Christmas in Brussels

From Fussen, we had a couple of big driving days to take us up to Brussels.

On the first day, we stopped in at Stuttgart in an attempt to see something
of the Porsche factory for Christopher - but, probably not surprisingly,
given that it was the Saturday before Christmas, the factory and associated
museum were closed.

Next stop was Heidelberg. Unfortunately we were too late to go on a tour of
the Schloss - one of the disadvantages of travelling in Winter is that the
tourist spots close at 4 (which is also about the time that it gets dark) -
but the main street was full of lovely shops that were all open in
pre-Christmas fever. And we got to see the Schloss all lit up above the
town. Another place we will have to re-visit!

That night we had a lovely dinner in a tavern - but suffered in our attempts
to sample the local food. We ordered what we thought was black bread and
gravy for a starter- but it turned out to be bread with little pots of solid
pork fat set with little pieces of pork. Yuck!

From Heidelberg we drove to Brussels on Christmas Eve. The fog just didn't
lift at all that day - making for a bit of a dull trip, at least from a
passenger's point of view. We really didn't get to see much scenery at all.

Interestingly, the only way we could tell that we had passed from Germany
into Belgium was the change in language of the road signs - well, that and
the drop in quality of the roads. Also, the driving style seemed to change.
German drivers seemed to be extrememly couteous, while the Belgians are a
lot more assertive! John seems to be right at home.

Unfortunately, the navigation system we hired at the start of our trip in
Frankfurt stopped working at the German border. I think Brussels roads may
have been designed to deter invaders - they seem very complicated. Lots of
ring roads and tunnels, no names on most of the roads or signs that are tiny
and set into the sides of buildings. The main aid to navigation is the names
of the tube stations - which are on large lit up signs. Unfortunately, we
only figured out today that that was what they were the names of!

We were quite worried about nothing being open on Christmas day and the
concierge at the apartments where we are staying confirmed our fears by
saying that the supermarkets were already closed when we arrived and would
not reopen until Boxing Day. Images of a fairly lean Christmas danced in our
heads. However, a bit of exploration revealed a supermarket within the same
block that was in fact open and we stocked up on food that we could reheat
in the tiny apartment kitchen.

On Christmas day, the fog had lifted and we went out to see the Grande
Place. This is full of the most gorgeous baroque buildings. Civilised
Brussels was one of the first cities to have undercover shopping malls (now
there is some history to be proud of) and we explored one of these. Far from
everything being closed, the city was abuzz with people strolling around. We
had no trouble finding a spot to stop and warm up over a hot chocolate. It
seems a very cosmopolitan city, with the EU headquarters of course. Nearly
everybody seems to be able to switch effortlesslty from French to Flemish to
English and can probably get by in German as well.

Our wanderings also took us past an alley full of seafood restaurants -
which the Lonely Planet guide described as too touristy. But hey - guess
what - we ARE tourists, and it seemed like there were plenty of locals there
as well to us. Outside each of the restaurants was a fancy display of
seafood and vegetables on a bed of crushed ice and a spruker encouraging you
to try his restaurant rather than any of the others. We settled on one at
random and ended up having a delicious three course Christmas lunch with
traditional Mussels in broth with chips and mayonnaise as the main course.
They even threw in a supposedly free Christmas aperatif - white wine and
cassis, which I would never have ordered, but which was delicious.

We were still chilled to the bone by the time we got back to our apartment
and used our supplies to scratch together some toasted sandwiches for
dinner.

Today we have been on an excursion to Ypres (or Ieper in flemish - that's
starting with an "i"). Ypres itself is a very pretty town - rebuilt from
nothing after the first World War. We also stopped at the war cemetarty at
Passchendale and the Flanders Fields museum in Ypres itself. All very
moving. I think seeing it on a chill Winters day adds to the experience. And
you certainly get a feeling for the mud that was such a feature of the
battles in this area.

The Winter has indeed caught up to us here - Germany seems positively sunny
by comparison. The maximum temperature for the day hovers around zero and
the fog doesn't really get much of a chance to lift. Definitely long
underwear weather, but at least it isn't raining!