Belgium...six days of friets, chocolate and beer

We departed Scotland on August 25th for a wee sojourn to Belgium.  Our first stop was Antwerp where we met our friend Patricia's friend Pran and his son, Raj, the world's most poised and polite kid.  When we first entered the house the power was off and after a number of fits and starts and flipping enough switches we finally hit the right combination.  But Pran was already riding to the rescue and offered susggestions on what to see and where to eat.

Our first stop was to try friets, the famous Belgian fries.  Yes, they are served with mayonaisse, but other choices abound, including samurai sauce, ketchup with curry.  Our one day in Atwerp, cold, rainy, blustery was spent in the Museum aan de Stroom (MAS), a rather eclectic collection of oddments and art.  Peter Paul Rubens, of course, van Dyck, naturally, but also a strange tribute to power where the Japanese claims to fame  included shoguns, the Walkman, and Pokemon. We also saw the Cathedral, another church and Rubens' house.  With the exception of the Cathedral, everything was free, a culture day in Antwerp.

On Monday we departed Antwerp's Central Station.  Amazing train station with trains leaving from three levels.  Our destination, Bruges.

We stayed at Hotel Patritius, owned by Garret and Elvie, who in addition to operating a lovely, family-owned 16-room hotel, we're equally generous with recommendations for dinner and must-see sights.  We purchased a Bruges City Card, €35 for two days and then tore it up.

• A canal ride
• Climbed the Belltower made famous by the movie, In Bruges, and it is impossible to toss anyone from the top as it all screened in
• The Groeninge Museum
• The Church of Our Lady, where a Michelangelo adorns the tomb of a wealthy Bruges merchant
• De Halve Maan Brewery tour, the last remaining brewery in Bruges
• The Chocolate Museum
• The Dali Museum
• Gruuthouse Museum

OK, we learned more about chocolate than I ever wanted to know, and we drank less beer than expected, but we made up for it with the fries and chocolate, stopping in a number of stores to try the wares before deciding on Dumon Chocolatier to lay in serious supplies.

Another train ride brought us to Brussels, the home of NATO and the European Union.  More museums, including the Rene Magritte Museum and the Comic Museum (think Tintin.). 

We saw far too many depictions of Madonna and Child, the Last Judgment (Hieronymus Bosch by fa the best), apostles painting Madonna and Child, and portraits of dour Flemish merchants.  

With Belgium the home of the Euro-nanny state we were surprised to see people smoking in restaurants, specifically the bar in Brasschaat and a restaurant in Bruges where we were dining al fresco. 

Smoke 'em if you've got 'em!

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