Gman's Travel Log - Brussels
I was just thinking that I’ve only travelled abroad with wifey four times and this August we will be celebrating 16 years of being happily married (well happy for me!)
Why so few times away? Well it’s all about the pocket or should I say the lack of spondoolies (aka legal tender) to put in it. However, as the song states “What a difference a day makes”, and the day in question was the 16th October 2012 when my beautiful brother @MrHague777 (twitter handle) told me that my other beautiful brother @DavidjGolding (twitter handle) was going to practically help ZeN to be what it needs to be which is to help info-tain, edu-tain; and just help in a very real and practical way the peeps that need it.
With the above in mind I have had the privilege of travelling to places with the two named gentlemen over the last few months and to say I’m grateful doesn’t truly convey my heart’s true feelings. However I will move on before I run out of tissues…
While wifey and I were chilling last month, I suggested that she picked somewhere for us to go while our youngest was on a camping trip with the Girl Guides. So she picked 3 nights for two in Brussels including flights all for the economy price of £350 (€402/ $533) which when converted into the main currencies still sounds like a bargain! So we set out for the airport where a friend of our son has a parking token, so the parking is free too.
We arrive at the airport 2 hours before our flight and see a huge queue, however, we are fast tracked through customs, wait an hour then board our flight via BMI Regional to Brussels which takes 1hr 10mins, this is quicker than my weekly trip to London. Halfway through the journey one of the flight attendants called Marcia did the customary thing of offering on board refreshments which I politely refused until Marcia informed me that everything was complimentary! Well in that case I thought give me two of everything!
On landing we took the short journey to our hotel which is a four star boutique called New Hotel Charlemagne which I would imagine is named after Charlemagne (2 April 742 – 28 January 814), also known as Charles the Great (German: Karl der Große; Latin: Carolusor Karolus Magnus) or Charles I, who was the King of France from 768, the King of Italy from 774, the first Holy Roman Emperor, and the first emperor in Western Europe since the collapse of the Western Roman Empire three centuries earlier.
So now you know as much as me.
Once we had dropped off our cases we decided to explore the city and caught a tube from The European quarter and an area called Shuman then travelled to Centrale. I had decided that this trip would not involve me spending any money on clothes because I already have too many so I took €200 with the intentions for it to be spent on food and travel. We saw a beautiful unisex shop called Summer’s End and promptly blew virtually the entire budget on a handmade long sleeved top, a collarless shirt and a great polo shirt with an interesting logo!
William the proprietor was magnificent pointing me in the right direction plus informing me of the names of the designers and their stories. (Summer Ends Rollebeek Straat 43 1000 Brussels). Will then pointed me in the direction across the road to a wonderful biscuit shop called Maison Dandoy and we were served by a wonderful lady. The biscuits were wonderful with a lovely cup of tea and came highly recommended by the locals.
After such a wonderful experience we went to Chocolate Heaven (no that’s not its name just a description of what I saw). The shop is called Pierre Marcolini and we were served by the wonderful Alix who was ably assisted by Lu. The location, if you’re planning on going to Brussels and you should, is Rue Des Minimes (Place Du Sablon). If you’re into chocolate and think the best out there is Thornton’s, then do sample these.
We went to a comic themed eatery called Comic Café and again the service was out of this world. Do go to the site and bombard them with compliments please; give Amina a mention too. Amina is a person who happens to be the best waitress in the world and was (yes I’m repeating myself). The very best I have ever come across in my life. Period. This wonderful person always had a fantastic smile whether you were looking or not.
I asked her about a certain cherry flavoured beer that I hear Brussels is famous for. She said... “Leave it with me.” Having finished my meal I asked for the bill which I received plus a bottle of the cherry flavoured beer that the most wonderful Amina paid for!!!! That action blew my mind…
Finally on the way home we passed an estate agent that I had used a few years ago when I wanted to look at an apartment in Amsterdam. So on entering we were shown a few apartments that the estate agent named Linda had kindly arranged for me to see on Thursday morning. What a great day and I have two more to go…
The only problem is that my charger for my iPad isn’t working and I only have…
The Very Next Day…
I’m so sorry about that breakdown in communications. I Just went out and bought a charger for my iPad which is a 2 pin European version which means if I use it in the UK I will need to get an adapter (and so it goes on).
Anyhow, today, the second full day of our trip in Brussels, we set out on an excursion to the King’s Palace, which, let me tell you is quite an impressive building… From the outside. We asked at the hotel reception when its opening times were and they said today from 10am - 6pm. However, he was mistaken; he meant tomorrow but tomorrow was the day we had arranged to see three houses and two apartments in the centre of the city, so the King will just have to wait.
So that’s tomorrow sorted, today we went to a great eatery called Café Leffe Place Du Grand Sablo=n 46 -100 Brussels. The great waiter who worked there was called Denis (was given the nick name of Denis the menace as a child.)
Wifey had spaghetti bolognese (well my wife hasn’t heard the saying when in Rome eh). I had veal, salad and Belgium fries which are exactly the same as the French ones. However, because the country is predominately divided into three main races which are Flemish, French and Dutch and so not to give the French anymore props in their country - they named the fries after themselves (ok, this may not be totally PC but that’s the way I understood the situation). The meal tasted good especially washed down with two bottles of cherry beer.
Food eaten and cherry beer drunk, we went along to a book-store called Taschen which I also believe is the name of the publishers where I saw a book that cost as much as £20k for the limited edition version. There’s also another cheaper limited edition version which costs £1700 on Amazon (who I’ve deleted from my account with... long story, see my previous tweets @gmanZeN #Amazon). However, the book was there, right in front of me for €99 ($131/£86).
The book is called 'Muhammad Ali – The Greatest of All Time' (aka G.O.A.T). For those who have no idea about this book then let me enlighten you. The book charts the boxing career of the greatest boxer of all time, hence the title. The main and only problem with this book is the sheer size. How big is it? Well originally the weight was truly gigantic in size at 50lb.
However, it now comes in a slimmed downed version weighing in at 15lb, which in comparison with the others makes this virtually anorexic in size! So how do you get this tomb over the border as hand luggage? You don’t. You go on Alibris website (and not Amazon) and you buy it now for less than £43 including P&P. An expensive book, however, it’s cheap to real fans of da brudda who also likes books.