The country of Belgium, located between France and the Netherlands, has a
complicated history - here are a few of the highlights:
The area of present-day Belgium was first invaded by the Romans around
100 B.C., at which time they found it to be inhabited by Celtic/Germanic
people called Belgae. The area became the northernmost province
in Gaul, and was given the name Gallia Belgica. For several
centuries starting in the Middle Ages the ownership of the region was
split between France and the Holy Roman Empire, but in the 17th Century
most of the area of modern Belgium came under the control of the Habsburgs
of Spain and Austria. Over the next century a number of wars were fought
between France and either Spain or Austria, and all of them seemed to use
Belgium as a battleground. In 1794 the French took over, and after
Napoleon’s 1815 defeat at Waterloo (located a bit south of Brussels), the
area known as the "Low Countries" (including the present-day Belgium and
Netherlands) was united as the independent United Kingdom of the
Netherlands. Religious differences between the mainly Protestant north
and the mainly Catholic south led to the 1830 Belgian Revolution and the
establishment of Belgium as an independent country. Belgium continued to
be a battleground in the 20th Century, when it was invaded by Germany
early in both of the World Wars. In both instances the dislodging of
German forces was a bloody but ultimately successful undertaking.
Present-day Belgium is a federal monarchy, with a king named Philippe (who
became king in 2013 on the abdication for health reasons of his father,
Albert II) and a Parliament. The Kingdom of Belgium has a division of its
own, though this is a linguistic division rather than a religious one. The
people of the north mainly speak Dutch, and the people of the south mainly
speak French. The country is divided into two main regions that reflect
this – the north is called Flanders, and is inhabited by mainly
Dutch-speaking Flemish people, and the south is called Wallonia, peopled
primarily by French speakers known as Walloons. Wallonia also has
a German-speaking minority located in the far eastern part of the region
(where Belgium borders Germany – duh). There is a certain amount of
friction between the two regions, as some of the Dutch-speakers have felt
that the French-speakers have enjoyed preferential treatment in certain
areas. But over the decades there has been a trend toward adoption of
French by many of the Dutch-speakers, as they have found French to be a
more valuable language in matters of international commerce. But overall,
Belgium is still populated by 59% Dutch-speakers.
There is a third region, much smaller than the other two and completely
surrounded by Flanders. This is the Brussels-Capital Region, which
contains the city of Brussels and a number of other municipalities. This
region is officially bilingual (the street signs, for instance, are in
both languages), but only 10-15% of its people are Dutch-speakers, with
most of the remainder speaking French. This was our destination, and with
our minimal French vocabulary exceeding our nonexistent Dutch vocabulary,
the language distribution was fine with us.
We already had some familiarity with the Cologne train station, so getting
on the right train wasn’t really a problem for us.
Cologne Train Station
Nella and Connie and Luggage
Destination Sign
But getting off at the right station turned out to be another matter. As it
turns out, Brussels (Bruxelles in French) has three main stations: a
northern station (Nord), a southern station (Sud) and a central station
(Midi). We made the mistake of getting off at the Nord station, which put us
in an area where none of the streets were familiar (we’d printed a map of our
hotel’s immediate area). After some confusion, we were able to get back on a
train that took us to the Midi station. From here we walked downhill and found
our now-nearby hotel, the
Best Western Hotel Carrefour de l'Europe.
Central Brussels
Hotel Carrefour de l'Europe
After some unpacking and some rest, we went out in search of dinner. Looking in
some of the store windows, it became clear that Brussels was very much about food,
and not necessarily of any type that would be good for you. In particular, we
found places devoted to the unofficial snack food of Belgium – French fries. Except
you’d better not call them French fries, as Belgians are certain they were invented
in Belgium, not France. They are simply referred to as frites ("freet"). They are
usually sold with a choice of dipping sauce (such as curry, tartar sauce, mayonnaise, or,
for hopeless Americans, ketchup, among many others).
Eclairs in Store Window
Bread Shark
Belgian Frit 'N Toast
This applied to the frites
at our eventual choice of a dinner establishment, a fast-food burger place called
Quick (or "Q" for short), a place instantly familiar to any American, despite the
absence of the chain from the U.S. I ordered a large, vaguely heart-shaped burger called
the Super Love Giant Hamburger, and found it quite romantic.
Quick Hamburger Restaurant
Super Love Giant Hamburger
After dinner we walked over to a large square called the Grand Place
(or Grote Markt in Dutch), probably the main attraction for tourists in
Brussels. We were to spend more time here later, but stopped to take some
pictures. We looked into some of the windows on the square and found examples
of two of Belgium’s most popular products – chocolate and lace.
Nella and Town Hall
Nella and Bob and Maison du Roi (Breadhouse)
Chocolate Fountain
Godiva
Lace Shop
We walked back in the general direction of the hotel and happened upon a
shopping arcade called the Galeries Royales St. Hubert. The stores were
closed, but their windows were filled with interesting (but expensive) things.
Nella and Bob at Galeries Royales St. Hubert
Hat Shop
We found a very upscale chocolate shop called Neuhaus, which has operated here
since 1857 and which claims to have invented the praline. Their window had
displays devoted to two Belgian inventions and icons which are also familiar
to Americans – the Smurfs and Tintin. The Smurfs, of course, are those tiny
blue creatures that have been entertaining American children for decades, and
Tintin, invented in 1929 by the Brussels cartoonist Hergé, is an adventurous
young reporter who has popped up on American television at various times (and
even on the big screen, thanks to Steven Spielberg), but whose popularity
never seems to have taken off in the U.S. like it did in Europe.
Neuhaus Chocolate Shop
Smurf Display
Tintin Display
Intersecting the Galeries St. Hubert is a small street called the Rue des
Bouchers, which seemed to be filled with restaurants and nightlife. This
was another place we would be returning to later.
Rue des Bouchers
By this time we were coming to the end of a very full day, and we returned
to the hotel to get some sleep. A full exploration of central Brussels was
on our agenda for the next day. We would be starting with the area called
the Lower Town.