All around our neighborhood

One of the most common questions I am asked is "what are your days like" living in Brussels? So I decided to walk around our neighborhood (with Grayson, of course) and take a bunch of photos to give you an idea of what it's like for us. But before we get started, here's a photo of Grayson riding his bike in our kitchen (see the "tunnel" I rigged in the background) . . .

Our street - Rue du Tabellion

Our apartment is in a very old building (late-1800's/early 1900's) on a quaint street - Rue du Tabellion. In Flemish, the name of the street is Notarisstraat, and if you look closely at the street sign you'll see it has both names as is mandated by law (Brussels is legally bilingual, French and Flemish, though French predominates). In the photo above you can see into the very small, quaint antique shop that is on the corner of our street. Our first week living here I stopped in, and the owners were very nice and brought me a cup of coffee even after I had declined. The younger man (Michel) spoke English and asked me all about myself and my family. The older woman (Madam Elise) speaks only French, and Michel made sure that I gave her two kisses (one on each cheek) before leaving.

This is our street. Our street looks like most of the other residential streets in Brussels. Most buildings used to be single family homes, but many (like ours, we suspect) have since been divided into smaller apartments. The sidewalks are all made of cobblestones and are very bumpy. There are very few stoplights and no stop signs (that I've noticed anyway). Cars just slow down a bit (you hope) before barrelling through an intersection.

Our neighborhood is known as the Chatelain neighborhood, as it surrounds the Place du Chatelain. It is an extremely livable neighborhood, with every shop you might need just a short walk away. There also are numerous parks and playgrounds, and you see children everywhere.

The Chatelain Market

Every Wednesday throughout the year there is a fresh market at the Place du Chatelain. Whether it's raining (as it was this day) or shining, we go, as it's the best place to pick up fresh food. It also is fun to attempt to speak French with the locals (Je voudrei un kilo de clementines, sil vout plait), and everyone is always very friendly.

There are several cheese stands at the market, as cheese (fromage) is a staple of the Belgian diet (much like in France).

Fresh, hot waffles (gaufres) are plentiful. I always buy one for Grayson to eat as we stroll around. It keeps him happy.

All the Belgians buy flowers - at any moment if you look around you will see someone carrying a bouquet from a flower shop or market, typically a large bunch of flowers wrapped at the stems and held upside down. The flowers at the market are always gorgeous, very fresh, and very inexpensive. Today I bought 10 pink tulips for 4 euros.

There are several produce stands at the market - you can buy your clementines with the leaves still on, and your carrots with their fluffy green stems!

Perhaps our favorite item from the market is the quiche. I buy at least one every Wednesday, and we either eat it for dinner that night or save it until another night when we need a quick and easy meal.



This young woman sells fresh baguettes at the market, and I have bought one every week since the very first week I went. They are fresh and incredibly good.

More about the neighborhood

The Rue du Bailli (above) is a busy shopping street that connects our neighborhood to the Avenue Louise (a major thoroughfare in Brussels which, incidentally, also is where the best retail shopping is located). At a distance you can see a church, which is where the Trinite tram stop is located. That's where Tony catches the tram to work, and Grayson and I catch the bus every Friday to go to his music class. Our apartment is about 2 blocks behind the church.

This is the Ma Campagna tram stop, which is about a block from our apartment in the opposite direction, and is the other main tram stop that we use. Here you can catch a tram that will take you directly to the shopping at Place Louise (about a 5 minute tram ride), or to the Sablon area (about a 10 minute tram ride) for antiquing and visiting such tourist destinations as The Grand Place.

This little grocery store (the GB Express) is less than a block from our apartment, and it is where I do most of our shopping. It's about the size of a 7-11, but you can buy produce, meats, dairy, packaged foods, coke, beer, wine, baby supplies, cleaning supplies, etc. If there's an item I have to have but can't find, then there's a bigger store about 5 blocks away. Most of the time, though, this small store is all I need. And because we don't have a car and I'm carting everything home myself, I shop at least every other day. I like this, because I no longer have to plan a week's worth of groceries. Each afternoon I say to myself "hmm, what should we have for dinner" and then I go out and get it.

Le Pain Quotidienne is one of our favorite boulangeries (bakeries). This location is right down the street from our home, and we also frequent the location at the Sablon. Le Pain Quotidienne was started in Belgium, by a Belgian, who felt that the art of breadmaking needed to be revived. He has since opened several stores in Belgium, France, and even 2 in New York City. Their homemade granola is incredible (it includes whole cashews and toasted coconut!), and one of my favorite tartinnes (open faced sandwich) is made with thick slices of brie, sprinkled with the granola, and drizzled with honey.


Le Pain du Chatelain is on the Place du Chatelain. We also love it, though the food is very different than at Le Pain Quotidienne. More traditional breakfast items are served, like omellettes. This was the very first restaurant we ate at in Brussels. We sat outside (the weather was still warm) and muddled our way through ordering in French (the waitress did not speak English). Their chocolate chaude (hot chocolate) is to die for.

Flower shops abound in Brussels. This one is on the Place du Chatelain. Our good friend Ethan from Atlanta sent us a Holiday wreath shortly after we moved into our apartment. It came from this shop, and I am still trying to find out how Ethan managed this!

Our favorite Friday night dinner spot is Mama Roma's. It is on Rue du Page, which is right around the corner from our apartment. They have great pizza that is sold by the kilo. Like many Belgian restaurants, they don't have high chairs, so we take Grayson's portable booster with us and strap it to one of their chairs. There are always plenty of kids there, and it's a very casual place, so noone seems to mind.

And now - - photos of Grayson

Happy New Year from Amsterdam!

Riding the Thalys

Still jet-lagged from our return to Brussels from the U.S., we boarded the high-speed train Thalys for a short 2 1/2 hour ride to Amsterdam. Grayson may look charming in these photos, but we quickly discovered that traveling with an almost-2-year-old is a challenge. He was climbing all over us during the entire train ride (next time we'll bring the car seat!).

Mommy and Grayson on the "choo-choo"

Amsterdam's bikes and canals

The two things I will remember most about Amsterdam are the bikes and canals. Everyone rides bikes everywhere. There are bikes with child seats on the back, on the front, and with "sidecar" type things (on the front, though) for multiple kids to ride in at once. Often women sit "side-saddle" on the back of the bike while the men pedal. A guidebook I read said that there are as many bikes in Amsterdam as there are people - and I believe it.

The canals are everywhere, and are lined with houseboats (which, by the way, are not that charming - most look like single-wide mobile homes that float). The bridges over the canals, however, are charming. They are arched and outlined with lights. We went on a canal boat ride and it felt like we were on Disney's "It's a Small World" ride.

Enjoying the sights from one of Amsterdam's many canal boats

New Years Eve

After an early dinner, we went back to the hotel and put Grayson to bed - in the bathroom, in hopes that he wouldn't be awakened by the fireworks. Thankfully, and to our amazement, he slept through them. Promptly at midnight they began - and didn't end for an hour. With no 4th of July celebration, New Year's is Europe's chance to show off their pyrotechnics. From our hotel window we could see fireworks being shot off all up and down the Amstel River - and right on the street in front of us by some not-so-sober locals.

Dinner in Amsterdam

Apparently the Dutch's high level of tolerance (their motto is "Live and Let Live") extends to children. We were able to enjoy a very nice early evening dinner at a local restaurant - - with our noisy, messy almost-2-year-old!

Fireworks along the Amstel River

The locals' fireworks displays were just as impressive - perhaps because of the fear factor ("do you think one could shoot right into our window?")

Amsterdam's Museums

The Van Gogh Museum

We dragged poor Grayson to several museums. We managed to enjoy them once we perfected the art (pun intended) of "tag teaming" ("you take Grayson, I'll go look"). At the Van Gogh Museum we saw many of his famous works, including the beautiful Sunflowers and several self-portraits.

Rijksmuseum

Next we visited the Rijksmuseum. Fortunately (at least for us and our loud, wiggly almost-2-year-old) the Rijksmuseum is undergoing a massive renovation and only "The Masterpieces" are available for viewing, having all been relocated to one wing of the museum. In less than an hour we were able to see them all, including many paintings by the Dutch master Rembrandt.

The Anne Frank House

Ever since my first reading of "The Diary of Anne Frank" when I was very young, I have always wanted to visit the Anne Frank House. After standing in line (you can see Tony in the photo above, on the far right) for quite a while, we made it in. Tony graciously chased Grayson around while I viewed the secret annex and all of the memorabilia, including the first of Anne's diaries that she wrote during the two years her family hid from the Nazis during World War II.

The exterior of the Anne Frank House

We made it back to Brussels . . . but we will NEVER board a train again without the car seat :)