Terri and I are suckers for travel deals, so if there are any airline marketing people reading this, let me tell you, your special offers work. We got an email from American Airlines that trumpeted "Double Miles to Fly to Brussels!" -- we looked at each other and thought, hhmmm, Brussels. We've heard the food is good (mussels, fries, beer, chocolate, and waffles), they have some paintings worth seeing, plus we've never been there before, so why not?
We came for ten days, arriving on Friday, January 21 and are in Ghent for two nights. Then Bruges for three nights, and we'll finish up with five nights in Brussels before heading home on Monday, January 31.
I had quite a jolly trip over here: an upgrade to first class for the DFW to JFK segment (champagne!) and the Admirals Club (free wine!) in New York. We landed on time, breezed through Belgium customs, took a train to Ghent, then hopped on a tram to get to the city center. Confused by untranslatable and conflicting directions from locals along the way, we got a bit flustered looking for our hotel but did our own spontaneous walking mini-tour of the old town before finding it right where it was supposed to be.
I had no idea Belgium was so, well, quaint. The architecture is all of a distinctive style, charming and harmonious, often staid but with occasional flourishes of color and flair.
In Ghent we had our first encounters with Belgian food. Having worked up an appetite walking around, we stopped for hot waffles from a street vendor. As you can see from a snap of my reaction on Flickr, I had no idea plain waffles could be so good! Then in the evening, following a recommendation of the hotel, we had dinner at a nearby restaurant, Du Progres. Terri had chicken breast in pepper cream sauce, I had a beef filet with 'James Bond' sauce (pepper, whiskey, and tarragon), and with every meal they bring a huge metal bowl of hot fries. We had the waiter give us whatever beers he thought we would like. It may not sound like much, but it was one of the best dinners we've had, and all for under €50.
We love our hotel in Ghent, the NH Gent Belfort. Terri recently joined the rewards program for the European NH hotel chain, and they upgraded us to a large executive suite. The complimentary breakfast buffet is mouth-wateringly wonderful: a half-dozen coffee machines that produce any brew you can imagine, delicacies such as prosciutto and smoked salmon, crepes with real maple syrup, fresh-squeezed orange juice, fifteen different kinds of breads and rolls, all provided by an attentive staff.
The highlight of our first day was viewing Van Eyck's "Adoration of the Mystic Lamb." I am not sure I can add anything to what has already been said about this set of paintings, but I will say that it is almost too much. There are many small stunning masterpieces within this one huge work and putting them all together in one presentation can be overwhelming.
Our limited foreign language skills, in Spanish and Italian, are completely useless here. Not only are we baffled by almost anything written or spoken, we often don't even know what languages are being used. For example, in the elevator, level 0 is marked as 'RECEPTIE' or reception, in French -- I can deal with this. But that is followed by three alternative translations: VERGADERZALEN, DE DRAKE, and VAN ARTEVELDE. I am completely mystified by all three and am only saved by the fact that so many people here speak English.
Language problems aside, I can sum up my initial response to Belgium with a question: why did it take me so long to get here?
Flickr snaps are here.
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