We've now been in Europe for a month. We're both extremely keen to get to our new country and settle in...it now looks like we will leaving this coming Wednesday which is quite thrilling. I'll still need to return to Europe for a period of time (possibly up to 2 months) to obtain my long-term visa, but we're grateful to be entering and setting up home.
Due to his expected exorbitant workload over the coming few months, the employer was superbly generous in granting him 10 days of holiday for free over the celebratory season. We took the opportunity to travel and see some of Europe.
Family friends from NZ were delightful hosts in Luxembourg over Christmas and spoilt us rotten (pic on left is from the Luxembourg City Christmas Market).
We were taken to Germany for lunch on our first day and explored the guests of their kind Australian friends (we even woke to Santa Sacks from our amazing hosts!). Then, well beyond the call of duty, we were driven to Brussels on the 26th to continue our holiday. Truly blessed by this couple who barely know me and had never met him. Thank you!
Neither of us had been to Belgium and since it was midway between Luxembourg and The Netherlands, it was a good choice for exploring. Brussels is a city of more than 100 museums, so we had plenty to choose from. We spent the first day cruising the city in the rain on a bus tour. Poor photos but good assistance in determining where we wanted to go again. If you're one for viewing other people's photos, there are plenty on my stalkbook site. The one museum I went to for which thee are no photos was the "Lace and Costume" museum. I had visions of a Belgiek version of the V&A. Boy was I wrong. It had one single exhibition of 1970s style clothing (10 items on each of 5 floors of the narrow building) and about 20 items of hand-made lace. Disappointing to say the least.
To make up for my poor use of time on a wet afternoon, I followed up with a visit to the Belgium Brewer's Museum in the Grand Place. A much more successful and enjoyable visit complete with samples of produce from local brewers. I had read of a pub called Poechenellekelder that was described as wonderful and generally ignored by the public. I'm not sure how that is possible given that the entrance is less than 10 metres from the famous Manneken Pis statue, but we were delighted to stumble upon it by accident. I was a little nervous about trying a Christmas beer, but took the plunge given the 15 listed on the menu. The Stille Nacht beer I tried (pic on the right) was excellent. I was pleasantly surprised to find it was not flavoured with nutmeg or cinnamon - rather, the production is just limited to Christmas time. Phew.
He chose to go to 'The Art of the Brick' LEGO exhibition at the old Stock Exchange building. A long queue, expensive entry fee and limited items to view, but worthwhile he reports. My favourite image he took is on the left here - I wish I'd had that many LEGO people when I was a child!
Another highlight was the Museum of Musical Instruments which claims the largest and most diverse collection of musical instruments in the world. Very few signs were in English so we were grateful to have iPods to listen to on the way around which played a piece of music of the particular instrument we stood in front of - very clever and enjoyable.
We thoroughly enjoyed our time in Brussels...if you do visit, we can recommend the Hotel Bloom as an excellent location from which to play tourist - supermarket, restaurants, trams and trains all within 100m.
Family friends from NZ were delightful hosts in Luxembourg over Christmas and spoilt us rotten (pic on left is from the Luxembourg City Christmas Market).
We were taken to Germany for lunch on our first day and explored the guests of their kind Australian friends (we even woke to Santa Sacks from our amazing hosts!). Then, well beyond the call of duty, we were driven to Brussels on the 26th to continue our holiday. Truly blessed by this couple who barely know me and had never met him. Thank you!
Neither of us had been to Belgium and since it was midway between Luxembourg and The Netherlands, it was a good choice for exploring. Brussels is a city of more than 100 museums, so we had plenty to choose from. We spent the first day cruising the city in the rain on a bus tour. Poor photos but good assistance in determining where we wanted to go again. If you're one for viewing other people's photos, there are plenty on my stalkbook site. The one museum I went to for which thee are no photos was the "Lace and Costume" museum. I had visions of a Belgiek version of the V&A. Boy was I wrong. It had one single exhibition of 1970s style clothing (10 items on each of 5 floors of the narrow building) and about 20 items of hand-made lace. Disappointing to say the least.
To make up for my poor use of time on a wet afternoon, I followed up with a visit to the Belgium Brewer's Museum in the Grand Place. A much more successful and enjoyable visit complete with samples of produce from local brewers. I had read of a pub called Poechenellekelder that was described as wonderful and generally ignored by the public. I'm not sure how that is possible given that the entrance is less than 10 metres from the famous Manneken Pis statue, but we were delighted to stumble upon it by accident. I was a little nervous about trying a Christmas beer, but took the plunge given the 15 listed on the menu. The Stille Nacht beer I tried (pic on the right) was excellent. I was pleasantly surprised to find it was not flavoured with nutmeg or cinnamon - rather, the production is just limited to Christmas time. Phew.
Another highlight was the Museum of Musical Instruments which claims the largest and most diverse collection of musical instruments in the world. Very few signs were in English so we were grateful to have iPods to listen to on the way around which played a piece of music of the particular instrument we stood in front of - very clever and enjoyable.
We thoroughly enjoyed our time in Brussels...if you do visit, we can recommend the Hotel Bloom as an excellent location from which to play tourist - supermarket, restaurants, trams and trains all within 100m.
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