Fondue evening

(DAY 5)

Stefan and his girlfriend drove from Brussels to Ghent to treat us to a fondue dinner on Saturday evening. I forgot to take pictures of the spectacularly delicious cheese fondue that Valerie and I shared (the boys had separate fondues, Eric’s was seafood). Here is dessert, plus scenes from the bar afterward.

Ypres

(DAY 3)

After a short train ride from Brussels, we arrived in Ypres fairly starving on Thursday afternoon. We hurried to check in at our hotel, found the quickest food we could (a veggie burger!, frites, and beer at the local fast food place), and headed to the tourist information center which is conveniently located in a building you cannot miss: Lakenhalle (Cloth Hall).

The city is much smaller than Brussels (less than 40,000) and has been completely rebuilt since World War I. I wanted to visit to learn more about the war, having mostly forgotten the contents of an undergraduate class I’d once taken called WWI: Canada’s War of Independence. Eric was not initially interested in war history, but became so during our stay. Not hard in a place like this.

As soon as you step foot from the train station, you are stunned by how beautiful Ypres is– then to find out how much damage it suffered in four years and the scope of reconstruction… There was so much to learn we decided to stay two days.

These pics are from wandering around the town and eating out in Ypres:

Gaasbeek Castle

(DAY 1 )

After breakfast, hotel selection, check-in, a stroll around the Grand Place, and a snack of frites, Eric’s partner, Stefan, drove us to his “childhood playground” just outside of Brussels: Kasteel van Gaasbeek. Yes, that’s right: when Stefan was a youngster his parents were caretakers of the house next door and he was able to run and play throughout the castle grounds. He even admitted to trying to throw rocks at the windows.

[Aside: Now had that been me, I’m certain I would not be so well-adjusted– my closet would be full of homemade princess costumes, I’d probably be carrying a bejeweled sword around with me, and would have taken a much greater interest in Dungeons and Dragons in my teenage years. But I digress.]

Walking around outside the castle is free, but we decided to take a tour of the inside as well. I have no evidence to show you that the castle is furnished because I couldn’t take photos inside, possibly due to its own art collection or the fact there was an additional art exhibit in various rooms throughout (some of this was quite weird– encountering a giant legless hairy beast in the salon, for instance).

The paintings, sculptures, furniture, tapestries, etc. etc. were all super cool, but what I liked best was the secret door in the library that even the servants didn’t know about– and was used by the Marquise to spy on visitors. Hearing about this raises the bar, let’s say, in our house-shopping back home.

Of course our visit was completed with a stop at the Brasserie Graaf van Egmond where Eric tried a Rochefort Trappist. I had a coffee which was served with a delicious teeny pastry filled with alcoholic custard. Stefan must have noticed the greed in my eyes because he let me have his pastry, too.

The Kasteel van Gaasbeek website has information in English. Here’s a quote on its historical background:

Gaasbeek Castle is located just outside Brussels amidst the gently rolling hills of the Pajottenland. The medieval castle had an eventful past and evolved from a strategic stronghold into a spacious country house. One if its most famous owners was the Count of Egmond. The current building was redesigned in Romantic style at the end of the 19th century thanks to the eccentric Marquise Arconati Visconti.

She decorated the castle as a museum to house her vast art collection and played it like a historical theatre setting. The dream castle which was created at the time is still a bit of a time machine. You can wander through historicising interiors and discover tapestries, paintings, furniture, sculptures and other valuable objects.

Brussels

(DAY 1 and 7)

After our visit to North Carolina, Eric and I flew to Belgium. It was impossible for me to sleep during the 8-hour flight because I was far too excited for my first trip to Europe. Also, for some reason, Eric and I were seated across the aisle from each other on the plane and I had no one to lean on.

We went to Belgium with no other plan than this:

  • be in Brussels on Tuesday morning
  • go to Duesseldorf on Wednesday
  • see Veurne, Ypres, Bruges, Ghent, and Antwerp
  • drink beer and eat chocolate

We had 7 days.

On day one, Eric’s partner picked us up at the airport and drove us to a nice breakfast place in Brussels. While eating the most delicious almond croissant I’ve ever tasted, which I smothered with dark chocolate and also with white chocolate spread, I realized Belgium was heaven. One week was not going to be enough.

On day two we realized our one-city-per-day idea was ridiculous. Spending every single day on the train would mean we’d have only half a day in each city. In the end our itinerary turned out to be:

Day 1: Brussels
Day 2: day trip to Duesseldorf
Day 3: train to Ypres
Day 4: Ypres
Day 5: train to Ghent
Day 6: Ghent
Day 7: train back to Brussels
Day 8: fly sadly home

After the first morning croissant, Stefan helped us pick a hotel in the city centre, showed us around the Grand Place area, then drove us to visit Gaasbeek Castle (photos coming soon). The pics below are from wandering around Brussels (sometimes lost) on Day 1 and Day 7.

Next time we go to Brussels (because we will definitely be going back), I’d like to take the hop on / hop off bus to get a real city tour and see some of the things we missed: the EU parliament, the Atomium, the Horta Museum, the Belgian Comic Strip Centre, and so so so much more.

November trip to North Carolina

We dropped the dogs off at my parents the day that Hurricane Sandy was hitting the East Coast. By the time we got back to Guelph to pack for our trip, our flight had been cancelled. We rescheduled it for 6:30AM and got our stuff together by midnight, which meant three short hours of sleep before driving to the airport.

Getting through security at Pearson was actually funny so early in the morning: first the officers advised us to spread the cream cheese onto the bagels we’d brought as we wouldn’t be able to bring in the container. Fine– we used the “liquids and gels” desk to do that. Then sleepy Eric was encouraged to “be more active” and get his shoes and jacket into the bins a little quicker, not that there was anyone behind him. “It’s 4AM, this is as active as I get” he replied. They did not strip-search him or anything for being so mouthy.

After a transfer in Atlanta, we got to Asheville by lunchtime and met our baby niece at the airport. I cannot believe how small she is! She’s super cute and cuddly, but prefers to be held on her belly and my schnauzers had never had my practice that before (I will practice before next time, I promise Baby J). At six weeks old, her favourite hobbies seem to be riding in her car seat, lying on her play mat, and watching the ceiling fan. Next time we meet her she’ll probably be moving about of her own accord and maybe even saying her first words. Hopefully she’ll be learning to Skype soon.

Baby J suggested we go out to restaurants a lot so she could get a car ride, so we did. We ate out at:

But aside from spending time with family eating super delicious meals and treats (vegetarian biscuits and gravy, spicy grits, organic cocoa smoothie, vegan mushroom burger, local porter, vanilla stout, bibimbab, tofu bacon biscuit sandwich…), I also got to taste some apple cinnamon moonshine, watch an archery demo, look at hand guns, wander around Asheville, visit artists’ studios in the River Arts District, and play with the big pups. Time went by too fast.

Here’s proof that not all we did was eat:

Random miscellaneous from May and June