{"id":2061,"date":"2009-10-06T15:12:11","date_gmt":"2009-10-06T19:12:11","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/frenchbychoice.com\/?p=2061"},"modified":"2014-04-14T15:26:25","modified_gmt":"2014-04-14T19:26:25","slug":"brussels-tuesday-october-6-2009","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/frenchbychoice.com\/?p=2061","title":{"rendered":"Brussels, Tuesday, October 6, 2009"},"content":{"rendered":"

On our maps, we located a tourist office in Grand Place, and headed that direction.\u00c2\u00a0 At the tourist office, I inquired (in French) from which station do trains leave for Bruges. The agent told me that trains for Bruges left from Gare du Midi, the train station at which we had arrived from Paris.\u00c2\u00a0 Using the walking tours of Brussels in our guidebook, we checked out the heart of Brussels and then Sablons, through sprinkles and through heavier rain.<\/p>\n

On our maps, we located a tourist office in Grand Place, and headed that direction.\u00c2\u00a0 At the tourist office, I inquired (in French) from which station do trains leave for Bruges. The agent told me that trains for Bruges left from Gare du Midi, the train station at which we had arrived from Paris.\u00c2\u00a0 Using the walking tours of Brussels in our guidebook, we checked out the heart of Brussels and then Sablons, through sprinkles and through heavier rain.
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The gilded architecture in Grand Place is quite a treat.\u00c2\u00a0 The Hotel de Ville sports a spire built in 1449 and 315 feet high and anchors the cobblestone square.\u00c2\u00a0 The square is the geographical, historical and commercial heart of Brussels and hosted open air markets as far back as the 11th century, now home to a flower market.\u00c2\u00a0 After the town hall was built, the guild houses making up the sides of the square were built by city merchants and traders.\u00c2\u00a0 Only the town hall and two guild houses survived the cannonball bombing by the French in 1695.\u00c2\u00a0 Trade guilds were encouraged to rebuild their halls to styles approved by the Town Council (sort of I imagine like Richmond\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s Commission of Architectural Review) and the end result is a unified collection of Flemish Renaissance buildings. The square\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s structures include the Maison du Roi (once the residence of ruling Spanish monarchs, now the home of the Musee de Ville), Le Pigeon (once home to Victor Hugo), La Maison des Ducs de Brabant (a group of 6 guild houses with stone busts of the dukes along the facade), a statue of Everhard\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t Sercleas (who died defending Brussels in the 14th Century \u00e2\u20ac\u201c touching his arm is said to bring luck), Le Renard (built in 1690\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s as the guild house of haberdashers with St Nicholas patron saint of merchants on the front), Le Cornet (the boatmen\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s guild house with its gable in the form of a 17th century frigate bow) ,\u00c2\u00a0 and La Maison des Boulangers (built by the wealthy and powerful bakers guild, it is topped by a 1676 octagonal copper dome topped by a dancing gold figure).
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We left the square on the Rue au Beurre, passed the Biscuiterie Dandoy (at no. 31 famous for its buttery biscuits). We visited Eglise St-Nicholas, severely damaged in 1695 by a cannonball lodged in an interior pillar which collapsed the belltower in 1714.\u00c2\u00a0 Rebuilt in 1956, the west fa\u00c3\u00a7ade was given a new gothic-style fa\u00c3\u00a7ade. The church contains choir stalls dating from 1381 displaying detailed medallions telling the story of St-Nicholas and art work by Peter Paul Rubens. Legend goes that the chapel was constructed at an angle to avoid the flow of an old stream.\u00c2\u00a0 Evidently while the church was abandoned, merchants constructed shops against the exterior walls.<\/p>\n

We double-backed a short way to check out La Bourse – Brussels\u00e2\u20ac\u2122 stock exchange.\u00c2\u00a0 It is the only building on its block giving it an impressive presence and was designed in Palladian-style.\u00c2\u00a0 It has ornate carvings on the fa\u00c3\u00a7ade; with Auguste Rodin rumored to have carved groups representing Africa and Asia, as well as four caryatids inside. Once the site of frenzied trading, all trading is now computerized.
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Going down the left side of La Bourse, on Rue Henri Maus, we located Falstaff, one of the few Art Nouveau cafes left in Brussels \u00e2\u20ac\u201c dating to 1903.\u00c2\u00a0 Crossing over Boulevard Anspach, we read in our guidebook that the boulevard was once the route of the river Senne, which was canalized and then covered in 1870. The entire area was marshland when settled in 7th century, and \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Broucsella\u00e2\u20ac\u009d meant settlement in the marshes.<\/p>\n

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We continued on to Halles St-Gery – formerly the old meat market that covered the entire Place st-Gery.\u00c2\u00a0 It is now a hip new restaurant.\u00c2\u00a0 The square was an island until the mid-19th century and the River Senne still runs beneath.\u00c2\u00a0 Across from the market, in the courtyard of a renovated apartment (23 Place St-Gery), we could see some of the river.
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We left the square on Rue Antoine Dansart toward Place Ste-Catherine. Only the Baroque Tower on the Eglise Ste-Catherine remains from the original church built in 15th century.\u00c2\u00a0 The current church, inspired by St-Eustache in Paris, was redesigned in 1854-59.\u00c2\u00a0 Inside it houses the Black Madonna, a portrait of St. Catherine, and a typical Flemish pulpit.
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Just outside to the east is the Black Tower, a surviving remnant of the 12th century stone city walls.\u00c2\u00a0 Walking around the rear of Ste-Catherine\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s, we came to a broad open space lined by Quai au Bois a Bruler (firewood) and Quai aux Briques (bricks).\u00c2\u00a0 The area between, once a canal, was covered over in 1870 and became the fish market.\u00c2\u00a0 Now filled with fountains and pools, and surrounded by fish restaurants, the central area is filled with umbrellas and tables for dining in temperate weather.\u00c2\u00a0 We vowed to return her for dinner tonight!
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Rue de Peuplier took us to Eglise St-Jean-Baptiste-au-Beguinage.\u00c2\u00a0 This stone-clad church was consecrated in the 17th century to serve the long-standing and largest beguine community.\u00c2\u00a0 Fields and orchards previously surrounded the site and contained cottages and houses for the 1200 beguine women, members of a lay religious order who joined after widowhood or failed marriages.\u00c2\u00a0 In medieval times, the beguines ran a laundry, hospital, and windmill for the city.\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n

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We headed on toward the Place De Brouckere, where in 1872 a design competition was held to construct the buildings here. 20 winning applicants were allowed to surround the square with their buildings.\u00c2\u00a0 Many of the buildings are of stone (common in France, whereas brick is more common in Belgium) and includes the Hotel Metropole (fabulous 1900-1910 Art Nouveau interior, visited by notables including Sarah Bernhardt, Marie Curie, and Albert Einstein). In the 1960\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s two buildings with predominantly glass facades brought contemporary architecture into the varied historic architecture of the square. The huge lighted Coca-Cola sign on top of one of the neo-Classical buildings is enough to make one be ashamed to be an American.<\/p>\n

Back through Passage Nord, to Rue Neuve to Place Des Martyrs.\u00c2\u00a0 In the center of this remarkably quiet square is a marble statue of Belga under which is a mausoleum for the 450 martyrs killed in the 1830 revolution that secured Belgium its independence and installed Leopold 1 as king.\u00c2\u00a0 At one end of this square is the seat of the Flemish government.<\/p>\n

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Retracing our way Rue Neuve we continued up to Place de la Monnaie.\u00c2\u00a0 Most traces of the statue we saw our first night are now gone, so obviously the Three Legged Buddha is leaving not arriving.<\/p>\n

Walking on Rue L\u00e2\u20ac\u2122Ecuyer we came to the entrance of Galeries St-Hubert, a shopping arcade dating to 1847 (this is the first in Europe and one of the most elegant). The vaulted glass roof covers three sections, Galerie du Roi, Galerie de la Reine, and Galerie des Princes.\u00c2\u00a0 In the 19th century this was the fashionable meeting place for society.\u00c2\u00a0 Today, the shops feature expensive goods and luxury shopping and restaurants.
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Halfway along, the gallery is intersected by the pedestrianized Rue des Bouchers.\u00c2\u00a0 This area was designated the Ilot Sacre back in 1960 to protect it from development.\u00c2\u00a0 Just off Rue des Bouchers is the Petit Rue des Bouchers and halfway down on the left is an alley called the Impasse, housing Brussels\u00e2\u20ac\u2122 famous historic puppet theater.<\/p>\n

Back to Grand Place to start our second tour, this time of Brussels\u00e2\u20ac\u2122 Marolles area.\u00c2\u00a0 We left the Grand Place via Rue Charles Buls, passing tapestry and lace and tourist shops galore. \u00c2\u00a0Musee du Costume and Dentelle (lace) on Rue de la Violette was closed and we\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ll come back another day.\u00c2\u00a0 Continuing on Rue de l\u00e2\u20ac\u2122Etuve to Rue de Chene, we found the famous statue\/fountain Manneken Pis. This little fountain statue has 650 costumes on display in the Musee de Ville. The original was installed in 1691 \u00e2\u20ac\u201c a tongue-in-cheek design reflecting a genuine need for fresh drinking water. It was stolen and broken in 1817 and a replica was cast and returned to its site the following year.\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0 His \u00e2\u20ac\u0153sister\u00e2\u20ac\u009d Jeannke Pis a cheeky female version was installed in 1987 in Impasse de la Fidelite off Rue de Bouchers in the spirit of sexual equality.\u00c2\u00a0 We had seen it our first night, but didn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t realize it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s relation to the other<\/p>\n

fountain.\"\"Up the Rue de Chene to Rue de Villers, to find the Tour Villiers, the remains of a tower and section of the 12th century walls surrounding the city. Even though it was raining hard now, we continued on to the church of Notre-Dame de la Chappelle. A chapel was built on the site in 1134, it became a pilgrimage site after 1250 when a royal donation of five pieces of the True Cross turned it into a pilgrimage site.\u00c2\u00a0 Much of the church was destroyed by fire in 1405; rebuilding began in 1421.\u00c2\u00a0 Exterior features monstrous gargoyles peering down on the neighborhood.\u00c2\u00a0 Across from the church is a city-maintained skateboard park.<\/p>\n

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\nStill pouring, we continued south into the neighborhood known as Quartier Marolles, situated between the two city walls, home to weavers and craftsmen.\u00c2\u00a0 Following streets not on our tour, we found antique and brocante shops, furniture stores, and even fabric stores.<\/p>\n

Weaving around the streets, we found Place du Grand Sablon, dividing upper and lower Brussels. The fountain in the middle of the square was funded by an Englishman; the square is surrounded by elegant townhouses and, even in the rain, seems to be a chic part of Brussels.\u00c2\u00a0 At No. 12 we found, Wittamer, supposedly one of Brussels\u00e2\u20ac\u2122 most celebrated chocolate makers \u00e2\u20ac\u201c but there wasn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t a lot of chocolate around when we were there.<\/p>\n

The rain was driving us back toward a rest stop, we abandoned the tour and headed for Cathedrale Sts Michel et Gudule, passing the national library, rose gardens and the equestrian statue of Albert 1, the \u00e2\u20ac\u0153soldier king\u00e2\u20ac\u009d who led troops into World War 1
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The cathedral was immense and featured a stained glass window called the \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Last Judgement,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d highly ornate baroque pulpit, statue of St Michael (Mike\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s namesake since he was born in St Michael\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s Hospital and his mother couldn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t come up with a name until she was ready to leave the hospital and they demanded one for his birth certificate), and a statue of Ste-Gudule, a saint dear to people of Brussels.\u00c2\u00a0 The twin towers of the front of the cathedral were very reminiscent of those of Notre-Dame in Paris. The crypt contains remnants of the first church on the site dating from 1047; some can be seen through a grate in the floor of the cathedral.<\/p>\n

Sopping wet, we headed back toward the Grand Place and a cup of hot chocolate and our first Belgian waffle.\u00c2\u00a0 Then back to the hotel to plan for dinner.\u00c2\u00a0 Our plan for dinner at the location of the old fishmarket by Ste-Catherine\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s went awry when we started checking out menus. The prices were very high and even the prix fixe menus were high.\u00c2\u00a0 Realizing our Belgian waffle earlier had left its mark and neither of us was hungry enough to spend 50-60 euros each on dinner, we wandered back to Rue de Bouchers and found Luna di Venezia where Mike could have mussels and I had a grilled sea bream fillet with a dijonnaise sauce and we split some house red wine.<\/p>\n

On our way back to the hotel, we wandered through Grand Place to see it lighted up at night.\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0 Even in the rain it was a busy place. At Place du Monnaie, the statue and all of its remnants were gone.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

On our maps, we located a tourist office in Grand Place, and headed that direction.\u00c2\u00a0 At the tourist office, I inquired (in French) from which station do trains leave for Bruges. The agent told me that trains for Bruges left … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[122,124],"tags":[707,702,708,701,700,705,704,709,710,706,703],"class_list":["post-2061","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-bruge","category-brussels","tag-baroque-tower-on-the-eglise-ste-catherine","tag-biscuiterie-dandoy","tag-eglise-st-jean-baptiste-au-beguinage","tag-gare-du-midi","tag-grand-place","tag-halles-st-gery-formerly-the-old-meat-market","tag-la-bourse-brussels-stock-exchange","tag-place-de-brouckere","tag-quartier-marolles","tag-river-senne","tag-st-nicholas"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/frenchbychoice.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2061","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/frenchbychoice.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/frenchbychoice.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/frenchbychoice.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/frenchbychoice.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=2061"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/frenchbychoice.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2061\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/frenchbychoice.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=2061"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/frenchbychoice.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=2061"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/frenchbychoice.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=2061"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}