Sun, friends, drinks and sightseeing – part one

We had a lovely long Ascension Day weekend here in Belgium. The weather was warm and sunny most of the time, with just a few light overnight showers; the kind of showers that don’t even leave a trace on the ground.

Saturday was particularly hot. Maybe it was to oblige B. and P. who flew in from Atlanta and were visiting Brussels on Saturday and Sunday. I suppose temperatures into the high 20-ties and 30-ties (Celsius, that is) are not unusual in Georgia.

I’ve known B. and P. ‘virtually’ for several months now since B. stumbled across my blog while he was looking for information about the Phalsbourg area in the French Lorraine. He lived in Phalsbourg in the fifties when his father worked on a nearby US military base. The base was closed down recently and turned into a power plant, and B. was planning to visit it, as well as some of the places where he had lived and played as a teenager.

He sent me an e-mail asking me a lot of questions about the public transport, hotels, restaurants and other places of interest in the area. I tried to help him out as much as possible, but failed to give him the information he was looking for regarding trains and buses as, although I’ve visited the area on multiple occasions with my friend, I’ve always enjoyed the comfort of travelling by car.

Over the months we exchanged several e-mails and little by little B. and P. developed a keen interest in Belgium. And then, one day, B. sent me an e-mail announcing that they would spend a few days in Brussels on their way to France. His exact words were: “… and don’t faint, we will be visiting Brussels too!” Well, I didn’t faint, but was nevertheless surprised that my blog had ‘lured’ people into visiting Brussels. Maybe I should tell the Belgian tourist board about it and ask them to pay me a small fee for my contribution to the Belgian tourist industry?!

One of the gilded statues
adorning the historic buildings of the Grand'Place.

So, last Friday night, B. and P. arrived in Brussels, after a long and eventful journey. However, when we met on Saturday afternoon at the Grand’ Place they looked very well rested and keen to discover Brussels. I arrived well before the agreed time of 3 p.m. to take a few photos for the blog and to buy my friends a little welcome present. My first idea was to get them real Belgian chocolates by THE best Belgian chocolatier ‘Corné’, but quickly decided against, as it was far too hot. I’m sure the chocolates would have turned into one sticky mess by the time my visitors got back to their hotel in the evening. I therefore bought a batch of 'macarons'.

The chocolates I didn't buy.
Sorry B. and P.!! Just blame it on the weather.

The Grand’ Place was very, very busy. With tourists from all over the world wandering around, admiring the gilded facades, shooting photos having lunch or simply sipping drinks on the many sidewalk terraces. It was funny to see how everybody was mostly walking with their heads in the air to take in the beauty of the historic buildings. I heard all kinds of languages being spoken around me: English, Italian, Spanish, Swedish, German, Russian, Japanese, Chinese, … It was amazing. I almost felt like a foreigner in my own country.

A few cars were parked in square, which is a 100% pedestrian zone. Judging by the little flags that were floating from the car’s antennae reading ‘Vivent les mariés’ (Long live the bride and groom) they belonged to a wedding party. I hung around for a while hoping the happy couple would soon emerge from the city hall. Imagine my surprise when all of a sudden they appeared on the balcony on the first floor of the building. This privilege is normally reserved for royalty. The last royal couple to appear there were Prince Laurent and his wife Claire. Prince Laurent is our king’s second son and somewhat of an ‘enfant terrible’, who always seems to find himself in rather controversial situations due to the political stands he takes, while he is supposed to keep a low and neutral profile.

The young couple enjoying a rare royal privilege.

I guess the couple that appeared on the balcony last Saturday were personal friends of the mayor’s, whom were therefore given this ‘royal privilege’. But, whatever the reason, the crowd in the square loved it and the bride was clearly very pleased with the attention she got.

(more to come)