What's Up Al ? 遊記隨筆 生活點滴

Waving goodbye to the seasonal monsoon rain in Hong Kong, we arrived in Brussels, to be greeted by a glorious morning of immense cobalt blue sky ! We really hit the ground running this time as we had a good night's sleep on the plane and we could not wait to explore this so-very-European capital. We took the train to Gare Centrale, a whopping 30 Euros for two return tickets for the 30 minutes' journey - we would just have to get used to the European "standard" again ... Laughing off this exorbitant extraction from our wallets, we smiled all the way in the clear late Summer air to the Grand-Place and we were immediately impressed with the majestic structures and the warmth of the European atmosphere. Of course we said Hello to Manneken Pis (the famous boy statue having a wee) as well as visiting the Royal Gallery of Saint Hubert (a cosy covered walkway full of coffee bars and chocolate shops) and we soldiered on towards the Hysel Stadium on foot, aiming not to get lost along the Brussels canal ways. After two hours of vigorous pacing, we were defeated as we heard from the locals that The Atomium and the Parc des Expositions were another 5km to go ! So we took the Metro to Hysel and feasted our eyes on the impressive stainless steel scientific structure. For those scientists amongst you, Atomium was built as a unit cell of a iron crystal, magnified 165 billion times. Jet lag began to set in, and we took the Metro to central for an early night in.
Having picked up our car from Brussels Airport, we motored for an hour along the pleasant Belgian hills and arrived in the city of Liege - a mostly French-speaking principal economic and cultural centre of the region of Wallonia and perhaps more famous for its tasty Boulets à la Liégeoise (Meatballs From Liege). Close to where we parked, we chanced upon Chef Philippe, who's menu included the famed meatballs in all different sauces and indeed this dish was delicious and we were more than well fed (see photo) ! So we spent the whole afternoon exploring Liege's Ourthe River, parks, cathedrals and gorgeous narrow alleys and we also made the effort to scale the 374 steps up to Montagne de Bueren where we took in the panoramic views over the city skylines. Chef Philippe surely fed us well as our stomach was still quite full when we headed back to our motel close to the Highway exit and called it another successful day out.