The last day called for a day trip to the south east - I wanted to see that part of the country and ride the train one more time to see some of the countryside. I decided to take a trip to Dinant. Upon arrival I stumbled upon a famous bakery cafe called Patisserie Jacobs and ordered a coffee and some pastries for breakfast.
The city of Dinant lies on the Meuse River and is tucked into cliffs on either side - kind of reminded me of the setting of Dubuque, IA, except the river and the town were a lot smaller.
On the citadel above the city.
A view from the citadel. Note the bridge on the Cologne to Paris highway in the distance.
Dinant from the citadel - with the Gothic onion domed cathedral Eglise Notre Dame.
Inside the Eglise Notre Dame - a great stained glass window. The matching one on the opposite side was regular glass and must have been destroyed in one of the many wars that passed through this area.
I decided to take a 45 min boat tour on the Meuse. I was the only person at first, but luckily two more people and a dog showed up at the last minute.
My lonely depressed looking tour boat operator. I decided to tip him two Euros at the end because he looked like he need it. At one point I think he put his forehead on the steering wheel and he kept sighing heavily.
Houses along the Meuse.
The Jacobs Patisserie.
Eglise Notre Dame with the citadel in the background.
Dinant.
Another view of Dinant with cathedral and citadel.
A little slice of Iowa in Belgium. A John Deere tractor pulling another John Deere tractor/backhoe.
Re-roofing houses in Belgium does not look like fun - very steeply pitched roofs.
A column in Bier Circus, one of my favorite Brussels restaurants and the place I decided to have my last meal.
The finale - a vintage 2004 Chimay Bleue in a dusty cellared bottle served at room temperature with a matching chocolate mousse constructed with Chimay as well. The perfect ending and one of the top beers from the trip, aged to perfection.------------------------------------------------------------------------------
I arose early to catch the early train to Dinant. This would be the last day to see Belgium and I wanted to head out in the opposite direction so that I could get a glimpse and feel for the east, since that is supposed to be the most beautiful countryside. Dinant is a popular tourist destination for Belgians on the edge of the Ardennes mountains, and is most famous for being the birthplace and home of Adolph Sax - inventor of the Saxophone.
I was eager to take one more train trip, since it will probably be a while before I get to do that again. Also trains are an easy source of entertainment, offering the opportunity to kick back, be lazy, and stare out the windows instead of walking all over the place. Upon boarding the train I accidentally sat in the first class section. The conductor kicked me out and back to second class upon inspection of my ticket. I thought those seats felt too comfortable for some reason.
Arrived in Dinant around 9:45 am and walked across the river Meuse to look for some breakfast. Stumbled upon the Jacobs Patisserie. I ordered a coffee and a couple of pastries and started reading the guide book which stated that this Patisserie was famous throughout Belgium for it's giant moulded biscuits made in assorted shapes.
I was quickly beginning to realise that no one in Dinant seemed to speak English. I hadn't noticed this much until now but it must be far enough off the beaten tourist path. It was actually good to try out my intuitive French - barely understanding every 4th word and then trying to guesstimate what was being said. Most of the time it works well enough.
Next I took the Teleferik cable car to the summit of the Citadel. This was about a 2 min. ride up the steep side of a bluff and was probably the most interesting part of the citadel. Most of the views from the top were blocked off with no admittance signs. It seemed that they were doing a lot of renovation and still had a ways to go. The citadel was pretty spartan except for a museum featuring a history of non commissioned military officers in the Belgian army. Definitely not worth the 6 Euro admission price except for a spectacular view.
I headed back down the hill and into the Gothic cathedral of Eglise de Notre Dame, a 14th century Gothic style church. It was fairly spartan as well except for the structure itself and appeared a little run down, but was still quite intimidating in scale. After the cathedral, I decided to take a short boat tour up the river. There were several boats available, but since it was a Tuesday morning, there were not many tourists around. I inquired at one boat but the captain explained in French that we need at least 3 people to go. So he and I set about to try and sell 2 more tickets. Eventually a couple walked by with their dog, showed some interest, and were convinced to climb aboard. It was a slow and lazy 45 minute round trip tour up and down the river but had some nice views and was relaxing. After that I walked around for a while, had lunch, and decided to catch the 2:14 back to Brussels.
In the evening I decided to return to Bier Circus for dinner since that was one of my favorite restaurants and a good reliable choice for the last meal. Walking to dinner I decided to take a different route and passed across a kind of weird and slightly unnerving urban wasteland in the middle of the city. The Bier Circus is near a gigantic column that honors the unknown soldiers killed in action that can be seen from a few miles away when you are standing in the right spots, so I was heading for that. I walked up a set of stairs and found myself on top of what looked like the roof of a huge parking garage. The whole are was completely empty and unkempt with weeds growing out of the concrete everywhere and graffiti all around. I headed across the concrete and saw two very large 10 story soviet style buildings on my right and left that were completely abandoned. Directly between them ahead was the large column. Once I got to the column everything was normal again, with people walking around - it was just strange to cross this 100 acre or so area, that seemed completely abandoned, in the middle of the center of town - but it certainly added to the already slightly surreal nature of Brussels.
Felt relieved to get to Bier Circus. Had a great meal and two of the best beers of the trip (see above).
After that I walked back to the Grand Place and decided to make some videos of the place and the streets around that area. Walking back a guy came up to me and asked me directions to the Midi train station in French. I asked if he knew English and he did - and I actually kind of knew the directions to the station, so I felt pretty smug being able to help out. Feeling good I entered the Grand Place and took some videos. There was a guy doing tai chi in the middle of the square. People were milling about taking photos and gawking at all the architecture and marvelous stone work. I did a long video walking through the street that was packed with restaurants, secretly taping all the people and places and the noise of the street.
After that I headed back to the hotel to pack and get ready for bed.
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