Nice Long Weekend in Belgium

Karen had a business trip planned in Brussels, so we decided to turn it into a long weekend and spend some time in Antwerp and Bruges. At the same time, Karen's sister, Christine was on Spring Break from her MBA at University of Chicago so she flew out to meet us.

There was a beautiful sky as we were getting on our plane (and Aerlingus is one of our favorite company to fly!). Foreshadowing of a great trip to come! We all arrived in Brussels on Wednesday and went into Brussels that afternoon.

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Here is a picture we took in the Grand Place (pronounced grand platz).

We were all getting hungry and trying to find a place to eat when we spotted a warm fire in the center of a picturesque restaurant. The only prerequisite was that we could get our mussels in Brussels, and they had 'em in HUGE buckets!

Just as we were heading inside the restaurant, the sky opened up and started hailing down ice pellets nearly half an inch in diameter! We took it as a sign and scurried inside for a great warm meal.

After lunch, we wandered over to find the famous Manneken Pis. Funny how small it is compared to what you expect after seeing it on TV and in movies.

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While Karen was at work, Jay and Christine spent the day in Antwerp. Here's a picture from the ornate Antwerp train station.

Here is a wiki-link to Antwerp. Scroll down a little way to read the "Origin of name" section. It tells of how the city got its name from a giant who stood on the river Scheldt and would cut your hand off and throw it in the river if you tried to cross without paying his toll. Antwerpen in Dutch (hand werpen) means hand-throwing.

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Now that we've piqued your curiosity, you have to click the link and check it out!

Christine had to get a picture of this stocked up beer store for her boyfriend. They take their beer pretty seriously in Belgium. Jay couldn't say enough about it!

Here is the Onze-Lieve-Vrouwekathedraal (Cathedral of our Lady) at the Handschoenmarkt, in the old quarter of Antwerp. It's the largest cathedral in the Low Countries and remains the tallest building in the city.

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The next morning, the three of us made our way to Bruges... the Venice of the North!

Bruges is a valuable landmark as the city centre has hardly changed since the Middle Ages. Similar to Amsterdam, Bruges has taken extraordinary measures to keep up with the restoration of their architecture. Nearly all the buildings are in close to original condition.

One of the first things we did was take a short city bus tour of the historic areas of Bruges. We were all a little tired and might have closed our eyes for a minute or two of the tour ; )
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We had lunch at an Argentinean bbq place and did a little walking around before turning in early.

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Jay went walking along the streets and canals getting some nice night-time shots. Here's a great one of the Belfry lit up against the night sky.

The next morning, we started by going to an outdoor market where they had carts of the BEST barbecue meats we'd seen in Europe so far! Karen and Christine gorged on tasty meat and Jay got some funky cheeses and bread.

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We went to the Chocolate Musuem in Bruges that morning too. We learned that the degree to which they gring the cocoa powder and the quality of the cocoa butter really separates Belgian chocolate from anything else available. In the museum we watched them make some chocolates (got to sample a few too!).

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That afternoon, Jay climbed the Belfry clock tower to get some great pictures of the city while Christine and Karen did a little shopping. Here is a video of the last two chimes at 4:00 p.m.

Here is a video of the clock works and the spools that run the 47 different bells in the Belfry tower.

The picture below is of the Markt Square from up in the Belfry.

After Jay climbed the tower, he killed a little time with a large Belgian beer. The picture below was taken outside at the cafe with the red awnings in about the middle of the picture above.

If it weren't for the motorcycles, the picture below could easily have been taken in the mid 1800's.

At the end of the day we stopped in a nice shop for some real Belgian hot cocoa. This how it's suppose to be done... Belgian chocolate melting in hot milk!

On our last day, we took a tour of the only active brewery left in Bruges and Christine and Jay sampled some of their beer. Hundreds of years ago, they didn't have access to much clean water, so most people drank a few liters of beer daily!

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First stop today was the St. John's Hospital Museum. It is a museum that chronicles the early development of hospital treatment in the 17th and 18th centuries.

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We also took a carriage ride through the city before we left. Here we are with our horse, Ginfis.

Here are Christine and Karen in the carriage. You can see another horse carriage right behind us too.

This really is a very beautiful city. We're so glad we were all able to visit together.

Here is Christine jumping in as we were taking a picture. This turned out to be one of our favorite pictures. We really had such a nice time together.

One last picture of the Belfry of Bruges. Jay was really excited to finally get a picture with the sun shining on the front of the tower.

Check back soon for our next adventure!