Belgium 2011

From Uncle Wim's apartment in Deventer we headed south with Jane's assistance to Antwerp for one night, staying in the Sir Plantin Hotel.  Next morning we caught a tram to the old centre where we visited the Cathedral (another one!), had a ride on a horse-drawn carriage, visited the train station (very interesting architecture), then headed off to Knessellare for 5 nights.

We chose Knessellare because it was quite central, about 20 minutes from Bruges.  The reason for wanting to see Bruges was the film "In Bruges" which we loved.  It was everything we hoped for, old town, canals, the Bell tower square.  It was also full of tourists too!  We had to climb the bell tower of course, all 365 steps.  We made it, but a bit puffed.

Bruges

We also did the canal cruise, visited the Chocolate and Lace museums amongst others.  We also went on a brewery tour which was good, particularly the beer at the end.  To finish one day's sightseeing, we relaxed by having a drink in the Markt square before dinner.  A nice beer, .5l was a mere 8 Euro!

Apart from Bruges we also went to Eeklo and Gent one day.  Another day we made a quick visit to Lille in France to visit the zoo and the old town.

 
2011-09-20 Eeklo and Gent

Our final stay in Belgium was to Brussels, the centre of the European Union.  We stayed in the Radisson down-town for the Saturday night before returning to Holland.  It was quite difficult getting to the hotel as there were lots of roadworks in progress with closed roads and the resulting traffic jams.  Jane was having a lot of trouble, so eventually we ignored her and drove around the blockage.  She was then able to get her bearings and steer us to the hotel.

It was a very quiet area during the weekend, no doubt quite different during the week.  We took the open-top tourist bus which gave us a good look at Brussels.  We had a stop at the Atomium, then back in town had a look at Manneken Pis and the Grote Markt.

The next morning we again took the tourist bus to a museum.  As we walked towards the entrance, Paul spied a sign leading to the Auto Museum.  Paul spent a couple of hours here looking at the many cars from the late 1800's through to about 1980's.  No Ford Zephyrs though. Photos are here
Autoworld Brussels

It was time to get back to Holland to join Uncle Wim's family gathering at Vinkeveen.

Canals and Family Belgium More Family and Sightseeing Travels Elsewhere