Visiting the Modern Art Museum in Brussels (Belgium) with Savvy Mom Ruth Paget

Visiting the Modern Art Museum in Brussels (Belgium) with Savvy Mom Ruth Paget

On a quick trip to Brussels (Belgium), my friend Eileen and I planned to visit the Modern Art Museum in downtown Brussels to view their collection of the Belgian Surrealist painter René Magritte.

First, we ate lunch at a restaurant called the Moule Sacré that had good food at a good price.  Mussels are called the “poor man’s oysters,” but I noticed that the Belgians, who ate them had become rather wealthy.  Mussels also taste good especially when made with crème fraîche, shallots, and white wine.

Eileen and I tried a menu special that had the following items on it:

-avocado halves with chopped, boiled shrimp and creamy, estragon dressing

-Scottish smoked salmon with rye bread and salted butter

-Dames Blanches sundaes made with vanilla ice cream, chocolate sauce, and whipped cream

After lunch, we went to the Modern Art Museum well fed and eager to view the Surrealist paintings by René Magritte.

I loved Magritte’s painting of a train coming out of a fireplace as well as his painting of a baguette loaf of bread floating in the sky.

After visiting the Museum, Eileen walked me to the Gare du Midi, so I could go back to Paris.

I read a book about Hong Kong all the way home.  I liked being Miss – Information even when I was young.

By Ruth Paget, author of Eating Soup of Chopsticks and Marrying France

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Visiting Brussels: 48-Hours in Belgium with Savvy Mom Ruth Paget

Visiting Brussels: 48-Hours in Belgium with Savvy Mom Ruth Paget

Laurent and I both wanted to see Brussels (Belgium), which was called the European Economic Community then and the European Union now.  The car ride there was hot and sweat ran down our faces despite our air-conditioned car.

The countryside along the way featured many triangular, red rooftops and brick houses.  Church steeples were shaped like cones.

When we arrived in town, we checked into our hotel and then set out to discover what there was to see downtown.  According to the Michelin Touring Guide, Brussels is and always was a merchant town.

I am a church touring buff, so we zeroed in on the Saint Nicholas Church.  Saint Nicholas is the patron saint of merchants, which explains the dedication of a church to him in Brussels.

We walked around the Grande Place admiring the buildings.  The building with the most gold on its façade was the beernahess hall built by the Beer Brewers’ Guild.

My favorite beers from Belgium would soon become cherry-flavored Kriek and a wheat beer named Geuze.

The architecture in Brussels surprised me.  It was much flashier than Dutch architecture.  The guilds tried to outdo each other and show how rich they were in their decoration, especially with gold decoration.

From the Grande Place, we went to the Manniken Pis Fountain called “The Little Julien” fountain.  Little Julien pees water.  I am glad even supposedly sophisticated Europeans have scatological humor (potty humor).

Laurent and I went to a restaurant across from the Ministry of the Interior that had plush, comfortable booths.  Most customers must come during the day as there were few evening customers.  We almost had the whole restaurant to ourselves.

The waiter loved us for ordering full meals of three courses.  Laurent and I had fish as our main dish and drank a Muscadet from Sèvres et Loir with it.  We returned to the hotel well fed and a little exhausted from our walk around town.

We ate lunch in a pub the next day – steamed mussels, French fries with mayonnaise, and Geuze beer.  One aroma I will always associate with Brussels is that of hot oil for frying French fries.  I like French fries dunked in mayonnaise like the Beligians eat them, too.

The next day we went to the Leonidas chocolate shop and bought 1-kilo boxes of chocolate to store and eat on the hot road trip back to Paris.

By Ruth Paget, Eating Soup with Chopsticks and Marrying France

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