Brussels

The Manneken-Pis, clothed.

We went to Brussels last weekend and there was dog poo on the streets. I will forever remember this about Brussels because I stepped in the freshest poo. It made me sad.

We went on the Eurostar and stayed near the European Parliament. There are two parks near it: Leopold Park and Park Cinquantenaire. Brussels is a smallish city that looked full of parks, so we decided to wander around Brussels and walk in their parks.

We saw these strange duck things in Leopold Park:





These seem to be Egyptian Geese. They pair for life.

Parc Cinquantenaire:



The parks in Brussels tend to have large paths and less grass/bushes/floral displays than parks in London. The Parc Cinquantenaire has fancy grand arches flanked by columnar arcade-things in a U shape. We went to the museum which was housed in a giant, beautiful building in the park, it has an extensive collection of objects from native cultures in the Americas and best of all a giant Moai head from Easter Island.

We went to a cathedral in the Grand Place with a giant organ.






The organ keyboard is in the middle - there are steps leading up to the keyboard area, and in the picture above someone was sitting in the middle and playing (possibly singing), and someone was standing next to him (possibly conducting, or singing, or both).

It was a huge huge organ.

A map of Brussels suggested that the best and biggest park was the Bois de la Cambre in the south - we also love lush foresty parks and a 'bois' seemed more likely to fit this than little elegant urban parks with paths and statues. The Bois de la Cambre links to the Forêt de Soignes - the remains of an ancient charcoal forest.




Snowdrops

It is a long, long walk from the end of the Bois de la Cambre to central Brussels. All you really have to do is walk down a really long road - the Avenue Louise.

We walked down the Avenue Louise and tried to get back to the hotel via public transportation. This turned out to be quite difficult, particularly as we were meant to have the exact change for a tram ticket but didn't have any way to get change as it seemed all shops in Brussels are closed at 6pm on a Saturday, so we walked back.



Near the Avenue Louise there's a bit where you can see out over the city, and take a lift down to the lower street level.



Of course, one of the main highlights of Brussels is the chocolate, and we were in town the week before Easter.

I liked these little chocolates from Mary Chocolatier the best.

We had some macaroons from Wittamer as well, my favourites were the passionfruit and yuzu macaroons.

One of the great things in Brussels is the fresh orange juice in the supermarket. Also the existence of Chocomel (as Cecemel), also present in Holland.

This orange juice. You go to Carrefour and they have one of those whirly orange squeezing juice machines. You know the type. They spin around, slowly, like a ferris wheel for oranges.

You pick up an empty bottle (small, medium or large), put it under the spout, press a lever, and pay at the till. I wish we had this fresh orange juice in supermarkets in London.



We also had waffles! With powdered sugar, a boatload of cream and chocolate sauce.

They're lighter than regular waffles, it's true, they're different in Belgium. They're better. Belgium seems to excel at desserts, and cute graffiti.

Tintin!

Tapas and Boxhill

I finally did tapas.

I'd got some padron peppers and peppers stuffed with squid from Delicioso. They have all kinds of Spanish things!

I had a sudden desire to eat tapas about two weeks ago, but I'd only had tapas when we went on holiday to Barcelona last year. Apparently there is only one decent (decent, not good) place for tapas in London, and we don't know which it is. We hear it's in Waterloo. I was also inspired by the Jamie Oliver book where he goes to Spain and things, and he's done a couple of pages about tapas. It's a pretty good book, all the stuff I've tried from it turned out lovely. I especially like that there's a few different meatball recipes. Meatballs are really useful and easy to do, you can have them in so many ways as well.

I did very little for the tapas. I fried Padron peppers, heat up the peppers stuffed with squid, fried some sliced artichokes from a jar with some honey and dried thyme, and cut some Manchego cheese.

The peppers stuffed with squid aren't that nice.


Not so nice. Very tomato-ey.

Blackened Padron peppers, fried and sprinkled with sea salt:


Manchego cheese, with honey and dried thyme:



Sliced artichokes, with honey, dried thyme and ground pepper:



Truffle oil with ground black pepper, for dipping bread in. We had part of a baguette as well:




I've kept the leftovers in the fridge and might possibly assemble it into a sandwich for lunch tomorrow? Tapas sandwich.

I'm encouraged by this and will have more tapas meals, we still have a bowl of Padron peppers sitting in the fridge and must use it soon. I plan on making patatas bravas in the future.

Yesterday we went to Boxhill, which is about an hour away on the train, and had a lovely day. It's an idyllic National Trust nature-y hill named after the Box plant., and has a few different walking paths to go on: a Long Walk, Short Walk, Nature Walk, and Riverside Walk. We went on what was pretty much the Riverside Walk to get there from the station and back, and when we got to Boxhill itself we went on the Nature Walk.

The good thing about the Nature Walk is that it's not a monotonous walk, you go from one bit to another. There's a foresty bit, a dirt path bit, places to rest and admire a scenic view, and a very nice golden valley. It's also quiet. Lots of people who got on the train at London got off at Boxhill, but most people seem to accumulate at the mount, and start having their picnics and things, so the walks are very peaceful.

I plan on going again, possibly in the summer. I've been once before and there were little orchids and blackberries and strawberries growing wild. Only some tiny purple orchids are out right now, there are exciting orchids yet to come. Tiny ones that pretend to be bees.

James in a hole:









We also saw a bee-fly. It looks like a small bee with a long nose and makes a humming sound. I'm not sure that you can see it in this picture:



It's a type of fly, but feeds on nectar like a bee. But it isn't a bee. There's lots of them.

You can see its mighty shadow.