Day 1, Brussels

We three girls arrived in Brussels this morning, about one hour later than scheduled. Our flight had been delayed out of Dulles due to extremely hard rain and lightning and subsequent back ups along the Northeast. Besides being very hungry by the time we were fed on the plane and not sleeping much at all on the overnight flight (except for Julia who somehow score two seats to spread out despite being the smallest of the three), we got to the apartment smoothly after finding our driver at the airport. I liked how his sign had "Lisa LaCourse, Lucy and Julia Cronin" all listed. Brian had thoughtful, generous welcome gifts waiting, including a Longchamps white leather backpack for me, a basketball and soccer ball for Lucy, and a pink Swatch for Julia.

The apartment is perfect. It is in a newer building and it feels very open and spacious for our temporary home. The girls share a room with two twin beds and a desk. Brian's and my room has a desk too. There is one full bath and a half bath which I believe to be the absolute tiniest that one could create; rough measurements (the ruler being a 9"x12" piece of watercolor paper) are 3'x3'4". The first floor apartment (which in the U.S. would be considered the second floor) has a full kitchen and a small stackable washer and dryer. My favorite part though is the terrace, where we dined this evening. The windows are almost floor to ceiling and either tilt out from the top or open like a door.

We are located close to Metro and shopping. The building is right next to a church and across the street from the huge arc in the Parc du Cinquantenaire, discussed previously. There are two museums attached to the Arc, which I learned today from our cab driver really commemorates the fiftieth anniversary of the signing of Belgium's constitution, not their independence per se. At least I think that is what he meant. The two museums are Musees Royaux d'Art et d'Histoire and Autoworld. We'll aim to see both.

While shopping this afternoon, I was shy about speaking French, but learned how to order cheese, even if I am not sure what the cheeses are, and found cream for coffee, distinguishing it from cream for cooking. Monday I will buy some spices and a few more things for the pantry, ideally in small quantities. Tomorrow we head to a big outdoor market.