WHAT our hotel was going to look at. We rounded the corner and things did not get any better...but out hotel ended up being really nice. But for the whole weekend, we saw the ladies out around the hotel.
We were only in Brussels for 2 nights, but it was an important trip because we met Mark for the first time! Mark and I have a mutual friend in NC (John McKeever) who introduced us when Mark made the decision to move over from Boston. We had been trying to meet up and realized that we would all be in Brussels that weekend. I found a food tour that featured Belgian specialties other than brussel sprouts that we planned to meet for on Saturday night.
During Saturday we wandered around the city, through the Grand Place -
The palace -
The Museum of Ancient Art and the Museum of Modern Art, we also visited the Magritte Museum -
General view of the city, with Wes:
Wes had mussels for lunch -
And when we finished with lunch, we realized that we were in the middle of the "Occupy Brussels"...
After the museums, we stopped for a beer to kill some time before our tour -
So we got to the Grand Place, and waited for our tour. As we were waiting for Mark, I remember asking Wes, "How will we know it's him??" Anyway, we all managed to meet up. We were lucky with the tour because the owner of the tour company was our guide - his guys were all on vacation. We started with a taste of Godiva chocolate (Belgian founded in 1926) and then had a drink before dinner. Wes and Mark went for Belgian beer but the bar was serving Pisco Sour, so I totally had to go for one! We walked from the bar to the restaurant and had several courses, including the appetizer (Tomate crevette) below, boudin (blood sausage), asparagus, and a LOT of wine. =)
And since it was Belgium we had to finish with a proper waffle...so yummy!! We hung out with Mark some more, enjoyed another beer or three and then headed back to the hotel.
The next morning we checked out the "beer museum" in the Grand Place...it wasn't that great but the entrance included 2 beers.
The most memorable (or at least most amusing) was the location of our hotel. The side street was so small that it wasn't showing up on the maps of Wes' phone or mine. Needless to say we were a bit concerned, since it was nearly 22.00 (that's 10pm American). After arguing a bit in the street, we finally asked someone - they pointed us towards a side street next to the National Theater. As we walked down the street, all we could see were "ladies of the night" who were plying their services. I was definitely not sure WHAT our hotel was going to look at. We rounded the corner and things did not get any better...but out hotel ended up being really nice. But for the whole weekend, we saw the ladies out around the hotel.
We were only in Brussels for 2 nights, but it was an important trip because we met Mark for the first time! Mark and I have a mutual friend in NC (John McKeever) who introduced us when Mark made the decision to move over from Boston. We had been trying to meet up and realized that we would all be in Brussels that weekend. I found a food tour that featured Belgian specialties other than brussel sprouts that we planned to meet for on Saturday night.
During Saturday we wandered around the city, through the Grand Place -
The palace -
Wes had mussels for lunch -
After the museums, we stopped for a beer to kill some time before our tour -
So we got to the Grand Place, and waited for our tour. As we were waiting for Mark, I remember asking Wes, "How will we know it's him??" Anyway, we all managed to meet up. We were lucky with the tour because the owner of the tour company was our guide - his guys were all on vacation. We started with a taste of Godiva chocolate (Belgian founded in 1926) and then had a drink before dinner. Wes and Mark went for Belgian beer but the bar was serving Pisco Sour, so I totally had to go for one! We walked from the bar to the restaurant and had several courses, including the appetizer (Tomate crevette) below, boudin (blood sausage), asparagus, and a LOT of wine. =)
The next morning we checked out the "beer museum" in the Grand Place...it wasn't that great but the entrance included 2 beers.
On our way out of town, we stopped at Beersel Castle which is south of Brussels. It has 3 massive watchtowers, and is surrounded by a wide moat. The renovations are in the process of being finished.
Not the last time we would be in Belgium for the weekend, but we enjoyed it!
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