Official Day two was another early bus ride and day full of meetings. We ate at the cafeteria again... totally gross! After lunch we all took a tour of the Tupperware plant. It was interesting to see how the products were made, tested, stored, and distributed. I took some photos and video to commemorate the tour. It was an impressive operation. After the tour it was back to the meeting.
We left at 5pm to travel to Brussels to eat dinner. The bus ride was rough. We got caught in rush hour traffic in the city and the driver kept up a steady back and forth movement to ensure everyone was car sick. We finally stopped because the bus couldn't fit on the road we needed to get to. Everyone got off the bus so relieved to be breathing fresh air and in the process was hit with some pretty cold temperatures! The sun was out but I wore my leather jacket almost the whole time we were there.
We began to walk on some serious cobblestone sidewalks gruffling under our breath about the bus ride. With my head down watching where I walked, I was totally taken by surprise when I looked up to see the entire group in this large courtyard. It took my breath away. It is called the Grand Place and it is one of the biggest tourist destinations in Brussels. The courtyard is lined with guildhall buildings from the 13th century and city hall. The buildings were huge and so ornate, so tall, and some trimmed in gold. It was breathtaking and made the horrible bus ride totally worth it.
 |
| Restaurant - La Maison du Cygne |
 |
| Grand Place - Maison du Roi |
 |
| Grand Place Courtyard |
 |
| Everard 't Serclaes |
We entered the restaurant and climbed a winding staircase to the top floor. Our restaurant, La Maison du Cygne, was one of the buildings in the courtyard. Just outside the entrance was a famous bronze statue called the Everard 't Serclaes. Touching the arm of the statue was suppose to bring you good luck. Since we were headed to dinner I let the other people in the group do all the touching. The interior was wood with enchanting chandeliers and wall treatments. It looked so elegant. The private room where we were seated had four large tables. Our appetizer was thinly sliced beef with a blob of vanilla ice cream and lettuce on top. Turns out the beef was raw and the ice cream was mixed with parmesan cheese. The menu called it L’Incontournable Carpaccio de boeuf Marine’ a’ l’Huile d’ Olive, Basilic et Glace au parmesan. It didn’t taste too bad but I just couldn’t get the raw part out of my head so I kept it to a sample size. The main entrée was lamb and potatoes and it was followed with a sampling of cheeses and crème brulee for dessert.
The food was super fancy but the service was super slow. I was told that slow meals was the European way. I normally would be fine with that but I was so tired by the time we reached 3 hours I could hardly keep my eyes open. After some lively conversation at my table and the need to stretch, I excused myself to go to the restroom. When I got to the hall where the bathrooms were the labels on each room were in French and there was no sign of the little skirt or pants figures. So I guessed! Luckily, I guessed right! We wrapped things up at the restuarant and began our walk back to our bus. The courtyard was lit up like a palace. It was an amazing scene. We ended up back at the hotel around 11pm but the experience was very memorable and well worth it.
 |
| La Maison du Roi at night |
No comments:
Post a Comment