396 - My First Trip to Europe XIII

Mom Update: One step forward….. two steps back. Wednesday morning she awoke with a left hand 3 times its normal size. Seems a blood clot made it’s way there, so now she’s on Coumadin. Also, her false teeth don’t fit so well now that she’s lost so much weight, and while sleeping, her bottoms fell out and rolled onto the floor. The nurse must have accidentally stepped on them, because now they’re in two pieces. No PT either until the hand is better, earliest is Monday.

Brussels:
Checking in at the Hotel Metropole (I hope you checked out their website), I said to Rich “We’re going to test the ‘money is no object’ statement with this stay!”. I’ll probably never in my life stay at such an opulent place.

After settling in, we got on our walking shoes, and explored the little side streets of Brussels. Bistros, small shops, restaurants and pubs lined the small, almost back-alley sized streets.

As you can see at right, they’re not really streets as much as walkways with many tables outside for sitting, relaxing and enjoying the day as well as people-watching.

I poked my head into a small shop, looking for something to carry stuff in as I walked, and found a nice medium blue canvas backpack (very light) with a small leather bottom for $6 US. The name on it is “USA Crew”! At this time, they were getting used to the Euro, and even though the money wasn’t in circulation yet, the prices had Belgian Francs and Euros side by side. I still have the backpack.. and it’s been all over the world with me. I use it every cruise, and every vacation I go on. *S*

Walking more, we see some incredible sights, like the one at right.  Fresh seafood presented for all to see. Continuing on, we found our self in the Grand Place (pronounced Grand Ploss). The buildings here are from the 10th century! Please check out the link for it, as my photos won’t do it justice.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

In the Spring, they have a flower show in the center of the square, and it’s breathtaking (we saw pictures while there).

While walking around, who should we see but our friend the Gendarme!! He asks us how our hotel is, and I ask him when he gets off work so I could buy him a beer or something, but he politely refuses and instead gives us a wonderful tour of the Grand Place, explaining every building in detail. I truly wish I had asked for his name, or email address so I could tell him even today what a wonderful ambassador he is for Brussels.

More on Monday all… have a great weekend!