Weekend in Brussels

Samuel took his first high speed train ride. Only 80 minutes from Paris-Gare de nord to Brussels-Midi station. When the train began to pull out of the station Samuel became very, very excited. We were seated in the first class section(only 16 euros more than coach) and Samuel had his own seat and he crawled across his seat and pulled himself up to the window and began to pound on the window with a delicious laugh and wide grin on his face. Needless to say it was impossible to get him to eat while we were on the train. Samuel also charmed everyone in the carriage when Julia took him for a walk down the aisle.

We arrived in Brussels at midday on the 11th and left late afternoon n the 14th. Upon our arrival we had lunch at Chez Vincent. A very nice restaurant where the Denman family ate quite often when they were stationed in Brussels. We had the steak and frites for which Chez Vincent is best known. Very, very good. We had a very Parisian experience in trying to get a table. The restaurant was mostly open but the man in charge did not want to let us in with Samuel in a pushchair. When we finally pushed our way in and were seated on the less opulent side we were greeted by two other families with little ones in push chairs.

Our waiter was quite quaint. A very nice older man named Robert who said that he remembered Julia from her last visit when she dined there with her mother while Julia was pregnant with Samuel. Robert gave Samuel a tour of the restaurant along with a toddler from another family.

On Sunday we visited the comic strip museum. I was disappointed to discover that it was only a Belgian comic strip museum. As an American I was downhearted to not see any Peanuts cartoon. How can you have a cartoon museum and not have any reference to the most popular comic strip of all-time? Julia did enjoy the visit as they had a very nice, thorough exhibit about Tintin. We discovered that Samuel is scared of Smurf's as they had a Smurf statue and whenever we got close to it Samuel screamed and cried. There is a video of this posted to the you tube account.

On Sunday we also had frites from a frite stand and waffles for dinner. Apparently I was the ugly American at the waffle stand by requesting my waffle with everything. Everything included bananas, ice cream, chocolate syrup and whipped cream. Very, very good. Samuel had his first Belgian frites and enjoyed them very much.

On Monday we took the train to the coastal town of Brugge. We spent some time viewing the city from the bateau mouche. A very nice way to see the town. We also had waffles for lunch. The beer in Brugge was very good. In fact the beer in Belguim was good. Mostly had draft pilsners or wheat beers. Of course, I did have to have a Bush beer in a bottle.

Tuesday we explored the city. Went to Neuhaus, a very good Belgian chocolate shop. Took pictures of the mannekin pis, a famous Belgian landmark.

Really enjoyed Brussels. Similar to Cincinnati in that it is a small, big city. Most everyone we encountered spoke French and English. Much cheaper than living in/near Paris. No meal was more than 100 euros. I think we may have had 2 meals in Paris that were less than 1000 euros and both of those were without wine. One difference is that when we entered the tram from the train station to our hotel it was full and a man stood up and offered Julia his seat. This has only happened in Paris when she is carrying Samuel and even then not every time is she offered a seat.