Morning in Brussels

Chocolate is the religion of Brussels. Families are divided about which chocolatier is better. We liked all of them.

A walk around the city proved Bethany’s adage, “Brussels is the Cleveland of Europe”. It is a nice city, but it’s a little less than spectacular. The basilica is closed, the palace is closed, the museums are tired…. However, the rooms and staff at Hotel Amigo were splendid.

Front desk, concierge, bellmen, all exquisitely trained and eternally delightful.

The Museum of Musical Instruments had a system failure, so no sounds to hear, but the Museum Fin de Siecle was lovely. We were 3 of ten people in 5 floors of the museum. Quiet and relaxing, we viewed what is probably a second rate collection — few artists we recognized. What were probably the students of Renoir, Lautrec and Matisse, seemed glorious to us. We wandered slowly, sat down and pondered, then got to the bottom floor (the museum starts on ground level and goes 8 floors down), and we’re greeted by the art nouveau of Victor Horta and his compatriots. Brussels must have been a world class city in 1900.We are on the train to Amsterdam, lounging in a red velvet banquet eating quiche. Oh, the life!