Luxembourg & Brussels

Fasnacht concluded at 4am Thursday morning. It lasts exactly 72 hours (except for one year when the city officials accidentally turned out the lights at 3:59 - that year, it lasted 72 hours and 1 minute). So I had Thursday and Friday off (no class) without parades to attend. All the schools are off for the entire week and many Baslers go out of town. Some even during Fasnacht (gasp!). Rob, Chris and I had planned to head up to Brussels, Belgium to continue our European tour.

On the way up to Brussels, we stopped in Luxembourg. What a pretty city that is! It was late afternoon - the sun was low in the sky and it was a great time to see the city. We walked around a bit and had a really good dinner. The city was interesting - The language is called Luxumbourgish, which is a blend of French and German.Which worked out well for me. Between my small knowledge of each, I was able to piece many of the words together.



Then on to Brussels. Our hotel was very close to the stunning Grand Place. This is a square framed by beautiful white Gothic buildings with sky high spires. This was probably some of the most beautiful architecture (design?) I have seen in our travels. It was amazing.

I had read much about the number and quality of restaurants in Brussels and was not disappointed. We had probably the best mussels I have ever had at a little restaurant right on the Grand Place. Rob ordered the mussels (with pommes of course) and I sampled some. They were huge but very tender, cooked in white whine sauce. I wasn't feeling well that night but I was well enough to know that these were the best mussels I had ever tasted.

We also had a healthy lunch of Belgian waffles one of the days we were there (don't tell my mom). Wow were those good. I had mine with whipped cream and hot chocolate - Chris had his with ice cream and strawberries and Rob had his with strawberries. I guess it is a touristy thing to have but I am so glad we did. There are waffle stands/windows on almost every block. We couldn't leave without trying those!

And the chocolate was unbelievable. I need to say this very quietly but I think it is better than the Swiss (good thing I am leaving the country soon or they really would deport me for that).

And of course the beer - I love Belgian beer and have ever since the first time I tried it. I remember I was in New York for a photo shoot and the art director took me to a Belgian restaurant where we had pommes frites with mayo and a beer out of a strange, large bottle. It was called "Chimay." In the time since, I have come to love Delirium and McChouffe in addition to Chimay. So it was a little disappointing to me that I was feeling under the weather and couldn't really enjoy the Belgian beers to their fullest but luckily my compadres were able to enjoy them fully.



I was enchanted by this city. The city itself was beautiful, the food was wonderful and we had a great time. I've heard that Coca Cola's European headquarters are in Brussels. I wonder if there is a marketing opportunity there with my name on it.