1 October 2023

My window view this morning was not quite up to the same standard as yesterday but as they say “ a man’s home is his castle”.

We were a bit slow getting started this morning. We had a few different options and needed to do a bit of research before locking in todays activities. After a few false starts we finally agreed on Brussels as our destination for the day, organised transport and accommodation and went off to explore a little more of Liège.

We ended up back in the Cathedral precinct of the old town. Given it is Sunday, I thought they might be a bit busy, but that was not the case. In we went and I’m so pleased we did. The stain glass windows were amazing. And as you know, I’m a bit partial to a good one or two. There were some very modern looking windows which cast amazing colours throughout the cathedral.

High above was some sort of thin (muslin? ) cloth stretched across the void. I’m not sure of it’s purpose, other than to disperse the light even more. Grahame reckons it was to stop stuff falling down on the congregation from above!!

All in all, it was pretty pretty!!

The Flea Market was huge, and incredibly popular. Crowds were milling around the fresh produce and bric a brac stalls. We started to make our way through the market, but the stalls looked pretty much same,same and it was getting too hot to hang around out in the sun.

We headed across the river to Outremeuse, the suburb on the other side of the river. It was hot, it was midday, it was Belgian Waffle time. Omg. !!! And even the cappuccino was a cream filled, coffee flavoured dessert in a cup.

Despite sharing the one serve, we waddled off, overloaded with sugar and cream to see what else we could find. I spotted this reflection and set about photographing while Grahame stood facing the opposite direction looking at the real thing. Oh yeah…. That makes sense!!!

Back across the river, all the Liègois were coming out for Sunday lunch/ drinks/ shopping and the sidewalk cafes and narrow streets were full. It was so warm they probably couldn’t bear staying inside.

We were still recovering from our earlier sugar high , so weren’t tempted to join in.

We headed back to our hotel, grabbed our bags, jumped on a local train back to the main station , Liège- Guillemins and waited for our train to Brussels. No high speed travel today.

The station was pretty “ funky” and even rated on all the tourist brochures as a point- of- interest. (Reminded me of the recently visited cathedral actually)

Liège? The old town centre was fascinating, the stain glass in the cathedral stunning , the stair climb exhausting and the hill side walk relaxing. Not sure we need to rush back!!

So, here we are in Brussels. Our main aim for our visit will be revealed tomorrow.

We visited Brussels back in 2016, so there will be no bike rides, or museum visiting this time around. We did however walk down to the “Grand Place” along with every other tourist in the vicinity to marvel again at what is surely one of the most stunningly beautiful town centres in the world.

It was easy to find the tiny statue “Mannekin Pis”. We simply followed the hoard of people. In the late afternoon sun, he was dressed rather regally despite emptying his bladder in public.

I had my heart set in Moules for dinner. So we did!! Yum!

The sun went down while we tried our hardest to finish our mussels. Only one of us succeeded.

Before heading “home” we took one last visit to the “Grand Place” to see the lights. It was beautiful!!

It was getting late and we decided to call it quits for the day. Even Mannekin Pis was ready for bed!!