Tuesday, June 19, 2012

Brussels

Arriving in Brussels, I immediately began meeting the family. Remy hosted me for the weekend, and is here with Miles, who always looks this dapper when he flies from Atlanta to Brussels.


We spent a lot of time at Chez Franz, which is about to celebrate its first anniversary. Congrats to Mallory, here on the left, listening to Miles' important point.


Space invaders are in Brussels.





Xavier enjoying the sun on the terrace of Chez Franz.


Miles and Sumiya outside of Chez Franz.


We watched the Italy-Spain match in an Italian restaurant. From left: Remy, Alex, Xavier, Mallory, Arnaud.



Even the hanging shoes are fancy in Brussels.



Brussels has plenty of pleasing street art.







The city also boasts many churches.







Stefan's shop of treasures.



A warning to those in San Jose, I have become a huge Jacques Brel fan.








Le Grand Place--a UNESCO world heritage site.











This cookie shop has been open since the 1800s.


This bar is the oldest in Brussels and serves special beer.





Space invaders are everywhere.




Brussels has many sculptures devoted to its delicacies.





Miles reminds us to always look down.







Filet americain for lunch.





Tuesday evening ended with a lovely dinner in the garden at the mother of Arnaud's, a wonderful painter.





Breakfast on the last day in Brussels.





After seeing a fantastic exhibit on European landscape photography, we enjoyed an afternoon beer on the top of the MIM: Museum of Music.





We then headed to enjoy more delicacies of Brussels: shrimp croquettes, escargot and young herring, which are available for only several weeks each year. Remy demonstrates the proper technique for eating them.




While a special dessert was no longer available from this vendor, we then enjoyed (another) beer, on a tree-lined plaza.








This turret was part of a building built in the 1300s.


Some fragrant cheese we brought to share at a dinner hosted by Xavier's mother.


The Brussels family.



While in Belgium, we took a trip to Xavier's family chalet. This and the side trips of the weekend are detailed in the next few posts. Tomorrow I head back to Paris for a couple of days before meeting Brian in Greece!

Au Revoir!

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