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lupestripeDue to staying up late at the rock bar, Wolfie and I didn't surface until just before midday on the Sunday (12 August), which was the time we needed to check out of the hotel. With our flight not until 21:40 though, we did have most of the day in Brussels so after navigating the hotel's incredibly complex locker system in the basement - the only Ibis to which I have ever been that employed lockers - we emerged into a wonderfully sunny day. With time still not on our side though, we decided to head over to Brussels Midi station to grab some food, opting for their branch of the Frikot chain, which is quite obiquitous in the city. While not as good as Maison Antoine the previous morning, the chips were at least crispy and delicious, although I would have preferred the sauces to have been on top of them rather than in separate dunkable plastic potties. Still, it was a worthy if somewhat unhealthy breakfast, and we only spent about ten minutes eating it at the formica tables inside the concession, before we headed off for the Metro and towards the outskirts of the city.
We were headed for the Atomium in the northern outskirts of the city, adjacent to the Heysel Football Stadium. The only thing I know about Heysel is the stadium disaster which occurred there in 1985 but of course it has been completely rebuilt since then. We weren't here to see the stadium though, which was just as well as it was somewhat hidden in a valley, with the unique futuristic Atomium what we wanted to see. Built for the 1958 World Trade Fair, it is very much a vision of the future coming from the past, which retrospectively is fantastic to examine in and of itself. To be fair, it does stand the test of time, with its stainless steel clad spheres being incredibly striking in the summer sun. The building dominates the car park in which it is situated, screaming for attention. All of the spheres are connected, resulting in a design akin to an iron crystal magnified many times. We spent a good fifteen minutes or so wandering around it, capturing its beauty from all angles, although there was definitely a more impressive side due to the presence of a huge gantry on one of them. There was the possibility of going into the Atomium too, as there is a restaurant and some exhibition spaces inside, but the queues were quite long and I had been told that it wasn't overly worth it for the experience you got. Consequently, we just spent some time underneath it, where there was also a small red iron statue representing some sort of crystalline structure. This had polished mirrored edges and due to the orientation of the crystal spears, it meant you could see a range of different reflections. The same was true of the sphere balls of the Atomium themselves, particularly when you were under them, which did add to an other-worldly feel. Meanwhile, we also got to see the friterie that Rhod Gilbert visited when he did Travelling Man with Richard Ayoade in Brussels, a programme that I referenced pretty extensively when planning this trip of our own.
If the Atomium was the vision of the future, then the other buildings used for Expo '58 were definitely harking back to a previous age. Indeed, many of them were actually built in the mid-1930s, with the very imposing architecture that you would expect of that time. Indeed, it is amazing to think that such brutalism was ever considered attractive and yet with small pools and neat gardens outside the huge grey monoliths, you get the impression that it must have been. Interestingly (or not as Star Wars is shit), there was a Star Wars exhibition in one of the buildings, to which the Oort Cloud, who I last met ten years ago and who is now living in Thailand, ended up going to a few days after we had arrived back in Britain. Still, this wasn't of much interest to us, so we had a quick nosy around the outside of these buildings before heading back into the city centre to mop up the few remaining sights we hadn't had opportunity to see the previous day.
The first was back near the EU Quarter - the Parc du Cinquantennaire. We had missed this on Saturday because we had walked in the opposite direction towards the EU Parliament at Schumann Metro, so we decided to go one step further and get off at Merode (which is probably what we should have done in the first place). Here, the guidebook recommended a nearby ice cream parlour called Capoue, which served a flavour based on the traditional Belgian biscuit, speculoos. I was expecting to get the actual biscuit rather than an ice cream flavour of it, in all honesty, on account of me having misread the guidebook. However, the ice cream itself was divine, with the flavour being very similar to one of those brown sugar biscuits you often get with a hot drink in a posh coffee or teahouse and it was great eating a tub of this gorgeous ice cream as we walked down the street and into the park, with the awesome Cinquantennaire looming into view. Looking quite similar to the Arc de Triomphe in Paris, the Cinquantennaire is a triumphal arch constructed to commemorate the fiftieth anniversary of Belgium in 1880. However, the final arch wasn't completed until 1905. Like with similar structures of this type, like the Brandenburg Gate in Berlin, it is replete with the usual imagery such as bronze horse drawn carriages and statues sitting above patriotic stone insignia. Flanking either side of the arch and sweeping around to its back are two curved buildings which now function as museums. There were a wide range of exhibitions in here, some serious such as the War Museum with its cannons out front and some less serious such as the Motor Museum. I asked Wolfie whether he was interested in any of these but alas he wasn't. The space that these buildings create just behind the arch is now a car park overlooking a fountain and you can't help but feel it would have been better used as something else, not least from an aesthethic point of view. Still, it was fun to wander around and once we had passed under the gate and into the neat park beyond, it was fun just strolling amongst the trees, seeing all the dogs playing and sitting on the benches and watching the world go by.
Our next stop was also a park as once we had gotten back to Schumann (the Metro stop on the other side of the Parc du Cinquantennaire) we rode the few stops back into the city centre and alighted at the creatively named Parc station, which is where the city's main park is. The Palais Royal, which we had seen the day before, is on its southern flank but we got the opportunity to see the Palais de la Nation too. The park itself was a similarly pleasant stroll, with busts of classical figures littering its confines. There was also a small enclave containing green wraught iron structures not too dissimilar to those you frequently see in places like Blackpool. There seemed to be a small craft fesitval or something going on, with a few people sat around listening to some music coming from a tinny speaker situated on the roof of one of the buildings. It didn't look overly interesting in all honesty and with the time to our flight getting increasingly close, we decided to move on.
Obstructed by the construction of gantries for a forthcoming music festival, we headed towards the Palais Royal and Place Royal, where we had been the day before. However, there was one building we had failed to see, the unique Musee des Instruments de Musique. This art nouveau building dedicated to Old England is unlike any I have ever seen, partly due to its mix of brown wraught iron and glass and partly because there is musical tablature in a variety of places. It's a collection of towers and turrets, not too dissimilar to those you would find at a British railway station, and yet it fits in perfectly with its regal surroundings. The road upon which it is situated also overlooks the old city, making for a plesant five minute walk, aided by the fact there is a small garden between here and the Place de l'Albertine where you emerge into downtown Brussels. Here is where the national library is based, and along one of its walls, some of the blemishes of the stonework have been framed and created into artwork, which is incredibly neat. Some of the descriptions, such as 'Good Natured Wolf' do require significant imagination, but others were pretty accurate and I thought this was an incredibly unique piece of art.
It was around 4pm by this stage and as our flight was leaving from Charleoi rather than the main Brussles Airport, we knew we had to get a bus reasonably soon. Fortunately, the buses to the airport left from Midi Station, where our hotel and bags were, and we had managed to snaffle a ticket for the 6:30pm service. This gave us about a two hours in the city centre before we had to walk the twenty minutes back to the hotel from there, and feeling hungry, we decided to go for food. We had planned to go to a waffle place on the Saturday evening before instead settling for burger restaurant Quick, so we decided to do waffles. The main place recommended by the guidebook is Mokafe, under the glass arches of the Galeries St-Hubert, a late-Victorian pedestrianised arcade that is not too dissimilar to the one near Milan Cathedral or even the Victoria in Leeds. Icing sugar rather than cream is the traditional Belgian waffle topping so this is for what we went once we had sat down and ordered. It was incredibly simple but incredibly good, with the heat of the waffle forcing the icing sugar to coagulate somewhat, enhancing the sweetness. Oftentimes, the sugar also stuck to the plate, necessitating it be scraped off with the fork while it often cascaded onto the plate after accumulating in one of the waffle squares, with the sugar being released once the waffle was cut into. Meanwhile, the waffle itself was incredibly fluffy and it was a real pleasure to sit outside the cafe but inside the glass roofed mall itself, just watching the people go by as they checked out the range of cafes and antique shops that this slice of history provides.
I had noticed that one of the top recommended places for Belgian beer, Moeder Lambic Fontainas, was between where we were and our hotel, so I thought it would be a good place to wile away our final hour in the city. Wolfie had to drive when he got back to Manchester, so was reticent to drink too much, but I said we would just have a single third of low strength beer and he seemed happy. The place was about a ten minute walk away so we took some of the back streets we had not yet discovered before we were presented with the bar and its extensive outside seating area. The service was a little slow, but once we got some, the beers were delivered quickly and we were delighted to see the range of both Belgian and craft beer on the menu. The highlight for us though was the excellent cheese board with five different local cheeses presented alongside a garlic and herb dip. It was probably the best food we had had in Belgium and as we supped our drink and looked around, we started to consider whether this city would be the one for us to move to. We had set out thinking Stockholm but its expense has largely put us off, with our Belgium trip really just being a holiday. Now this had inverted and we had a lot to consider on our way home.
Alas, after forty minutes or so, we couldn't stay any longer so with heavy hearts, we finished our beer and walked to the hotel. We didn't realise that the locker system was €1 to put stuff in there and another €1 to remove it, and having just spent the last of our money on the cheese and beer, we needed to find a cash machine quickly. Fortunately, there was one in the station but this just added an extra ten minutes of hassle to the day. We had arrived back a little early though, which was something, so at least we managed to get the 6:30pm bus, which left slightly early all told. These buses are something of a hassle and after Ryanair had cancelled our Stockholm to Brussels flight and we ended up using a carrier that flew out of and into far more convenient airports for just £65 more, I have started to wonder whether we just ditch the cheapy jet flights going forward. This view only cemented itself at Charleoi airport itself, as there isn't much there. We were there ridiculously early as usual so I contented myself in the Leffe bar, with Wolfie unable to drink. I think it was a little dull for him all told. Still, we had time to kill before the flight back and it was good to reflect on an excellent trip. The rest of the day was largely routine - we had fun once we had gotten back to Manchester as our car was parked in Terminal 2 Long Stay miles away from where we landed, and the shuttle bus driver there was not happy he had to drive us to our car. The last flight out of T2 had landed a while before so I am not sure what he was doing there, but he begrudgingly took us anyway, which was nice of him. This enabled us to get home just after midnight which wasn't too bad for work next day.
We were headed for the Atomium in the northern outskirts of the city, adjacent to the Heysel Football Stadium. The only thing I know about Heysel is the stadium disaster which occurred there in 1985 but of course it has been completely rebuilt since then. We weren't here to see the stadium though, which was just as well as it was somewhat hidden in a valley, with the unique futuristic Atomium what we wanted to see. Built for the 1958 World Trade Fair, it is very much a vision of the future coming from the past, which retrospectively is fantastic to examine in and of itself. To be fair, it does stand the test of time, with its stainless steel clad spheres being incredibly striking in the summer sun. The building dominates the car park in which it is situated, screaming for attention. All of the spheres are connected, resulting in a design akin to an iron crystal magnified many times. We spent a good fifteen minutes or so wandering around it, capturing its beauty from all angles, although there was definitely a more impressive side due to the presence of a huge gantry on one of them. There was the possibility of going into the Atomium too, as there is a restaurant and some exhibition spaces inside, but the queues were quite long and I had been told that it wasn't overly worth it for the experience you got. Consequently, we just spent some time underneath it, where there was also a small red iron statue representing some sort of crystalline structure. This had polished mirrored edges and due to the orientation of the crystal spears, it meant you could see a range of different reflections. The same was true of the sphere balls of the Atomium themselves, particularly when you were under them, which did add to an other-worldly feel. Meanwhile, we also got to see the friterie that Rhod Gilbert visited when he did Travelling Man with Richard Ayoade in Brussels, a programme that I referenced pretty extensively when planning this trip of our own.
If the Atomium was the vision of the future, then the other buildings used for Expo '58 were definitely harking back to a previous age. Indeed, many of them were actually built in the mid-1930s, with the very imposing architecture that you would expect of that time. Indeed, it is amazing to think that such brutalism was ever considered attractive and yet with small pools and neat gardens outside the huge grey monoliths, you get the impression that it must have been. Interestingly (or not as Star Wars is shit), there was a Star Wars exhibition in one of the buildings, to which the Oort Cloud, who I last met ten years ago and who is now living in Thailand, ended up going to a few days after we had arrived back in Britain. Still, this wasn't of much interest to us, so we had a quick nosy around the outside of these buildings before heading back into the city centre to mop up the few remaining sights we hadn't had opportunity to see the previous day.
The first was back near the EU Quarter - the Parc du Cinquantennaire. We had missed this on Saturday because we had walked in the opposite direction towards the EU Parliament at Schumann Metro, so we decided to go one step further and get off at Merode (which is probably what we should have done in the first place). Here, the guidebook recommended a nearby ice cream parlour called Capoue, which served a flavour based on the traditional Belgian biscuit, speculoos. I was expecting to get the actual biscuit rather than an ice cream flavour of it, in all honesty, on account of me having misread the guidebook. However, the ice cream itself was divine, with the flavour being very similar to one of those brown sugar biscuits you often get with a hot drink in a posh coffee or teahouse and it was great eating a tub of this gorgeous ice cream as we walked down the street and into the park, with the awesome Cinquantennaire looming into view. Looking quite similar to the Arc de Triomphe in Paris, the Cinquantennaire is a triumphal arch constructed to commemorate the fiftieth anniversary of Belgium in 1880. However, the final arch wasn't completed until 1905. Like with similar structures of this type, like the Brandenburg Gate in Berlin, it is replete with the usual imagery such as bronze horse drawn carriages and statues sitting above patriotic stone insignia. Flanking either side of the arch and sweeping around to its back are two curved buildings which now function as museums. There were a wide range of exhibitions in here, some serious such as the War Museum with its cannons out front and some less serious such as the Motor Museum. I asked Wolfie whether he was interested in any of these but alas he wasn't. The space that these buildings create just behind the arch is now a car park overlooking a fountain and you can't help but feel it would have been better used as something else, not least from an aesthethic point of view. Still, it was fun to wander around and once we had passed under the gate and into the neat park beyond, it was fun just strolling amongst the trees, seeing all the dogs playing and sitting on the benches and watching the world go by.
Our next stop was also a park as once we had gotten back to Schumann (the Metro stop on the other side of the Parc du Cinquantennaire) we rode the few stops back into the city centre and alighted at the creatively named Parc station, which is where the city's main park is. The Palais Royal, which we had seen the day before, is on its southern flank but we got the opportunity to see the Palais de la Nation too. The park itself was a similarly pleasant stroll, with busts of classical figures littering its confines. There was also a small enclave containing green wraught iron structures not too dissimilar to those you frequently see in places like Blackpool. There seemed to be a small craft fesitval or something going on, with a few people sat around listening to some music coming from a tinny speaker situated on the roof of one of the buildings. It didn't look overly interesting in all honesty and with the time to our flight getting increasingly close, we decided to move on.
Obstructed by the construction of gantries for a forthcoming music festival, we headed towards the Palais Royal and Place Royal, where we had been the day before. However, there was one building we had failed to see, the unique Musee des Instruments de Musique. This art nouveau building dedicated to Old England is unlike any I have ever seen, partly due to its mix of brown wraught iron and glass and partly because there is musical tablature in a variety of places. It's a collection of towers and turrets, not too dissimilar to those you would find at a British railway station, and yet it fits in perfectly with its regal surroundings. The road upon which it is situated also overlooks the old city, making for a plesant five minute walk, aided by the fact there is a small garden between here and the Place de l'Albertine where you emerge into downtown Brussels. Here is where the national library is based, and along one of its walls, some of the blemishes of the stonework have been framed and created into artwork, which is incredibly neat. Some of the descriptions, such as 'Good Natured Wolf' do require significant imagination, but others were pretty accurate and I thought this was an incredibly unique piece of art.
It was around 4pm by this stage and as our flight was leaving from Charleoi rather than the main Brussles Airport, we knew we had to get a bus reasonably soon. Fortunately, the buses to the airport left from Midi Station, where our hotel and bags were, and we had managed to snaffle a ticket for the 6:30pm service. This gave us about a two hours in the city centre before we had to walk the twenty minutes back to the hotel from there, and feeling hungry, we decided to go for food. We had planned to go to a waffle place on the Saturday evening before instead settling for burger restaurant Quick, so we decided to do waffles. The main place recommended by the guidebook is Mokafe, under the glass arches of the Galeries St-Hubert, a late-Victorian pedestrianised arcade that is not too dissimilar to the one near Milan Cathedral or even the Victoria in Leeds. Icing sugar rather than cream is the traditional Belgian waffle topping so this is for what we went once we had sat down and ordered. It was incredibly simple but incredibly good, with the heat of the waffle forcing the icing sugar to coagulate somewhat, enhancing the sweetness. Oftentimes, the sugar also stuck to the plate, necessitating it be scraped off with the fork while it often cascaded onto the plate after accumulating in one of the waffle squares, with the sugar being released once the waffle was cut into. Meanwhile, the waffle itself was incredibly fluffy and it was a real pleasure to sit outside the cafe but inside the glass roofed mall itself, just watching the people go by as they checked out the range of cafes and antique shops that this slice of history provides.
I had noticed that one of the top recommended places for Belgian beer, Moeder Lambic Fontainas, was between where we were and our hotel, so I thought it would be a good place to wile away our final hour in the city. Wolfie had to drive when he got back to Manchester, so was reticent to drink too much, but I said we would just have a single third of low strength beer and he seemed happy. The place was about a ten minute walk away so we took some of the back streets we had not yet discovered before we were presented with the bar and its extensive outside seating area. The service was a little slow, but once we got some, the beers were delivered quickly and we were delighted to see the range of both Belgian and craft beer on the menu. The highlight for us though was the excellent cheese board with five different local cheeses presented alongside a garlic and herb dip. It was probably the best food we had had in Belgium and as we supped our drink and looked around, we started to consider whether this city would be the one for us to move to. We had set out thinking Stockholm but its expense has largely put us off, with our Belgium trip really just being a holiday. Now this had inverted and we had a lot to consider on our way home.
Alas, after forty minutes or so, we couldn't stay any longer so with heavy hearts, we finished our beer and walked to the hotel. We didn't realise that the locker system was €1 to put stuff in there and another €1 to remove it, and having just spent the last of our money on the cheese and beer, we needed to find a cash machine quickly. Fortunately, there was one in the station but this just added an extra ten minutes of hassle to the day. We had arrived back a little early though, which was something, so at least we managed to get the 6:30pm bus, which left slightly early all told. These buses are something of a hassle and after Ryanair had cancelled our Stockholm to Brussels flight and we ended up using a carrier that flew out of and into far more convenient airports for just £65 more, I have started to wonder whether we just ditch the cheapy jet flights going forward. This view only cemented itself at Charleoi airport itself, as there isn't much there. We were there ridiculously early as usual so I contented myself in the Leffe bar, with Wolfie unable to drink. I think it was a little dull for him all told. Still, we had time to kill before the flight back and it was good to reflect on an excellent trip. The rest of the day was largely routine - we had fun once we had gotten back to Manchester as our car was parked in Terminal 2 Long Stay miles away from where we landed, and the shuttle bus driver there was not happy he had to drive us to our car. The last flight out of T2 had landed a while before so I am not sure what he was doing there, but he begrudgingly took us anyway, which was nice of him. This enabled us to get home just after midnight which wasn't too bad for work next day.
