Author: Ella

Shadow of the day

Here are some more photos from our first day wandering in Ghent.

The gods of trains smiled. Or maybe the smurfs took the day off. One train, one platform, on time. Ghent is just under 30 min by train from Brussels (about 30 miles) so it didn’t take long. Soon enough, Vera and Phillipe were checking us in. Our apartment occupies the attic floor of their home…

I dunno but he keeps promising to explain soon. From yesterday at the Wiels Contemporary Art Center.

Chicken skewers (tangy), salad (crisp) and fries (thick) with white garlic sauce plus beer for me. Grubb had similar except fish skewers and he chose curry ketchup as the sauce for French fry dipping. And the non alcoholic sparkling water. Today I tried the Tripel karmeliet beer.  “An Abbey-style blonde beer by Brouwerij Bosteels in Buggenhout….

Street art speaks for itself, whether it’s comic strip murals, feminist statements or god-help-us, the Smurfs (which were created in Belgium. That could actually explain the nutty train platform maze). The Mallones neighborhood of Brussels is rife with large scale paintings. Also, I broke my sunglasses (just cheap ones) and needed a replacement. I also…

Friends Charlie and Wynette are currently walking the Camino and everyday they post a shadow picture. So Charlie and Wynette, we think a shadow challenge is in order. 

Our neighborhood (Sint-Gilles / Ixelles) is particularly dense with art nouveau buildings.

Starting in Persia…ending in Palestine with a flow through art nouveau and odd contemporary in between. We had a late start and a lazy day. Our first stop was for coffee at KooKoo with a Persian touch. Cappuccino and slice of pistachio rosewater cake for Grubb and chai latte with a slice of lemon cake…

Subtitle: Toto, we aren’t in Japan anymore. Mechelen, a charming little town just north of Brussels. “Punches above its weight” Claude says. Today we decided to head that way. Tram to train station, train to Mechelen. No biggie. So, the tram was good. First tram ride. No fussing with tickets. Tap our phone to pay…

On the walk down to the Parliamentarium, some interesting pics. And lunch. I’d checked in with Claude to ask what might be of interest near the European Parliament. Parc du Cinquantenaire and a nearby cafe called Seven was on the list. Who could resist eating at a place called Seven which turned out to be…

Brussels is a hub of European activity, so what better place to learn more about the European Union. What is it exactly? How is it governed? How do you get in? And…well, Britain showed us how to exit. The Parliamentarium answered those and many more questions. The Parliamentarium is what they call the Visitor’s Center…

Yesterday (Thursday)we trekked to the Royal museum complex and Mont des Arts area. Where our neighborhood, Saint-Gilles, can be described as “vibrant bohemian”, the Royal museums quarter was filled with tourists and school groups. A whole different flavor of Brussels. I enjoyed rediscovering Magritte at the Magritte museum. I had forgotten his light-hearted and playful…

Mussels with fried potatoes. A cornerstone of Belgian cuisine. This was today’s lunch. Mussels are a plentiful and cheap food, easily harvested along the coast of the North Sea. Although the prized catch comes from Schelde, a shallow river connecting western Belgium to the Netherlands and the North Sea, most mussels used in Belgium these…