We just returned on Monday from a last minute trip to Belgium. We decided to spend my 35th birthday in another foreign country (last year we were in Salzburg - lucky me!) and we flew in very early on the 4th so we had a full day of enjoying Brussels, which was our hub for the trip. It was a foggy morning, but mild temperatures, so great touring weather, just not great for the pictures.
We walked from our Hotel, which was off of Avenue Louise, toward the old center of town, passing by all the great boutiques along the way. We walked passed the Palace of Justice which is currently undergoing a huge face lift and the vast majority of the exterior is obscured by scaffolding. The top of the dome must have been the first part cleaned and restored as even in the fog it glimmered through the haze.
En route to the Grand Palace (Grote Markt) we also saw the exteriors of the Palais Royal and the exquisite art nouveau exterior of the Museum of Music. Once at the Markt we had a lovely little lunch on the plaza at the restaurant Le Paon, a former guildhall built in the 15th century, but restored in the 19th century. I had the traditional Moules & Pomme Frites (Mussels & french fries) as I always like to do the "when in Rome" thing, at least once.
North facade of the Grand Palace Markt
West facade of the Grand Palace and the view from our lunch table
After lunch we did a little window shopping and strolled down the enclosed Galeries St.-Hubert where we found my birthday gift, a lovely silver bracelet made in Brussels.
The glass ceiling of the Galeries
Making our way back to the hotel so we could rest a bit before dinner, we stopped by the Cathedral Church of Sr. Michael & St. Gudula and then through the Parc de Bruxelles before we stopped for a quick "Birthday Waffle" - I have to say it was a fabulous treat!
mmmmmmmm........waffles......
As a special treat for my birthday we had made reservations at the restaurant Comme Chez Soi. In 2006 (haven't check if in 2007 it still is) it was rated as a 3 star Michelin restaurant so we had high expectations of a lovely evening. We had a very nice time enjoying each other's company and the intricate art nouveau interior. I also really like their china - a contemporary white service with concentric circular grooves (looking much like record groves) in a matte finish with the center in a gloss finish. The restaurant also had a window into the kitchen so you could watch the chefs busily hurrying around. A subtle compliment to the kitchen-view was the landscape mural on the back wall of the kitchen, it really added a sense of serenity to a crazy show. While the food was all very nice, it was not over-the-top spectacular, and the service was too slow in my opinion for a restaurant of this level (my water glass and wine glass were both frequently empty over the three hours we were there). Thankfully I had my favorite company along to enjoy the event of evening.
Birthday dinner at Comme Chez Soi with my new bracelet - sorry Reeves there is no picture of you
The next day we woke early so we could take the train out to Bruges (Brugge). It is an "impossibly picturesque" town, as one of our tour books quotes, around 11am.
We started by touring St. Johns Hospital which has been converted into a museum housing many of Hans Memling's works. They were truly spectacular pieces which are considered to be of the Flemish Primitives school of art. It was a nicely displayed collection in the ancient backdrop of the hospital, but it was a bit annoying there were no individual labels on each object and you were forced to carry around a photocopied collection booklet to which you had to refer - all the while trying to navigate and listen to the hand-held audio guide.
The exterior side of the St. John Hospital
We also visited the Onze-Lieve-Vrouwekerk church which houses Michelangelo's carved white marble Madonna and Child which is one of only a few pieces of his outside Italy.
Michelangelo's Madonna and Child
Lunch was again on the agenda and as we like to do, not necessarily for the great culinary experience, we chose to eat on the Markt so we could people watch and take in the day. After we quickly walked through the Belfort-Hallen, a belfry and hall with an imposing edifice.
The Belfort-Hallen 
The traditional biscuit-tin buildings on the Markt
Wandering through the perfect little streets we wound our way over and around the canals till we decided we wanted to do one of the canal boat tours.
Next we were off to the Groeninge Museum. A relatively small museum, but has some wonderful masterpieces by Jan van Eyck, Gerard David and Hieronymus Bosch. (One of my favorite paintings is Bosch's The Garden of Earthly Delights)
After its closing, we walked toward the windmills, which have been relocated to their present location on the top of an earthen bank which is the former location of the old town walls. These are my first Flemish windmills and it was quite a thrill to see them in the warm setting sun light.
Reeves taking a picture of the next windmill
Reeves and I stayed around Bruges for dinner at the suggestion of a person we met on the train - he said it would be much less busy coming back after dinner (as it was standing room only en route - thankfully we had seats). We had dinner at a restaurant overlooking the canal.
View from our dinner spot
Us at dinner
While we had a lovely dinner location, the good times were not meant to be...we both spent the coming night and next day suffering from food poisoning - yuck. At least we really got to relax!
The last day we were up again early, both having recovered enoughto continue our travels. We found the most scrumptious little bakery & cafe for breakfast.
Le Pain Quotidien
We found out later that this shop is actually a chain, so if you happen to see one, be sure to stop in for wonderful breads.
Next we were off to the Belgian Center for Comic Strip art, including a museum in Brussels (Centre Belge de la Bande Dessinee). It is home to the likes of TinTin and the Smurfs, each of which Reeves and I grew up on. While is was a nice size collection, the vast majority of the strips were not in English, as well as not going international, so while we enjoyed what we did understand/have a connection to, it would be much more enjoyable if we were French/Belgian.
We then caught another train out of the city to what we were hoping was going to be Antwerp. We, however, were not the only ones who seem to have gotten on the wrong train as the group in front of us also had to get off and reassess their location. We thought we were heading in the right direction, especially when we went through "Brussels Nord", but little did we know the train turned south and we finally got off at Namen (the complete opposite direction we hope to go) when the ticket-taker told us we were on the wrong train.
Making lemonade, we decided to stay the afternoon in Namen and visited their historic citadel which has been the sight of many strategic defensive armies, up until even WWII.
View of Namen from the Citadel - you can see a bit of the fortress in the the foreground
We had a lovely al fresco lunch in this quaint little square, visited a couple churches and took the train back home. We were exhausted and both couldn't face sitting in a restaurant for another couple hours so we asked the concierges for a take-away recommendation and walked to where she just had dinner. We had some great Chinese take-away while sitting in our room watching Shrek III - gotta love vacation & on-demand TV!!!