Touring Brussels

Touring Brussels

I have found a gem of a tour guide. Her name is Andree and she calls her service "Discover Belgium." She does a different tour almost every week. Most are only 1/2 day, so I can go on a tour while the kids are at school. Some of her tours are all day or for several days. She is a delightful woman full of knowledge about Belgium and passion for her country. She markets her tours through the American Women's Club and through some organizations linked to NATO and the EU, so we always end up with a very multi-national group.

We came out of the Metro at the Opera House. Andree gave us a little history lesson (the Belgian revolution started here). There are market stands in the plaza in front of the Opera House.

As part of my "Hints for Living in Belgium" class, we went on a tour of the Brussels transit system. It was a great opportunity to learn about the little secrets of the system (ie. the group ticket is a real bargain!) We rode the Metro (subway), bus and tram, and saw some sights. (The group leader brought her dog along - they are allowed on all the transit!)

This is what is known as the Black Tower. They called it that because it was filled with vines for a long time and, so, looked black on the inside. It is part of the original city walls around Brussels. It is now surrounded by a hotel!

This is St. Catherine's Church in Brussels. We just walked past it, but it is quite impressive.

The transit tour was a nice introduction to Brussels. I got more comfortable with the system and I look forward to returning to many of the wonderful places I saw.

On a Saturday, our whole family went on a tour of a chocolate producer. We visited Duval chocolates. They just mold the chocolate, but it was fun to learn how they do it, and even more fun to sample the chocolate! Does Laura look happy?!

Then on the next day we went to the Museum of Natural Sciences (taking the metro and bus because Laura learned how on her tours!) There is a good exhibit about dinosaurs and some fun exhibits about evolution. There is also a great hands-on area for little kids. But mostly we learned that the Denver Museum of Nature and Science is a real treasure and we have been lucky to be able to take advantage of it over the past 10 years!

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