Wednesday, September 28th:
Today we split up. Josh, my dad, and Theo stayed in Brussels and went on a "Gourmet Walking Tour" while my mom and I went on a long excursion out to Luxembourg.
I'll start with what the guys did:
At noon the guys met their tour guide in the lobby of our hotel. They took a nice stroll through the medieval heart of Brussels and visited a few local beer parlors, food stalls, and chocolatiers.
[Frites with mayo!]
[Old Stock Exchange Building that is being renovated]
[Um... okay, but it rains A LOT here]
[Opera House]
There are comic book murals all over the city. While they were exploring, Josh found a few:
On their tour they had frites, beer, cheese, beer, waffles, chocolate, coffee, and beer! It seems like a great tour! After the tour they went out to dinner at Chez Leon located on the Rue des Bouchers.
They then walked over to the Grand Place and took pictures of all the buildings while they were lit up. They had NO RAIN today in Brussels!
[St Michael and St Gudula Cathedral]
Here's what my mom and I did today:
We joined a group tour and took a large coach to Luxembourg. After being on the coach for 2.5 hours, we finally made it to Luxembourg City, the capital city of the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg.
*Fun Fact: Luxembourg is a representative democracy headed by a constitutional monarch, Grand Duke Henri, making it the world's only remaining sovereign grand duchy. A grand duchy is a country or territory whose official head of state or ruler is a monarch bearing the title of grand duke or grand duchess. Thank you Wikipedia!
After the bus parked, we walked across the Pont Adolphe which gave us a great view of the old city walls, Constitution Square, the Monument of Remembrance, and the Cathedral Notre-Dame.
*Another fun fact: Notre-Dame means "Our Lady" (referring to Mary) in French. So, the entire name is "Cathedral of Our Lady." That's why there are so many Notre-Dame Cathedrals. Of course, the most famous Notre-Dame Cathedral is in Paris.
[Constitution Square]
[Old city walls, Constitution Square, the Monument of Remembrance, and the Cathedral Notre-Dame]
We crossed the bridge (Pont Adolphe) and gathered with the group at the Monument of Remembrance.
We then walked over to the Cathedral Notre-Dame. There was a service going on so we couldn't go inside.
[Front of the Cathedral]
We then walked around the back of the cathedral to the statue of Charlotte, Grand Duchess of Luxembourg.
[Back of the Cathedral]
[Statue of Charlotte, Grand Duchess of Luxembourg]
We stopped in this square and took pictures while our tour guide told us about Luxembourg during both World Wars. She also mentioned that it was the US and Canadian troops that helped liberate them from the Nazi's.
The tour guide then lead us to the Palace of the Grand Duke.
[Crest on the balcony]
This gorgeous building was guarded 24/7 due to it being the official residence of the Grand Duke and his family.
One of my favorite things about this city is the architecture. Most of the buildings are a light stone with very dramatic, dark, steep, and pointy roofs. It's so dynamic and I love it!
As we walked through the streets I couldn't help but notice how clean the city is. Parts of it almost looked and felt fake because everything was so perfect. It was wild!
[Michaelskirche - 17th century Roman Catholic Church]
We then arrived at one of my favorite spots: The Grund
We stood on top of the old city walls looking down on the beautiful buildings and the Alzette river. It was gorgeous!
We then headed into the Place d'Armes (town square) where the tour guide told us we could have some free time. We decided to grab some lunch before going back to the Cathedral Notre-Dame.
[Nutella on a waffle 😋]
The church service was over, so we were able to go inside and see the nave and the beautiful stained glass windows.
We then went for a walk along the old city wall and took more pictures of the Grund. Can you blame us?!
As we were heading back to the bus it started to rain. I'm glad it held off long enough for us to explore this amazing city!
When we arrived at the bus we realized that someone had taken our seats. Ugh. There were a few single riders and I asked them if any of them would mind sitting together, but they all wanted to sit by the window. It was kinda dumb that someone took our seats and now we can't sit together, but whatcha gonna do?
While we were driving to Dinant, I checked on hurricane Ian and my condo guest. This storm is massive and strong, but I knew our guest (and properties) would be fine.
About 90 minutes later we arrived in Dinant. This beautiful city is famous for its gothic cathedral with a pear-shaped bell tower and the citadel that sits high up on the cliffside. The entire city lies along the Meuse river with the east side squished between the river and the cliffs where the citadel sits.
We took a quick stroll through the town and found Mr. Adolphe Sax! The inventor of the saxophone!
Our tour guide told us that we should find a local bakery and get some Couque de Dinant (a hard, sweet biscuit that is native to Dinant), but most of the bakeries were already closed for the day.
We left Dinant and followed the Meuse River to Grognon. Along the shores were gorgeous houses that look like castles. It was a beautiful drive with rocky cliffs and changing fall trees. By the time we made it to Grognon it was dark and the coach jumped back on the freeway and made a beeline to Brussels. We made it back to Brussels well after bedtime. We hadn't had anything to eat since lunch, so we ordered room service again and ate chocolates. I'm not complaining!
That night I saw this post on Instagram:
The Nord Stream pipeline runs underwater through the Baltic, where we are heading on our cruise. Ugh. I'm sure we will be fine, right?!
Our trip out to Luxembourg was a long one, BUT it was such a cool place to visit. I just can't get over the amazing architecture and how beautiful and clean the whole city is. If you are ever in the European Low Countries I highly recommend you make the trip out to Luxembourg.
No comments:
Post a Comment