Back to Belgium: Annevoie, Crupet, and Brussels

This past week has seen a lot of driving to and from Belgium, the country we have traveled through the most by far. 

Since John didn't have to be at work until about lunchtime, Boo and I only needed a short afternoon adventure before checking into the château and heading to Brussels the next day. Originally we thought we might do Bruges as well, but the prospect of all that extra driving prior to marathon drives in and around France this week made it really unappealing. 

I did some staring at a map and random Trip Advisoring nearby city names to decide where to go. In doing so, I stumbled across Les Jardins d'Annevoie, probably one of my favorite finds so far!

Although there are beautiful shrubs and greenery everywhere, the focal points are the water gardens, the only ones of their kind in Belgium. Even cooler: they are around 250 years old, fed by a river and powered by gravity and ingenuity! We had a great time because the weather was perfect, but I wish it had been Spring so I could have seen the flowers in full force. Still, check out the pictures:

Boo had to take a picture by the 4, naturally.

The château in the gardens is a private residence.

There was a cool carved playground as well. 

I have a ton more pictures, but I'm sure everyone gets the idea. This was one time I wish I had something better than an iPhone for photography purposes.

After the gardens, we headed to check out another château in nearby Crupet, only to find that it was also not open to the public. Whoops. Still, pretty to see. Randomly, Boo realized (not me!) later that night that we had parked across the street from the restaurant we had dinner at in order to walk to the château. Her observation skills are really impressive.

After the château bust, we had about an hour to kill, so I tried another one with the same luck. All these people living in these châteaux were cramping our tourism! 

Fortunately, there was a park directly next to this one so we stayed there until it was time to get John to check in and eat dinner. 

The teal spot on the playground is Boo. Nice backdrop for a park, eh?

Randomly sported: bread vending machines, usually in pretty rural areas.

We had a nice dinner. Boo liked her vegetable soup and bratwurst with warm applesauce. I had brined pork rib with mustard sauce (delicious) and John had duck. We were starving when we arrived and ordered calamari while we waited the 45 minutes for food, so I ended up only eating like six bites of my plate, whoops. They had also given us lemon sorbet to cleanse our palate before the main course so it was just way too much food. Fortunately, Europe has cured me of Clean My Plate Syndrome, so I just left whatever I didn't eat and that was that.

The next morning we got a later start after sleeping in until 9(!) and headed to Brussels. We experienced much of the same things we did on our previous visit, but this time with John. I now knew where I was going and it was nice to have another set of eyes on Boo/adult conversations about what we were seeing. It was MUCH more crowded.

I bought some local drawings of the Grand Place, we saw the Manneken Pis again (he was naked this time! Victory!), and I discovered Speculoos, aka liquid graham cracker taste/cookie butter. YUM. We each got a waffle with different toppings to try out. 

I ended up liking the plain waffle we had last trip the best, but Speculoos is fantastic stuff.

We also managed to get to Brasserie Cantillon (the lambic brewery) this time for a tour and tasting. Boo liked the fruity undertones of the apricot, but wasn't as impressed with the raspberry or kriek (sour cherry).

Only smelling was performed by Boo.

Boo was so well behaved at the brewery that we went on a random ferris wheel and got some nice views of the city.

We had a pretty crappy late lunch on the famous Rue des Bouchers. 

Taken from Google because it was really crowded and restaurant employees hang out of the restaurants and harass you to eat at their place:

I took maybe four bites of my fish before I was grossed out and convinced I was going to get food or mercury poisoning. Had I done any research I'd have known better: http://www.lonelyplanet.com/belgium/brussels/sights/neighbourhoods-villages/rue-des-bouchers. C'est la vie.

Afterward, we made the two hour drive home, and I spent Sunday doing laundry and having Irish tea, scones and pleasant conversation with Alice and her husband Shane while Boo and their two cuties played. Then it was time to pack for the week ahead and get an early bedtime...which backfired because now I've been up since 2am, ugh.

In a few hours we will head to France for the week, then straight to England for a long weekend, return Monday.