Sunshine on a Cloudy Day

The Sunset in Antwerp

On top of the Brugge Belfry

Casualty of wind

The stairs at the top of the Brugge Belfry

Her first waffle

Brugg in the Background

It rained on us a lot that day

In front of the Brugge Belfry

Me and Monique in Brugge

Antwerp train station

The Antwerp Cathedral in the background

Monique posing in front of the the Stadhuis

Sunshine

In front of "The Rock" castle

Estero Arronico

She was excited for the drumstick

We ended up close

Dave Matthews Band

Monique's hand in front of me

We were close

In front of the Brussels Stadhuis

In front of the Menneken Pis

The Atomium

In front of closed Mini Europe

The Brussels Stadhuis

The blaze coming from the flame atop the long white candle, which sat between us on the old dark wooden table, seemed to be captured inside her small diamond-studded earrings – every flicker sent a sparkle from the tips of her little ear lobes. There’s only one person in the world that can simultaneously make my heart race while sending goose bumps down my back like that – butterflies some people call them, but for me the swelling inside my chest, the weakness in my finger tips, and the surge of warmth in my cheeks is too indefinable to summarize in one word. “What are you staring at?” she pleaded through a smirk pointing her fork in my direction.

“Nothing…” I responded, snapping back into the reality which I had previously abandoned – focusing now on the twinkle of the firelight from her earring which seemed to have jumped inside her hazel/grey eyes. I hadn’t even realized that my mind had wandered, but then again I often find that I get lost in the depths of my own thought when I’m in her presence. Just as quickly as I had left, I was back in the conscious admiring her simple beauty: her silhouette outlined by the fire in the fireplace of the 15th century basement turned restaurant – the sap from the logs snapping and popping throughout the course of the meal. The natural beauty of the architecture and feeling created by the atmosphere in Estero Arronico (the restaurant we decided to dine in on our night out in Antwerp) was rivaled only by that of the beauty that sat across from me. “… just you,” I responded.

This past weekend, my lovely little lady (literally and figuratively) Monique came to visit me during her Loyola spring break – 9 days that seemed to end before they began. For her 9 days in Europe we split them almost evenly between Venice (see the next blog) and Belgium. Though I could never hope to capture in words and phrases the amazing time we had and the experience of our travels, I will still make a valiant attempt for all of you to (hopefully) enjoy.

Monique began her Belgian adventure at about 7am on the morning of the 27th when her flight from Dulles Airport arrived at Brussels International. I arrived shortly afterward (having misread the train schedule the night before and not adjusted for the weekend schedule) and escorted her back to Leuven. We spent the first day basically trying to keep her awake as long as possible so that she could adjust to the time change, though I did allow her to take one little nap while I was cooking dinner. It seemed as though the first day, despite the fact it was our longest day, went by the fastest as I attempted to show her the best that Leuven had to offer. We ended our night on the Oude Markt, admiring the adventures of “the world’s longest bar.”

We really could have used the sunshine on a cloudy day (blog title) on the second day of her visit. Sunday began slowly, as we didn’t head out to Brugges until about noon and I assume that the weather played a role in our downtrodden trudge to the city (we seemed to have monsoon-like conditions for most of the day). Our train got in close to 2, and we scuttled out into the sideways wind and thrashing rain – stopping first to have a Belgian waffle (the first of many once Monique got addicted). Trying to show her the main highlights of the quaint town, we headed in to the town center, scaled the Belfry, and walked through the Grote Markt and down some back streets. The wind atop the Belfry tower was whipping around so hard that it literally took my breath away when finished the climb up the winding wooden staircase.

Our frigid bones were only temporarily subdued when we grabbed a batch of chocolade at a local coffee shop to warm up. Though the trip was relatively miserable because of the weather, Monique still put on a smile and said she thought the jewel of the low countries was “cute” – I fear Brugges’ typical mystical hold on first-time visitors was lost on her because of the weather.

On the third day of her visit, we headed out to Antwerp to visit the “hand city” and to head out to a Dave Matthews Concert. Dave was on his European tour and Monique had managed to dig up a couple of tickets for his trip through Belgium. Of all the Belgian cities we visited, Monique fell in love with the aura of the diamond city. We finally got some decent weather and seeing the city during the sunlight I think definitely played a role in her approval. Though it was cold, the sunshine, which has been growing stronger seemingly each day as we move out of winter, kept us warm for most of our walking.

It was only my second visit to the city and I have to admit I definitely appreciated its beauty much more on the second go-round. From the massive central station, to the narrow back streets of the medieval city, to the giant spire of the Cathedral, the entire city captivated me as we walked its streets hand in hand. We grabbed dinner at Estero Arronico, a famous basement restaurant (described above) and then headed off to the concert.

The concert was a blast. Monique and I somehow managed to find our way onto the ground floor general admission section and ended up just about front row by the end of the show – I’ve never seen her eyes wider and more excited than at the end of the show when Carter Beauford (the drummer) handed her one of his extra drumsticks. It was one of the best concerts I’ve ever attended and I can’t help but think that it was due to her presence. Because the show got out so late, we ended up having to crash at a hostel in Antwerp and as a result, the next day we headed from Antwerp to Leuven to Venice – a little hectic for one day, but we managed. (Our travels in Venice will be recounted in my next blog).

To continue our travels through Belgium, I now jump to Monique’s final two days in the capital of the EU. We returned from Venice and back to Belgium late on Friday, so late that we could only make it back to Brussels before the trains shut down. As a result, we spent the night in Brussels and then headed out to tour the city the following morning. After a failed attempt to see the Atomium and Little Europe (a Belgian Theme park in which each member of the EU is represented with a miniature model of its most famous landmark) we headed in to see the city. After touring the Stadhuis and seeing the Menneken Pis, we walked around several of the back roads, but didn’t spend too much time in Brussels, because we needed to get home to buy Monique’s souvenirs for her family and friends (mainly what any Belgian souvenir consists of: beer, waffles, and chocolate).

The next morning we were up bright and early to get Monique to the airport in time. Though I was sad to see her leave, I wouldn’t have traded anything in the world for the amazing week we had traveling in Belgium and Italy. Stay tuned for our adventures in Venice.