When: 10/12/2011
Where: Brussels, Belgium
Stayed: Hotel Carrefour De L’Europe
Here comes Santa Claus, here comes Santa Claus…actually I think that might be Justin wheeling his bag of newly purchased Belgian beers – looking every bit like all his christmas’ have come at once. Brussels promised to get us into the Chrissy spirit – and it delivered all things sparkly and tinsel related that we could hope for. I’d heard a lot about the Christmas markets in Europe and being a Chrissy fiend from way back, my expectations were very high.
We were welcomed into Brussels by an impressive light display staged in Grand Place. Set to an array of dramatic tunes, the Electrabel Lights show treated us to a spectacular arrangement of light beamed onto the surrounding buildings. With massive passages of light shooting straight up into the black sky with a winking lone star, it was hard not to feel a little sentimental about Chrissy. Snowflakes, criss crosses, dots, lace-like patterns and flashes of rainbow colors forced us to grin and bear the pain in our necks from tilting our heads skyward. The perfect introduction to Brussels.
Taking some local advice we navigated our way out of tourist ville to a modern looking Belgium restaurant called Viva M’Boma. Wow goes a little way towards describing the meal we had. Using all parts of the animal, this restaurant catered for the inner carnivore in all of us. Between us, our meals spanned horse, duck, pig, beef and chicken. Thank god for the waitress who very patiently explained the complicated menu in English – think we could probably be forgiven for not knowing the french translation for cow udder and pig testicle though…?
Our hotel was located on Grassmarkt street which was in a cracking location, being only a block back from the Grand Place. Being able to see the Grand Place from our hotel window gives you an idea as to how close to the action we were. The only downside being the frequency of car horns going off from around 2am onwards. Ahhh gotta love the liberal use of a car horn in the wee hours of the morning.
Saturday was a big day where we made it our business to engross ourselves in the local culture. We steadily made our way around a few of the local beer haunts including Moeder Lambic before moseying across town to the Christmas markets. Belgian beers and Vin Chaud (try it with Amaretto – who knew!) followed by the predictable cross section of Bratwurst, waffles and crepes. Our tummy’s might’ve been in turmoil but with over 2km of gluwhein, there was no slowing down.
The markets delivered stalls of handmade toys and clothing, meats, cheeses, bratwurst and a plethora of other consumable goodies. Fairy lights adorned the roof tops of the chalet-like stalls and paved a bustling pathway to a ferris wheel, standing grandly at the half way point. Coming from a family where I took (and still do!) great pride in decorating the house head to toe in tinsel and homemade tree decorations that only a mother could love, this was as good as it gets for me. Hurrah! Mulled wine was a big feature of the markets and of course we did our bit in supporting local business.
Our trip to Brussels wouldn’t have been complete without a comic strip tour of city. Feeling slightly dusty, Greg expertly navigated his old local hood and highlighted striking walls of comic strips, hidden in the nooks and cranny’s of the streets. An intriguing way of bringing to life the city’s well earned claim to fame for comic creation. Great stuff.
We farewelled Brussels in a fitting manor. A final beer in Delerium cafe – The World Guinness book of records beer hall with over 2000 beers on offer – followed by a quick dash to the chocolatier and beer supermarket. As they say ‘when in Rome…’
Chocker block full and slightly hungover but definitely feeling the magic of Christmas in our bellies, we packed ourselves off for the return journey.
Cathy & Justin Abroad 