Arrived into Brussels Central about 1pm light rain after changing trains at Rotterdam
Taxi driver was very grumpy as he said the hotel was only 200m away (more likely 400) but we didn't know the way and we had baggage and it was raining
.
Had time for a walk before getting ourselves ready for the Brussels Opera to see Don Giovanni.
I had booked the tickets months earlier and even then we got he back row of the gods. The theatre was typical European with boxes around the sides and at least three levels of seats.We had a good view of the stage probably about 40-50m away. We had our own surtitle screens - one in dutch and the other in French.
The production was very modern not to my liking but Leith enjoyed it.
Next day was a 1/2 day City Tour.which we chose since there would be minimum walking in the rain. We had to do some walking but most of time we were in the bus. Saw and took photos of the Atomium - built for the 1958 Brussels Expo.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Atomium
Next was inside and outside of the Basilica of the Sacred heart
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Basilica_of_the_Sacred_Heart,_Brussels
this was commissioned by King Leopold II in 1905 but was not finished till 1969 with interruptions during the World Wars
. It is a huge construction and one could spend considerable time exploring all its chapels. We only had time to get the two lifts to viewing platform.
The bus took us past various gardens, Chinese and Japanese pagodas finally getting us back about 1300hrs.
This gave us time to walk to the main square and spend sometime in Museum of Brussels
http://www.brussels.be/artdet.cfm/4202
This was well laid out but unfortunately no lif. On the third floor there was a very interesting collection of photos and documents showing how Brussels coped during WW1. With some difficulty but they managed to get food into the cities.
Also saw the history of the Belgian tapestries which are now longer made in Belgium
Thursday was a full day tour to Gent - on sign posts (English spelling is Ghent) and Bruges
Both are very touristy the latter I know thru a film called "In Bruges" which I saw at the Film festival years ago I tried to buy the DVD in Bruges but it is very popular they sell out very quickly.
Firstly Ghent: This was a walking trip with the guide so Leith & I decided to explore just Saint Nicholas Church which on the main square
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Saint_Nicholas%27_Church,_Ghent
This is a large church on the main square unfortunately a portable Ferris wheel had been installed for the Christmas season right in front of it
. The guide said we wouldn't want to take picture of the anyway since the towers where covered with scaffolding
We had time to also admire the belfry tower on the other side of the tower.
about 30min in the bus to us to Bruges
We had about 3hrs allocated and could have stayed much longer,
The bus had to park about 1 km from the main square, we caught a taxi in.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bruges
Being Christmas the square was filled with temporary stalls selling touristy type stuff but a few handicrafts.
Leith enquired about walking up the tower but was told it 380 steps and would take about an hour round trip. We just didn't have the time since we had to take the local bus back to the bus park.
Our last full day in Brussels we spent in the in one of their six museums, which are all situated in a large set of buildings. These the magritte, fin-de-siecle, modern, wiertz, meunier and the one we looked at oldmasters.
see
http://www.fine-arts-museum
.be/en/museums/musee-oldmasters-museum
We spent a good 5 hours including lunch looking at Rubens, Van Dyck, Brueghel, Bosch and on Rembrandt. A good way to keep dry since naturally was raining.
For our evening meal we decided to go down a nearby 'eat' street. This was packed with restaurants on both sides. the first half dozen had touts outside suggesting that theres was the best in the street. We walked past these and eventually found an ordinary one which was pretty full so we thought that was a good sign. Turned out to be a quite reasonable fish place
Next day was a late morning pickup for the plane to Dubai where we had about a 36hr stopover. changing from Emirates in and a Qantas 380 out. I have to say that while the Qantas movie selection was good the food was not.
Got home about 8am to rain but at least it was warm
We wish Willem and Alex all happiness in their new life together.
Till the next trip
Brussels Bruges and Ghent
Tuesday, December 16, 2014
Brussels, Belgium
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Comments

2025-02-13
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Trish Lane
2015-01-03
Loved the photos. Thanks
Nick
2015-01-03
Very good notes and loved the photos.
Welcome home to sunny Sydney
kind regards
NIck
Jonathan
2015-01-04
I am jealous as usual. Looks like a great trip!