Exciting News!

Monday, August 8^th Brussels, Belgium

We left Trier Germany yesterday morning. We had a nice stay there but by far the most exciting thing that happened was that we got an email from Zack asking us to call him. He and Annie are at the Canadian Freestyle Kayaking Team Trials near Canmore, Alberta. When we called, he announced that he had proposed to Annie on a mountain top and she said, “Oui”. We couldn’t be happier. Annie is a wonderful young woman and we already consider her part of our family. Zack obviously has his father’s good taste in women. We are still expecting a big dowry from her father, though. Anyway, congratulations to Zack and Annie!

Yesterday, it was about an hour train ride to Luxembourg City where we changed trains with no problems. Then we made the 3 hour trip through the rest of Luxembourg (which didn’t take long) and then through a lot of Belgium. The eastern part is very hilly and wooded but as we got closer to Brussels, the land got flatter and less interesting.

We had no directions to our hotel from the train station but we knew it was close. So we just walked down the hill from the train station and looked for clues. We found a bus tour office and asked them. They were very friendly, gave us a map and marked our hotel for us, which was only a 5 minute walk away.

We’re staying at the Hotel Opera which is a small hotel just down from the Gallery, a famous shopping arcade built in 1847 and the Grand Place which is the main square of the old part of the city.

Last night we wandered just up our street where it becomes the Rue Boucher connected to the Gallery. It’s really more like a wide cobblestone alley lined with restaurants and small shops. We found a spot for mussels, fries and beer - the quintessential Brussels meal. It was a bit rainy so after dinner we just came back to our hotel.

This morning was damp and drizzly but not really raining too much so we toured all the sights - the Gallery, the Grand Place, the Royal Gardens and Palace and of course, the Mannekin Pis. My father was in Brussels in WW II and brought back a replica statue of the Mannekin Pis, which my sisters and I thought was quite risque in the 1950s. Anyway, 65 years later, we came to see the same statue that entertained my father and his buddies during the war.

We stopped at a waffle shop and had Belgian waffles with cream and chocolate. A healthy, nutritious lunch. By then it was starting to rain pretty hard so we bought some supplies (wine, beer and chocolate) and came back to our hotel to dry off. Tonight we’ll go out for dinner and if the rain stops, we’ll go back up to the Palace Gardens where the 10 day Brussels Music Festival will be in full swing starting at 7 pm. On Saturday night, Rodger Hodgson of SuperTramp fame played. Tonight there are 3 European bands on the main stage and 3 more on the secondary stage. We didn’t recognize the names but it all looks very professional so they’ll probably be good. Tickets are 15 euros for everything but we didn’t buy yet because the weather might not co-operate. We’ll see.

Brussels is an interesting place, even in the rain. We’re used to cobblestone streets and sidewalks by now but here they’re really rough and can be slippery in the rain. The Italian women in their 3-4 inch spike heels wouldn’t do well here. The street builders could have used a few tips from the Romans. It’s also interesting to be in the midst of a country in which one half is officially French speaking and the other half is officially Dutch speaking. There’s also controversy about unity similar to the situation we have in Canada. However, as a tourist it’s not noticeable.

Hopefully we’ll get to yet another music festival this evening. It’s funny how this keeps happening to us. If the weather doesn’t co-operate I’m sure we’ll arrive just in time for another music festival in The Hague in the Netherlands tomorrow.