A walk around Brussels...part II

The benefits of staying with friends in Brussels was that they gave us an excellent insight into the city and it's history. On a walk around the city we were introduced to King Leopold II of Belgium who is responsible for the country's uncomfortable colonial past. 

 

Leopold was also known as the ‘Builder King’ due the many monuments and buildings he commissioned within the city in an effort to create his own 'little Paris' but sadly funded through the pillaging of the resources of the Congo Free(?) State. 

The statue stands outside the Royal Palace of Brussels, as do Denis, Anne and Pauline.

We headed over to Nearby Rue Montagne de la Cour where the former Old England department store,built in an Art Nouveau style, now houses the Musical Instruments Museum (MIM).

We then headed over to the Mont des Arts area, a bit of a vanity project for King Leopold that meant tearing down the old Saint-Roch Quarter of the city.

In front of the garden of the Mont des Arts. 

Looking back.

Denis and Anne then took us through streets full of antique shops,plus laid on a carnival procession for us to Place du Jeu de Balle a square located in the heart of the Marolles district of the city where it holds its famous flea market.

We both managed to find something to buy as they had everything!

Afterwards they laid on a carnival procession just for us as we headed home.

We stopped in at 'A la Mort Subite' (top pic.) for a wee refreshment on the way.

In Bruges...

 

On Friday Denis was our guide for a lovely day trip to Bruges, only slightly spoiled by rain in the afternoon which waylaid our boat trip on the canals.  We were joined by other friends from Brussels (and LGP),Tony and Tina,who had entertained us at their home the night before! 

 

 

A walk among the stunning housing stock of Brussels.

2023 is 'Art Nouveau year in' Brussels and on our first day in the city we didn't have to venture far to get our first taste of what is one of our favourite architectural design styles, the photo above was taken from the steps of our generous hosts Anne and Denis' house!

Belgium was an early centre of Art Nouveau, thanks largely to the architecture of Victor Horta, who designed townhouses in the fledgling Art Nouveau style in Brussels in the late 19th century. 

We spent the day,morning with Denis and afternoon with Anne, seeking out some of the gems of a plethora of stunning town houses of varying architectural designs.

   

 

I got chatting to the owner of this fine house and he invited us in for a look. The entrance to the house was for a coach which originally would take the owners of the house along the passage way and drop them off at an elegant staircase to enter the house, quite stunning.

Bussing it!

Our wee adventure has us taking up a kind offer from friends to visit them in Brussels. After checking out the cost of doing the journey by train around 400 euros we decided to go for the bus option at a fraction of the cost. Pauline had,in the past, used the 'Flixbus' service from Tours to Paris and found it comfortable and inexpensive (8.99e). 

So yesterday morning we headed along the road from the train station in Tours to where you pick up the bus only to be informed that the bus we were taking was not a branded 'Flixbus' but another company's bus. What this meant was less leg room and no WIFI facilities. As it happened it proved comfortable enough and we arrived at the bus station (read bunker) in Bercy in Paris in good time to grab lunch at a nearby restaurant before catching our next bus to Brussels (18.99e) ,this time an actual 'Flixbus', so we had the leg room but unfortunately a non functioning WIFI and phone charger! Ah well you can't have everything, although we did have a mother with a very small child immediately behind us who was pretty distraught,sadly, for most of the journey. We consoled ourselves by thinking being on a train would not have been any different although a lot more expensive!

Not so grand...

We are off on a wee adventure which called for an overnight stay in Tours and for convenience we chose to stay at the Grand Hotel by the transport links.We stayed here once many years ago when we were house searching before deciding to move over here, Our visit during our recent Art Deco tour influenced our choice for this trip. Big mistake, our room was at the back of the hotel so away from the potential noise of the train and bus station but much has changed in the city since our last trip. We had people out on the street behind us revelling (?) until 2.30 am then we had the bin lorry and street cleaner at 5.30/6.00am and of course the tram starting its first run of the day. Sadly the hotel's double glazing is from a different time and proved inadequate.

The hotel was a bit of a disappointment after having had a lovely evening walking around the city and trying out a new restaurant, Bistro Rossini, which proved to be a good choice.