My vacation (Part1:Belgium)

Trip to Brussels:

April 24,
I arrived at 7:00 due to the delay of my flight from Frankfurt. Lu and Nuno had been at the Brussels airport to pick me up.
Nuno has a new Audi sedan. The weather in Brussels is still gloomy similar to English weather in autumn and winter. As it is already in the end of April, the temperature only stays at a comfortable level.
We chatted about their life in Brussels and football topic (as it is always our great concern).
“Yasu, are you hungry? What do you want to eat for dinner, tonight?” Nuno asked.
“Pizza or codfish.” I answered him immediately.
“Yasu does not like Belgian food much.” Nuno laughed and explained to Lu,
“OK, Yasu. We can go to a Portuguese restaurant near our apartment. It is not the best in town but it is very close. You can have some cod.”
I love fish. Unfortunately, Brussels is not an ideal place to eat fish from seawater. The level of freshness in fish sold in supermarkets here is as bad as one in England. It convinced me well enough to avoid it when I had cooked it when I had been here. So, dried cod can be a good choice for fish lover like me.

On the way to the restaurant, Nuno told how “wonderful” Belgian builders are. Lu and Nuno were supposed to move to their new flat some days before my arrival. The builders delayed their schedule.
“In Belgium, you can’t expect anything goes on schedule. They are very slow.” Nuno complained, “Our builders are slow. Incredible! They were doing nothing when we went there to check.” In fact, David is also suffering from problems with Belgian builders.

There are many Portuguese cafés and restaurants in their neighborhood. I had Bacalhau a Bras (fried cod with potatoes). It really filled my stomach.
“I will get a few kilos in two weeks.”


April 25,
I woke up at 6:45 and I felt that I would not be able to sleep again. There seemed to be a remaining effect of a jet-lag. So, I decided to do some writing for our blog.
Today, Nuno and Lu took me to an attractive Flemish town, Bruges, located in the northwest of Brussels. As you may know, Belgium can divide into two parts; French and Flemish (Dutch). There is always an argument about dividing the country into these two interest groups. According to Nuno, Flander is the second-earliest region where a modern industrialization took place after England. It was flourished by the international cloth trade from the 13th century. It is also one of the places which did not suffer from any major damage by bombing in the World War II. In Bruges, most of medieval building remained in a perfect condition since the 13th century.
When we arrived there, we parked our car close to the centre. It is also the first time for Lu to visit Bruges. This means that we have Nuno Vicente for our private guide to city-tour.
“Nuno, which way we should go?” Lu asked
“I don’t remember. Let me take a look…” Nuno flipped pages of a guide book.
“With whom did you come here?” Lu asked another question.
“I don’t remember.”
“You don’t remember anything!”
“Yeah, I am not good at remembering things. My memory is limited. So, I use it for certain things.”
“Certain things like work.” Lu added.
“Yeah, that’s right.”
“And football! Nuno, you remember nothing when I talk to you while you are watching TV!”
“No! You always come to talked me when I am concentrated.” He means watching football games.
Then Nuno turned to me and said, “She never comes to talk to me when I’m watching other programs.
”
- Nuno, flipping pages on his guide book, trying to find where we are -

He now found the street where we were now on the map on his guidebook. In the center of the town, there is a canal. It becomes the hottest attraction for tourists: Some stay in a terrace to enjoy the view and a meal. Others pay extra money to go on a boat cruise. It was a pleasant day to spend time outside.




We had lunch in a square. We were caught by a waiter who ridiculously tried to catch attentions of every tourist passing by with all the languages what he can think of: English, Spanish, Italian, Chinese, Japanese and so on. We did not really care how silly he was but we simply want to fill our stomach.
The meal was ok. Nothing special. Not bad but not so good, too. The only thing that bothered us was the charge of a bowl of rice at 4.50 euro. The restaurant charged us a small side dish.
After lunch, we explored a bit more of the town and we went to Oostende, where Belgian sun seekers spend weekend in summer.
My overall impression of Bruges was a clean and pleasant town. I had only images of gloomy Brussels and rundown ghost-town image of southern part where I passed by train in my last visit. In fact, Belgium is not so bad as I thought before.

April 26
Yesterday, David came back from France and he was so exhausted that he could not come for dinner to Nuno’s apartment.

-Lu, David and Nuno in front of their new apartment-

We decided to meet him for lunch at a cafeteria near Nuno and Lu’s new apartment.
Today, I am going to write about our dear Spanish friend, David from Castilla: region of Madrid. He works as an auditor, same job he had back in Spain. According to him, his job now involves regular visits to countries in EU to check out european rules and standards. David’s team visits different regions to observe how they manage inspections. This takes 5 working days and sometimes includes trips from one region to another.
This time, David travelled to France. It involved a 3- hour travel between two places at the longest. In his previous job it involved frequent business meals. David and his team were usually invited to local restaurants for full-course meals. It sounded wonderful for me but hearing what he said it is a hard work.
Local people usually took them to the best restaurants that they can think of. When they serve some more dishes and drinks, it is rather offensive to turn down their offer. This time, he was in France. The French, of course, is proud of their food very much but in his current line of work these privileges do not exist no more. But still he was in France and enjoyed by himself after work hours.
“I had too much this week.” He admitted. “We tasted their local dishes, their specialty. We went to very good restaurants. So, you cannot simply say “I had enough.” or “I watch my weight”. They poured more wine and after a series of main dishes, they ordered some dessert. This is special in this region. You must try it. If you say no, they insist it is worthwhile to try. You cannot refuse it.”

As no exception, David is also proud of his country. It is probably true that all Europeans are proud of their own countries. So, when they meet other nationalities, a huge discussion often take place: what is good in their culture and country or which is better!
Today, the discussion started with my choice of languages to study. I will take a Spanish course in Barcelona next week.
“Yasu decided to take a Spanish course in Barcelona. Yasu, it’s a good choice.” David began.
“What a shame! Yasu started to learn Portuguese some years ago. You spoke to my mother in Portuguese. Now he betrayed us.” Nuno added.
“Well, that means Spanish is more useful language to him. Spain is so big. Portugal is so small.” David said.
“But I like more Portuguese food than Spanish food. I don’t think Spanish food is better than Portuguese.” Lu made a comment on this Spanish and Portuguese issue in a different angle.
Then David protested “That’s because you do not know very much Spanish food, Lu. And it is because you married a Portuguese guy.”
“No, it is true.” Lu answered.
“What do you think, Yasu?” David wanted some support.
Instead of supporting him, I chose to make a joke so that we could laugh a lot. I remembered Nuno’s comment on tapas. So, I said.
“Yes, I like Spanish food but some of tapas are greasy…”
“No! Yasu. Come on!” David was shocked. We all laughed.
Before this discussion, I remembered Nuno saying “David never thinks that someone outside Europe would say that Spanish food is not good”. So, I tried to create a fun together. In fact, I often select some of Spanish products when I do grocery shopping.

Today, we took David’s car and drive to the southern part of Belgium. As I was not very impressed with Brussels in my last visit, they decided to take me to the countryside. We travelled to Namur and visited a castle. We walked along a river. It was indeed pleasant to spend time there.





-David on revenge against Portugal and its supporter-

In the evening, we had dinner at a French restaurant. The restaurant’s specialties are duck and Foie gras. They planned to take me to a Swiss cheese fondue restaurant. But none of Fondue restaurants were open. So, David decided to the French restaurant. I found that the food was excellent. After dinner, we went to a bar to drink. We did not stay long because I started to fall asleep.


- grilled duck, a wonderful dinner. Thanks for David -


April 27
Last night, Nuno suggested David to meet at a Portuguese cafeteria for breakfast. So, we left the apartment a little earlier than eleven. The cafeteria was introduced in a gourmet magazine in Brussels and it is known for serving a nice Pasteis de Nata, egg tart. To make it more clear what it is like, the best known Pasteis de Nata is called Pasteis de Belem in Lisbon. The one we all tried at least once near the Monastery of Jeronimos in Lisbon.
David told us that he will bring his friends from Madrid to join our trip to Luxemburg.
“David maybe bring his Spanish friends because he felt bitterly defeated.” I started.
“Yeah, a Danish girl does not help much to support Spain.” Nuno responded. David brought a Danish friend from his work for last night dinner. But the Portuguese side was outnumbered. The result was obvious.
Luxemburg is located in the southeast of Brussels and it takes less than 3 hours by car. 20% of population is Portuguese. In the 1960s, the country was developed with manufacturing steel. During that period, Portuguese migrated to Luxemburg and engaged with manufacturing sector and other low-paid serve sector. Nowadays, the country’s strong industry is financial service.
Luxemburg is rather small as a country. Even if we consider it as a city, it is still small. As the weather was good, we walked around the town under the sun.