Belgium A Three-Day Tour in a Few Hours and a Lifetime of Memories

Act 28:14: 

Where we found brethren, and were desired to tarry with them seven days.... 

When a young believer named Patrick from Belgium was at Headquarters for the Advanced Class  in June, he had invited Brenda and I to visit him and his wife as part of our trip to London. He was enthusiastic about how simple it was to take the Eurostar train from London to Brussels, and we decided this was something we would like to do. So before we left Ohio, we booked our train to Brussels.

Our train would leave St. Pancras train station in London at 6:50 a.m. so we had to get out the door pretty early. By now we were so familiar with the transport that it was fairly straightforward. We got to our 170 bus stop at 4:15 a.m. Brrr. It was cold. At many of the large bus stops, they have electronic signs that tell you how many minutes till your next bus comes. I think they may have something similar in the NY metro area. Our 170 bus stop is a smaller stop, but you can still find out when your bus is coming by texting your bus stop code to a certain number. So I did that when we got to our bus stop and found out it was 20 minutes till our next bus. After that 20 minutes had elapsed, our bus came and we took it to the familiar Victoria Station.

At Victoria Station, we boarded the Victoria line which took us directly to the St. Pancras/Kings Cross tube  station. From the tube station, we walked (indoors) to the St. Pancras train station. At the train station, you go through a passport check and a security check. We went through a British passport check as well as a French passport check. We got another stamp in our passport (our first one was at Heathrow when we arrived on Saturday). After leaving security,  you enter a big lobby where you wait for the platform number of your train to be posted. We had a little extra time so we went to the currency exchange and bought some euros, since Belgium uses the Euro and we wanted to have a little local currency.

When our platform number was announced, we went up an escalator and saw this long, long train. Our car was #16, so we walked for awhile and found our car and climbed on and got into our seats. 

The seats were very comfortable and even had footrests (American Airlines, take note). The photo is of Brenda’s feet on her footrest. As we got underway, there were live (not recorded) announcements in four languages: English, Dutch, French, and German. Our trip was not on an express train so we made a couple of more stops in England and one in France before we got to Brussels. I think we stopped in Ebbsfleet and Ashford in England and in Calais-Frethun and Lille in France. I had to look that up after our trip as I didn't really know where we were stopping. But every time we picked up new customers those announcements would be made.  There was a concessions car on the train and since we hadn’t had breakfast before we left, we made the walk down from Car 16 to Car 13 to buy some coffee and breakfast items.

Approximately 2 hours later, we arrived in Brussels. We navigated our way to the exit and no sooner had we walked through the door than we were met by Mathieu and Patrick. 

 
Mathieu had just visited HQ for the 70th anniversary with his wife Fifi, Patrick’s wife, Julia, Mary-Marthe and her daughter. Mathieu had his camera in hand chronicling our entrance. 

Before we left the station, we had to have another public restroom experience. Now the charge for the use of a station was in Euros! A new challenge:

The rain was falling in Brussels, but Patrick and Mathieu had umbrellas in hand for us. We walked to their car covered by their umbrellas and climbed in. 

You know how it’s just a little uncomfortable or disorienting when you arrive somewhere new and have just gotten off transportation, etc. etc. Well, we climbed into that car and when Mathieu started up his Renault, the music coming from the sound system was the latest CD from HQ and Trudy’s voice greeted us with “The Harvest Is Plenteous.”  Both Brenda and I just burst into tears. We were so moved. There was so much love of God exhibited to us in just our first 15 minutes in country and the love never stopped.

Turns out Mathieu works for the Eurostar. He is one of the folks who makes those announcements in the four languages. He is also an excellent driver. After he and his wife left HQ for the anniversary, they took a road trip to Youngstown, PA, and then  up to Montreal before flying home!  He lives in (or very near) Brussels and is very familiar with the town. Patrick used to live in Brussels but he and his wife and five children have moved to Waremme which is about 50 minutes away. Before driving to Patrick and Julia’s home for dinner, Mathieu and Patrick took us to several famous Belgian sites. All were very significant to Patrick and he really wanted us to be able to see them and have photos in front of them.

We drove for a bit, found a spot in a parking garage, and then walked up to the Old Stock Exchange of Brussels. We didn’t get a wide enough shot to show you the whole building, but we are standing in front. It’s called The Bourse/Beurs of Brussels

Patrick and Mathieu speak very good English but didn’t always know the precise English equivalent for every Belgian location they were pointing out. Brenda and I speak no French, but from the context, I  believe we did a very, very good job of communicating with one another. Believe we are accurately representing what we saw. 

The next site we walked to was very near the Bourse, it is called Bruxella 1238. The museum is only open the first Wednesday of every month, so we didn’t get to go through, but we could look at some of it through some windows along the street. From one Web site: “Located on the site of the Recollets Franciscan convent, founded in 1238 but dissolved during the religious wars of the 16th century. Severely damaged during the bombardment of 1695, the convent disappeared at the end of the 18th century. The excavations that uncovered these vestiges began in 1988 and have culminated in the opening of this archaeological site.”

From here, we walked to the Gran Place of Brussels. Patrick told us that every town in Belgium has a gran place (a plaza or town square). From Wikipedia: “The Gran Place or Grote Markt is the central square of Brussels. It is surrounded by guildhalls, the city's Town Hall, and the Breadhouse. The square is the most important tourist destination and most memorable landmark in Brussels. It measures 68 by 110 metres (223 by 360 ft), and it is a UNESCO World Heritage Site.”

It is a beautiful and impressive site. Brenda has been very intrigued by the flowers all over London. And now here in Belgium in the middle of the Gran Place were some beautiful bright flowers thriving very late in the season. She was fascinated by these bright flowers, two of the genuses of which were calluna and Erica. It’s heather, bright beautiful colors of heather. 

 
Patrick and Matthieu told us that at times the entire square is covered with flowers. We found some postcards to show us this. It’s so beautiful. Again, here’s Wikipedia’s summary: “Every two years in August, an enormous "flower carpet" is set up in the Grand Place for a few days. A million colorful begonias are set up in patterns, and the display covers a full 24 by 77 meters (79 by 253 ft), for area total of 1,800 square meters (19,000 sq ft). The first flower carpet was made in 1971, and due to its popularity, the tradition continued, with the flower carpet attracting a large number of tourists.”

After taking several photos here we walked down another street where we saw a statue (Everard ’t Serclaes) that many people walk by and touch for its healing properties. (Matthieu said, “I don’t believe it!”) We did see many people walk by and touch it.

 We also stopped to see another famous Brussels statue called the Manneken-Pis. It is a small bronze fountain sculpture depicting a naked little boy urinating into the fountain's basin. It was designed by Hiëronymus Duquesnoy the Elder and put in place in 1618 or 1619. There are several legends about the statue, but the one Patrick shared with us is that this statue represents a young boy who was awoken by a fire and was able to put out the fire with his urine, in the end this helped stop the king's castle from burning down.

We continued to walk down the street where we stopped to buy some souvenirs and to have a delicious Belgian waffle and to buy chocolates to bring home. Right about this point, my camera decided to die again, and this time, I am not kidding, it told me that my battery was exhausted "in French." I really do NOT know how that happened! Matthieu was so smart in that he put my digital card into his camera so that I would have all the pictures when I got home. Then he sent me any photos he had taken with his card. What a collaboration!

Next we walked back to the car park, retrieved the car, and drove to the Royal Palace of Brussels, the official palace of the King of the Belgians in the center of the nation's capital Brussels. It is not used as a royal residence, as the king and his family live in the Royal Castle of Laeken on the outskirts of Brussels. We parked and took some more photos.  You can see their own guard outside their palace.

Patrick would have liked to take us to the Laeken Castle which has a vast complex of monumental heated greenhouses in the park of the Royal Castle of Laeken in Brussels and is one of the major tourist attractions of the city. But it was time to go pick up Mary-Marthe who would join us to go to Waremme. She is Patrick’s assistant, and that very morning she had defended her thesis for a Master’s in Communication. She said it went very well. After a stop at a Brussels grocery store, we were off to Waremme. We were a little behind Patrick’s intended schedule, again establishing the trend I saw about touristing, “Everything takes a little longer than planned.”

Julia met us at their beautiful home and offered us drinks and fellowship. 

Patrick and Julia have five sons: Théodore (8), Gabriel (6), Timéo (4), Joël (turns 2 on 11/5), and Micaël (6 months). The three oldest were at school, so Patrick went to pick them up. When he returned, Théodore, Gabriel, and Timéo came into the room and introduced themselves to us, welcomed us, and hugged us. They were very, very sweet young boys, kind and polite. Brenda really enjoyed holding the baby, Micaël.

Their home is lovely. On the big screen TV the Anniversary Sunday DVD was playing. 
 
Again, how at home we felt so many miles away.  After visiting for some time, the adults all sat down at their dining room table to enjoy a feast prepared by Julia!  We have pictures of it, not sure I can remember what everything was: there was rice, beans, plantain, sausage, meatballs, meat, fish, greens (similar to collard greens?), an African dish, some green beans wrapped in little bundles with bacon , and more. We certainly enjoyed our breaking bread. 

After we ate, the children sang a French song for us (Rollaway in French).  We had dessert (apricot pie), exchanged gifts. We brought them GIve and Share booklets, wristbands, and magnets, toys for the boys, and Ohio chocolates--Buckeyes.

 Then they gave us gifts --- more Belgium sweets!

Then then we knew we must be on our way to catch our 7 p.m. train after many hugs and a group photo of course.  

We left Patrick’s home at 5 p.m.—Mathieu driving with Mary-Marthe and Patrick joining us.

Patrick had really wanted us to see one more monument, the Atonium, but Mathieu suggested we would need to skip that in order to get us to the train station on time. Wise decision. With his excellent driving and his knowledge of the streets of Brussels to avoid traffic jams, we arrived at the station by 6:30 p.m. He said he knew the streets like the "inside of his pocket."

They all came inside with us and walked us all the way to passport control. Mathieu’s wife, Fifi, had come to the station to see us for just those few moments. She is a nurse and had been working that day, therefore unable to join us for the meal. So for just those few moments as we were hustling to the passport control, we hugged and said “I love you, goodbye, thank you, I love you, thank you, au revoir” many times.  

 
(Patrick then took the tube train back to his home 50 minutes away.) We then went through passport control (long line), French customs, security, up the escalators to the platform, and got on our train with about 5 minutes to spare. Brenda and I never doubted that they would get us there on time and God had us in His hands. But that was a trip! 



We were on Car #3 on the way back. This train only had one stop so seemed to get us back faster. Brenda got a good nap!!!! I think we went back through Passport control again in St. Pancras (it kind of all runs together), then walked to the tube station, took the Victoria line, used the 30 pence ladies room in Victoria Station for the last time, took the 170 bus for the last time, and went to Tesco’s for the last time. We came home and packed and then tried to get to bed for a good night’s sleep for a day of travel on Saturday.