Hello everyone!
I'm back in Brussels. Have been here a few times now. Spent a few hours here with mum in January 2011, passed through the airport on my way to Sweden last year and now I'm back for 3 days to explore!!
Checked out fairly early this morning and hopped on a train to Ghent on the way to Brussels. After seeing 'The Monuments Men' a year or so ago and learning about the Ghent alter piece I was keen to see it. It was only 25 minutes by train, and then a 30 minute walk into the city centre.
The Ghent alter piece is housed inside St Bavo's Cathedral, which usually is apparently quite beautiful but today was literally covered with scaffolding! Oh well. I had a look at the inside of the church and then the alter piece which was painted by the two van Eyck brothers. It was impressive, but it was one of those places so overrun by tourists that you can't fully appreciate it. Be proud Pa, I told 6 tourists off for taking photos. Hahaha. I just can't help myself, it annoys me that people don't understand it actually damages the painting and the signs are there for a reason. Call it practice for when I'm a teacher ;)
The audio guide described all the panels and what was going on. The alter piece is technically called 'The Adoration of the Lamb' which describes its centre. The bottom left panel called 'The Just Judges' along with another panel of 'John the Baptist' were stolen on the night of April 10 1934 mysteriously. A couple of days later the Ghent bishop received a letter signed by 'DUA' demanding 1 million Belgian francs ransom in exchange for one panel. The bishop pays it and John the Baptist was released at Brussels North station. However the 'Just Judges' to this day has never been released or found, and the main suspect called Arsène Goedertier on his death bed said "I'm the only one who knows where the painting is". There have been lots of conspiracy theories but it is yet to be found! In the movies 'The Monuments Men', the alter piece is stolen by the Germans and is found towards the end of the movie in a mine. This did happen and it was returned rightfully to Ghent in 1946.
At present they're restoring the closed side of the alter piece. Restorations are taking place between 2012-2017, so if you want to see the main parts don't from January 2016 - August 2017 because they won't be on display here!! I was lucky! The restoration is costing 1.26 million euros. Woah!
Afterwards I headed to the belfry and climbed up for a lovely view of the city. There was a small exhibition but all in Dutch. Oh well!!
Went to a small graffiti lane that reminded me a little of Hosier Lane from home called Graffitiststraatje. I got a great map of Ghent from the hostel in Antwerp and followed it to a small wagon selling cuberdons, purple candy comes with a raspberry aroma that are a Ghent specialty. Apparently these two wagons have such a fierce rivalry the mayor had to step in and ban them from selling for a month in April 2014 after it became a physical battle!! They were ok but nothing to write home about. I then used the map to go to a fries stand called 'Jozef' selling hand cut Belgian fries in a Puntzak cone for 2,80. Ooooo they were yum!!
At this point I went and sat in the sun and found wifi to watch the first 10 minutes of Collingwood vs St Kilda before heading to the station for the 1.07pm train to go to Brussels to meet Troy. We met on platform 1 where my train came in and I cannot tell you how fantastic it was and is to see someone from home! I've had such a great time exploring by myself and learning lots about myself but it's lovely to have someone to share it with again too!! Gonna be a good two weeks :) Gave him a huge hug at the station haha. He brought my laptop over and some pizza shapes - how I have missed pizza shapes!
I'm back in Brussels. Have been here a few times now. Spent a few hours here with mum in January 2011, passed through the airport on my way to Sweden last year and now I'm back for 3 days to explore!!
Checked out fairly early this morning and hopped on a train to Ghent on the way to Brussels. After seeing 'The Monuments Men' a year or so ago and learning about the Ghent alter piece I was keen to see it. It was only 25 minutes by train, and then a 30 minute walk into the city centre.
The Ghent alter piece is housed inside St Bavo's Cathedral, which usually is apparently quite beautiful but today was literally covered with scaffolding! Oh well. I had a look at the inside of the church and then the alter piece which was painted by the two van Eyck brothers. It was impressive, but it was one of those places so overrun by tourists that you can't fully appreciate it. Be proud Pa, I told 6 tourists off for taking photos. Hahaha. I just can't help myself, it annoys me that people don't understand it actually damages the painting and the signs are there for a reason. Call it practice for when I'm a teacher ;)
The audio guide described all the panels and what was going on. The alter piece is technically called 'The Adoration of the Lamb' which describes its centre. The bottom left panel called 'The Just Judges' along with another panel of 'John the Baptist' were stolen on the night of April 10 1934 mysteriously. A couple of days later the Ghent bishop received a letter signed by 'DUA' demanding 1 million Belgian francs ransom in exchange for one panel. The bishop pays it and John the Baptist was released at Brussels North station. However the 'Just Judges' to this day has never been released or found, and the main suspect called Arsène Goedertier on his death bed said "I'm the only one who knows where the painting is". There have been lots of conspiracy theories but it is yet to be found! In the movies 'The Monuments Men', the alter piece is stolen by the Germans and is found towards the end of the movie in a mine. This did happen and it was returned rightfully to Ghent in 1946.
At present they're restoring the closed side of the alter piece. Restorations are taking place between 2012-2017, so if you want to see the main parts don't from January 2016 - August 2017 because they won't be on display here!! I was lucky! The restoration is costing 1.26 million euros. Woah!
Afterwards I headed to the belfry and climbed up for a lovely view of the city. There was a small exhibition but all in Dutch. Oh well!!
Went to a small graffiti lane that reminded me a little of Hosier Lane from home called Graffitiststraatje. I got a great map of Ghent from the hostel in Antwerp and followed it to a small wagon selling cuberdons, purple candy comes with a raspberry aroma that are a Ghent specialty. Apparently these two wagons have such a fierce rivalry the mayor had to step in and ban them from selling for a month in April 2014 after it became a physical battle!! They were ok but nothing to write home about. I then used the map to go to a fries stand called 'Jozef' selling hand cut Belgian fries in a Puntzak cone for 2,80. Ooooo they were yum!!
At this point I went and sat in the sun and found wifi to watch the first 10 minutes of Collingwood vs St Kilda before heading to the station for the 1.07pm train to go to Brussels to meet Troy. We met on platform 1 where my train came in and I cannot tell you how fantastic it was and is to see someone from home! I've had such a great time exploring by myself and learning lots about myself but it's lovely to have someone to share it with again too!! Gonna be a good two weeks :) Gave him a huge hug at the station haha. He brought my laptop over and some pizza shapes - how I have missed pizza shapes!
We had a great afternoon exploring Brussels. I did some washing first and watched the end of the footy - GOOD STUFF PIES!!!
We walked through the Grote Markt, to the Mannekin Pis. This little pissing boy is a symbol of how the poor used to sell their urine here and throughout Europe to leather tanners. It's so small! Saw it last time but it was winter and crappy weather. Then we saw the sister of the Mannekin Pis, the Jeanneke Pis. We walked through the main tourist restaurant street because the map told us to do so due to all the owners trying to seduce you into their restaurants. It was so funny, we ignored them all and walked through. We saw a cute gallery that reminded me of the block arcade. We also went to a parking lot which doesn't sound very exciting but the tourist map said to go to level 10, which we did! And from the top we enjoyed a great view of Brussels for free!
After that we just looked in lots of quirky shops and Troy bought a few things. It's been great seeing Brussels a little more already. Tomorrow we are going to the atom and then doing a walking tour. Tonight we are heading out for dinner and then some drinks at a jazz club!
Cannot tell you how great it is to have someone to talk to, to take photos with and just to share the experience of exploring a cool city with after three weeks completely solo!!
Love to all
Claire
Xoxox
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