So yesterday I left you hanging at the Buen Retiro Park. I’ll blog about it separately since it is so special it deserves its own entry. But on my first afternoon in Madrid, I’ve only got a few hours of sunlight left so I’m in a hurry to cut across the park to get to the Paseo de Prado, which is more or less a museum row,
to get my bearings straight. I’ve already planned two nights at the museums (the Prado and then the Museo Reina Sofía)
so I want to get their exterior shots while the light is still good. The portable Tourist Information office seen below is one of the more clever things I’ve seen on my trips anywhere. Information on wheels is definitely the way to go…
I get a city map from them and they tell me that today is a national holiday so the museums are all closed, which also explains why the streets are deserted, even near the busy Atocha train station:
I’m bummed out that I won’t get to visit the museum later today as planned, but that means I now have more time to go look for some Spanish food. But as luck would have it, the only places that are open today near here are not exactly what I have in mind…
so I choose Thai–but at least the wine is Spanish!
May I say that two years of college Spanish taken in the last century is only useful for getting drunk (una más cerveza) and paying for getting drunk (la cuenta, por favor)? I find out quickly that English is not the most favored language in Madrid, and I love it! Any exercise in using my corroded Spanish while getting lost around the city is going to be fun. This could only lead to trouble. ¡Ay, caramba!
After dessert my full belly and I begin our promenade…
and on some streets I have a feeling I could actually be anywhere in a big city in the US. In fact, some streets near my hotel look a lot like NYC–at least until you start looking at street signs and see these lovely signs instead:
Near here,
I find the last days of a Christmas market:
I walk a bit more, and just behind me, something amazing is about to reveal itself…
Stay tuned.
Tags: Atocha train station, Buen Retiro Park, Christmas market, Madrid, Paseo de Prado
So I’ve been talking about Bruges the last couple of days but did not mention the look I pulled together for my visit. It’s actually Look 4 built on top of a Jcrew grey tank and Banana Republic camisole…
then layered with the cashmere muffler, ski jacket, and goofy shearling trapper hat:
The fur lined Hogan boots have been my lifesaver against the cold. In my down time here I’ve been googling this slight inflammation (and by slight I mean my right hand is almost double the size of my left hand) I’m suffering from the cold. I think I have something similar to Cold Urticaria but I won’t know for sure till I can see a doctor. I knew I should have gone to med school…well no, med school is dangerous for hypochondriacs so maybe fashion or film school…but I digress.
Anyway, after these few Christmas markets in Belgium, I can say the best thing about them is eating junk food washed down by warm wine. I dare say I am getting a bit complacent with the gaufres so in Bruges I am happy to try a new stand of other sweet fried things:
I’ve long been a fan of the Mexican churros so I figure I have to give the Belgian churros a shot. And here is how they are made fresh upon order:
And here is how they make my day:
That hat is a complete disaster, am I right? But warm ears make a happy head.
Right next door to this stand is a “maxi pita” stand, and out of the corner of my eye I have to take a double take. Look through the small window behind the stack of still steaming fresh baked bread:
and you see the gorgeous building in the Grand Place…
this one, I think…
I’m signing off from Bruges. See you in the next town.
Tags: Belgium, Bruges, Christmas market, churross, gaufres, J Crew
It is Monday today and there seems to be a real break in the rain. So the whole country of Belgium and I converge on the photogenic town of Bruges during its final days of the Christmas market. Traffic builds as we drive closer to town center, and all public parking lots flash the word vol (full) in red,
so we take our chances and park on a quiet street under a kilometer away from the Grand Place and close to Howest, a college in West Flanders:
The last time I took you to Bruges, it was sunny and mild…and crowded. Today on a chilly winter day, it is equally congested in both of the Christmas markets I find in this city. I run across three in all but the third has mostly been dismounted so I don’t take any photos there.
Actually, it is crowded in just about every corner of the historic center of Bruges,
and everywhere you look there are people of all ages, colors, and levels of world weariness still mesmerized by this festive town’s holiday charm:
If you come to Belgium, you must spend at least a day in Bruges. You will remember it forever.
Tomorrow I’ll take you past the Bruges Christmas market crowds and show you more close-up shots of the city.
Tags: Belgium, Bruges, Christmas market, Grand Place, Howest
I’ve blogged numerous times about Antwerp (Antwerpen/Anvers), one of my favorite cities in Belgium. But I don’t think I ever mentioned the most popular story behind how the city got its name. Legend has it that there was once a giant named Antigoon who charged a toll on shippers crossing the river Scheldt. If they failed to pay the toll, he’d cut off their hands and toss them into this very river. One day a young hero, Brabo, defeated the giant and threw Antigoon’s hand into the Scheldt. This same lore hence explains the name Antwerpen as having derived from the Dutch words hand werpen (werpen = to throw):
Walking around the streets of this culturally diverse city during the holidays is a fantastic experience…
and Antwerp’s Christmas market is one of the better ones I’ve seen so far. It is held at the Groenplaats, just in front of the Hilton:
There seem to be better vendors to me, even if overall the merchandise is more or less the same…
The requisite outdoors ice skating rink is also there, in front of City Hall:
And near the front entrance of the grand Cathedral of Our Lady there’s a life sized nativity scene,
which you can recreate yourself in miniature sizes by buying the individual pieces at the church’s gift shop:
If you’re waiting for another gratuitous picture of the Belgian waffle, it won’t happen in Antwerp. Because when I’m in this town, it’s a tradition to get dim sum instead…and I got a lot of it earlier today…
which might explain why I’m working off my heavy lunch by offering to work for Santa Claus…
Sure hope I get to wake up to a white Christmas tomorrow morning!
Tags: Antigoon, Antwerp, Brabo, Cathedral of Our Lady, Christmas market, nativity scene, Scheldt
We’re only a few days away from Christmas so I’m taking a break from Fes to report to you live from the Belgian Christmas markets.
At the moment I’m somewhat snowbound. Ice,
snow and sleet
take turns at this same window that greets me each morning–though by yesterday’s late afternoon the snow melted just in time…
for me to watch the Christmas fireworks…
over the famed Citadelle that rises majestically above Namur’s Christmas market:
Anyway, on the day that I venture out to the Marché de Noël in my host family’s pretty town,
I am wearing a blend of Look 4…I’ve been fighting the subzero weather in my trusty Prada ski jacket, Hogan shearling boots, and Chanel muffler and earmuffs on top of about 3 or 4 layers of clothes:
And still, the minus 6 weather (even the locals are shocked by this winter’s early biting cold) feels very much like being in an igloo in a swimsuit. No amount of clothing seems to keep me warm enough. The few minutes that I remove my gloves to take these pictures feel like hours, and I have to rush back inside a store to thaw. The pain in my fingers and toes is an all too familiar one I experienced earlier this year from frostbite so I know better than to dilly dally outside in the cold.
But luck is all relative, and it’s what you make of it. If it weren’t cold enough for snow, I wouldn’t be having quite the same white experience at these markets. After a few, I can tell you that there are basically the same vendors of artisan crafts and local foods…
but the markets just feel more Christmasy because of the snow. Everything looks more festive, more like a true winter wonderland:
In particular at the Namur market, there were an ice sculptor
and a small parade re-enacting the Régiment des Canaris…
But I know what you’re waiting for, and here it is. When in Belgium eat as the Belgians do (the gaufre is cute with the earmuffs, non? hehe)…
See you at the next market tomorrow in one of my favorite little towns in the whole world.
Tags: Belgium, Chanel, Christmas market, Citadelle, gauffre, Namur, Prada, Regiment des Canaris
