Our Trip to Belgium.

Our first stop in Belgium was to the city of Antwerpen. Just to give you a little history, Antwerp is one of the leading trading cities of northern Europe; and in the early 17th century it was one of the great cultural centers too. The city, though, has had its share of suffering-religious wars of the 16th century, cut off from the North Sea by treaty with the Netherlands, and bombed in WWII. Ok, that’s enough history. Here are some pictures . . .

The Grote Markt is the main square of Antwerp. It is one of the great gilded squares of Belgium.

Here we are at the Grote Markt.

This is the Rubenhuis. This is the house of one of the great stars of European art, Pieter Paul Rubens.

The Antwerp Cathedral (Onze-Lieve-Vrouwekathedraal) is the largest Gothic church in the Low Counties—also one of the most beautiful.

I believe this is some old castle/fortress that is now a museum.

Antwerp was holding a Tall Ship Race that evening. They only hold this every few years. Here they are setting up for the nightly race. We had planned to go to Brussels that day, and so, decided to leave Antwerp.

And here we are on our way into Brussels.

This is the Grand Place, the focal point of the city and known for its wonderful architecture. This was the setting for markets and fairs, pageants and jousts, for the proclamation of decrees, and public executions (according to our Brussels book). Very beautiful.

Wessel caught me on camera checking out the menu at a restaurant on the square. I was hungry!

You can’t go to Belgium without having mussels, Belgium fries, beer and chocolates! Yum! (This is not our normal diet, by the way :) )

Here we are in the streets of Brussels.

Another street with lots of cafes and restaurants.

Next stop . . .chocolates!!! This is the very first Godiva Chocolate Shop!

Here I am picking out our chocolates. “I’ll take that one and that one and that one . . .”

Here we are chowing down on these chocolates! I had control of the bag b/c I knew Wes would devour them if I let him hold the bag. I would take a bite and then pass it on to him. (I know, perhaps I was a little too controlling, but when it comes to food, there’s no stopping me.)

Yum! Fresh, homemade white chocolate with raspberries.

I see a little belly forming!!!

I had lost Wessel for a moment and then realized he went back in for seconds! I had to catch him in action . . .

At the beautiful square . . .we are in a state of bliss after all the food.

Here is the famous Manneken-Pis statue. The city was having some sort of parade that day and decided to decorate the statue. This statue is all over t-shirts, postcards, key rings and corkscrews. Not sure why . . .we weren’t impressed.

More pictures of the city . . .

After a day in Brussels, we decided to go to Knoppe Beach. A very popular area for the wealthy. We thought we’d pretend for the day . . .

It was kind of chilly and stormy that weekend, but still nice to see the beach.

Lots of shopping on this street! After all the browsing, we decided to head home. It was a great weekend!! Check out our next trip to Paris on our blog!