Warm Belgian Waffles on a Rainy Day in Brussels

 A little over a week ago I took a two-day trip to Belgium to meet my friend Karen who had come to Brussels on a business trip.  It was her first time in Europe, and I felt lucky to tag along as she saw the beautiful sites of the country for the first time.  My train ride took around two and a half hours, and in that short amount of time we whizzed through three separate languages zones--we crossed out of Dutch-speaking Holland and entered Flemish-speaking Belgium.  Then came the cities of Antwerp, Mechelen, and then suddenly when we got off the train in Brussels everything was in French.  As with my day-trip to Lille several weeks ago, it was so nice to suddenly be able to speak to people--even if I do stumble a lot in French.  I felt like Wilbur in the cartoon version of Charlotte's Web: "I can talk, I can talk, I can talk!"  I start Dutch lessons next week, so hopefully before long I'll also feel like Wilbur in Holland!

Before meeting Karen, I took the subway to the Parc du Cinquantenaire.  There are long stretches of lawn and trees and lots of school groups.

An impressive triumphal arch (also in the first picture) forms the centerpiece of the park, and right next to it is a wonderful art museum.  A couple years ago I made a special trip to Brussels from another city in Belgium to see this museum.  Being too stingy to buy a subway ticket, I thought I'd just jog from the train station to the Parc du Cinquantenaire.  Ha!  It was much farther than it looked on the map--much, much farther.  I showed up at the door half an hour before closing time, and they were no longer selling tickets.  I think they only let me in because they thought I might cry otherwise.  I'm glad to say that I arrived with more dignity this time and had several hours to look around.

The museum has an extensive collection of fifteenth- and sixteenth-century wooden altarpieces made in Brussels.  They are elaborately carved and painted with the apostles clustered around the Lord at the Last Supper, weeping mourners at the tomb, and Calvary scenes filled with soldiers casting lots for Christ's cloak, scribes and pharisees, and grieving disciples.  The gold and silver head reliquary in this picture was part of a room filled with enameled crucifixes, chalices, and other Church treasures from the earlier Middle Ages.

Karen and I met at the Cathedral of Sts.-Michel-et-Gudule.  Surrounded by buildings in down-town Brussels, this elegant church can be difficult to spot until you turn a corner and suddenly there it is towering over you at the top of a long flight of stairs.  It is partially medieval with lots of nineteenth-century Neo-Gothic restorations.

The clerestory windows keep the nave well lit.  To the right is a Flemish baroque pulpit made from dark wood.  Many Belgian churches have these types of pulpits, always carved with a jungle of vines and animals, as well as figures.  If the sermon is boring, there's always plenty to look at to keep you from falling asleep!

The statue of Our Lady of the Assumption has been the center of a local cult here for centuries.  Like other miracle-working images, the likeness has been honored with brocade robes and gold crowns.

I'm doing a directed readings course this semester on the writings of Jan Ruusbroec, a fourteenth-century Flemish mystic.  For the first part of his ministry as a priest, he served in this very cathedral, offering daily mass for the dead at one of the side chapels in the church.  This statue commemorates him, and just beyond the frame of the photograph there is also a plaque honoring one of my favorite artists--Rogier van der Weyden, who lived and worked in Brussels during the fifteenth century.

Brussels is a really beautiful city with a mix of Flemish architecture and French Neoclassical style.  We climbed to the top of the Mont des Arts--"Mountain of the Arts"--on our way to the Mus ée d'Art Ancien, which has the city's main painting collection.

This church and statue mark the Place Royale at the peak of the Mont des Arts.

Notre-Dame-du-Sablon is also near the museum, a small, late Gothic church with crowds of stone saints packed tightly into the arched vault over the entrance.

It was a whirlwind tour of the Mus ée d'Art Ancien, and I made us spend the bulk of our time pouring over fifteenth-century Flemish panel paintings.  We also got to see some fabulous Rubens canvases with dramatic Counter-Reformation subjects.  There's nothing quite like the theatricality of Baroque art with the martyred saints looking up to heaven, their murderers raising swords and clubs, and rearing horses nearly falling out of the painting and into the museum gallery.  On our way out, we were intrigued by a huge globe that a modern artist had decorated with thousands of scarab beetles!  Kind of a strange idea, but the many different shades of iridescent green made an impressive mosaic!

Brussels is famous for Art Nouveau, a late nineteenth- and early twentieth-century movement, primarily in architecture and the decorative arts.  Much of Art Nouveau is inspired by organic forms--wrought iron balconies that twist and curve like vines, stained glass lampshades that look like wisteria blossoms, or lopsided windows and doorways that remind you of caves or natural arches carved by the wind.

Victor Horta was one of the greatest Art Nouveau architects, and Karen and I visited his house, which he designed completely--even down to the hinges for the doors.  No photography was allowed inside.  The wrought iron banister going up the multiple flights of stairs in his tall, narrow home was an Art Nouveau tour de force.  There were stained glass skylights, hand-painted wall paper, and  I even noticed that the door handles had been artistically twisted to look like plants.

My motto is that when you're in France or a French-influenced place you need to find the pastry shop as soon as possible.  I got this meringue with chocolate and a cream filling.  It was wonderful!

But in the treats category, Belgium's true fame comes from chocolates!  There are chocolate stores everywhere, and many of them had Easter creations in the windows.

Furthermore, Belgium is to be honored as the birthplace of the praline--chocolates with wonderful different kinds of fillings.  You can get pistachio, walnut, hazelnut, fruit creams, various dark chocolate ganaches, and even some unusual fillings like lavender, cinnamon, or even tomato-balsamic and wasabi!  I ate quite a few pralines during my days in Belgium!

It was raining pretty steadily by the time we made our way to the Grand Place, Brussels' beautiful town square, surrounded by a mix of buildings with Gothic carving, Flemish brickwork, and gilded spires.  We had stopped to get another famous Belgian treat--French fries with mayonnaise.  I know it sounds a little revolting.  It is actually delicious, and the mayonnaise is much higher quality than the stuff you get in American fast food restaurants.  I know it also sounds like a double heart attack.  It is. 

And the final treat of the day was a warm Belgian waffle--Brussels' signature snack food.  They are thicker and denser than an American waffle and they have sugar on the outside that caramelizes as they cook on the iron .  You can get them to go topped with fruit, whipped cream, ice cream, powdered sugar, or just a dark chocolate glaze, which is what I got.