Chocolate Buzz & Children's Museum

Wednesday afternoon (23 September), all 10 of us (the 6 students, Julie--the other faculty member—Glenn, Amelia and I) went to Planete Chocolat, one of the four chocolate makers in Brussels. We had to pass Mannequin Pis (the pee-pee boy) on the way, one of the most popular (but overrated) sites in the city, so I'm including pictures of him too. He is dressed in the garb of a different country or culture every day. What a wardrobe! Since this isn't really research, see the Wikipedia entry for the skinny on the pee pee boy: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Manneken_Pis#History_and_legends.

Mannequin Pis has so many admirers daily, it's hard to get a good look at him some days. And despite what most visitors expect, he is a very little boy.

At Planete Chocolat, we learned about the ingredients for their chocolate (and there are very few), the process by which they get cocoa to Belgium, we got to mix the chocolate, learned what temperatures chocolate needs for melting, cooling, and hardening to a shiny finish. We also got to make several batches in molds and learn about the different flavors they use. We should all keep our day jobs; I’m sure they threw our pitiful efforts back into the vats when we left.

Many times we heard the refrain that if a certain imperfection happens to the chocolate, “it would be fine to eat, but this we would not sell.” Planete Chocolat is very generous with samples during the lesson, so by the end, we were all buzzing from chocolate.

We watched a film about where the cocoa beans come from and how they get processed into cocoa oil, powder and other products . . . and they gave us hot chocolate to drink while we watched, as if we hadn’t already had more than Americans, who rarely get REAL chocolate, can handle! We sloshed out of there and on to the Brussels Children’s Museum.

Planete Chocolat made an impression on us, but the Tigers have left their impression on Planete Chocolate as well. This is a tiger paw chocolate they make in honor of all of the students who study at Clemson University Brussels Center and visit the shop.

After you’ve been Charlotte’s Discovery Place Museum, Atlanta’s Georgia Aquarium and road tested children’s museums all over the U.S., the Musee des Enfants was quite disappointing. It’s in a rambling old house, has many exhibits that aren’t really interactive, and although the website makes it sound like a trilingual museum, it isn’t really. The focal exhibit was “Rouge”—many aspects of the color red. Speakers of French and Dutch or Flemish have plenty to see and do, but speakers of English have a harder time. And Amelia, who isn’t reading English well yet, was underwhelmed. But since I took the students there to evaluate this museum as an examination of what this museum say about what Belgians think their children will enjoy vs. what American children’s museums say about what Americans think their children will enjoy, they found plenty to write about.

At the end of our time there, Amelia went to a “cookery class,” and although the teacher spoke no English, she was very animated and made herself understood. Since I’m studying French, it was excellent for me; as the teacher spoke to the children, she spoke slowly enough that I could follow. Amelia enjoyed the peach crumble she made and bowed out with an earnest “merci beaucoup.”

Learning the Art of Belgian Beer--from Glenn

Last week, I took a tour with the Clemson students of Brewery Cantillon (founded in 1900), Brussels’ only remaining beer maker producing beer by traditional methods. Located in the south end of the city, Cantillon is housed in a crowded warehouse and hand crafts a small variety of artisan beers. I saw the huge mixing tanks, the air fermentation pit located on the top floor of the warehouse used for the primary fermentation, and hundreds of wooden barrels used for the second fermentation. Because of temperature requirements, the guide said, the Cantillon only makes brews between October and March and buys all natural ingredients. The brewery does not add sweeteners or coloring to its beers. As a result, it takes 2 to 3 years to produce a bottle of Cantillon beer.

Of course, at the end of the tour, there was a tasting. I sampled the Gueuze, a golden colored beer that taste nothing like Miller Light. It was full of flavor and smooth. I then sampled their Kriek, a beer flavored with cherries. Again, the taste was nothing like most mass-produced beers at home. The Kriek tastes of sour cherry punch. It was a fantastic tour, and I learn a lot about Belgium’s beer-making tradition. If you’re interested in beer, check out their website at www.cantillon .be

The beer ferments on the rooftop where nature's yeast can get to it.

Horses & Mystic Lambs: Off to Gent

Julie McGaha (Education Professor) and I took a day trip to Gent on Friday, September 18th. I picked Julie up from the train station in the car in Waterloo, and amazingly, we got on the Ring Road around Waterloo going the right direction and arrived in Gent in about an hour and a half with no drama.

We first visited St. Bevo’s Cathedral and saw the Adoration of the Mystic Lamb, a huge polyptych by Jan Van Eyck (completed in 1432). The admission into the room with the painting came with one of those audio sticks that tells all about the history of the painting, etc. Well worth the visit. I was most fascinated by the arguments historians have had about the main figure in the painting who seems to be a conglomerate of Jesus and God. Read all about this painting at: http://www.trabel.com/gent/gent-misticlambintroduction.htm.

We then took a half-hour horse-drawn buggy tour of the city, and had our guide been a better English speaker or had we been Flemish speakers, it would have been more useful. At any rate, we got the lay of the land and saw the main historical sites as well as a market that I would have loved to spend time in.

We then took a boat tour on the main canal to get the aquatic view of the city, and that was better than the horse tour, especially since at one time all of Gent’s commerce was transported by boats, so lots of important and beautiful buildings were along the waterfront. Along the way, we passed a swing bridge that is apparently still “swung” out of the way of tall boats by hand. We also saw the 3 towers all in a line for which Gent is famous: St. Nicholas Church, St. Bavo’s Cathedral and the Belfort/Belfry (which we walked up into a little later). The Count’s castle looked imposing and impressive, but we ran out of time to see it. Something to look forward to on my next visit.

Photos below: 3 spires of Gent; the Count's castle; the stairs up into the Belfry and 2 views from the top (including an ancient archeological excavation site that they will plunk a shopping mall on top of once it's done, much to Julie's horror); Julie at the top of the Belfry; and a view from the boat tour of the canal.

Our exit from Gent was an adventure. It took us almost an hour to figure out which parking garage we’d parked the car in, and by that time, everybody and their dog was heading out of Gent. Once we got underway and got near Brussels, I decided to try to drop Julie off on the outskirts of the city, from where she could take the Metro home. I blinked and found myself in the thick of downtown Friday traffic in Brussels. We did get Julie to a Metro stop, but getting myself out of Brussels and back to Waterloo was . . . well, let’s just say I don’t want to do that again anytime soon. On a good day, driving in Belgium is a defensive process, and Friday rush hour downtown Brussels traffic is a “whole ‘nother thang.”

Market Day!

Every Sunday in Waterloo (and many other towns in Belgium), a market happens near the train station. Amelia and I went last week and had a blast, and we took Glenn and the camera along this week. The pictures will tell most of the story, but it's marketing like I've never experienced before. Among this week's pickings were Italian leather shoes, flowers, flowers, flowers, herbs, vegetables (including brocoflower and heirloom tomatoes), fruits (including fresh dates and pomegranates), a chicken and ribs booth (several, in fact) with all the fixins you can imagine for Sunday dinner, a stall with nothing but fresh-picked mushrooms, several with nothing but cheese, another for shrimp scampi, a guy selling Greek olives in a plethora of sizes, shapes, colors and flavors (who is entertainment himself) along with sun-dried tomatoes, spankopeta, feta cheese, etc., books, clothes, boiled wool jackets, dried fruits and nuts, a booth with every kind of freshly-made pasta you can imagine, Thai food, sausages, sausages, sausages, plants for the garden . . . ok, I could go on. But you get the picture. Now, to REALLY get the picture, see the photo gallery below.

A few notes: the boy in the 3rd picture helps his dad sell produce, and his dad had stepped away for a moment, and he got what we needed and started crunching the numbers when his dad showed up (much to his relief). And dogs go EVERYWHERE in Belgium--into stores, into the subway, on the trains, etc. Amelia was missing hers, so she took lots of dog pictures at the market. The guy under the umbrella is my favorite olive-seller; he's got the gift of gab . . . and his food is great too.

A Trip To Holland

Last weekend we took a short trip to Holland (The Netherlands) to see the windmills at Kinderdijk. It’s a two-hour drive from Waterloo, and we made it with little mishap, except we took a wrong turn in Antwerp. I know we should have made a left in Albuquerque. (That’s for Bugs Bunny Fans.) Anyway, Kinderdijk is a UNESCO World Heritage Site and features 19 windmills built in 1738-1761.

According to a legend, the location gets its name because a baby survived a stormy night. During the flood, the cradle that contained the child was kept in balance by a cat. After the flood, the cradle was stranded on the slope of a dike. The spot was named Kinderdijk.

Most of Holland, like New Orleans, sits below sea level and often floods. The mills were built after a series of serious flooding problems and were used to pump flood-waters into reservoirs.

These windmills are huge. The blades are close to a hundred feet long and can turn extremely fast. Sails are placed on the blades to control their speed. The entire top of the mills rotates so that the blades are turned into the wind. We had to convince Amelia to close her eyes to go past them because they also sound very scary and dip quite close to the ground.

Enough with the history lesson. The weather cooperated, and we had great time. We rented two bikes and rode along the river and then took a short boat ride. We even went inside one of the mills. We were surprised to learn that people actually live in most of the mills. The miller is responsible for keeping the blades in the correct position.

A windmill being re-roofed. It has a thatched roof all the way down the bottom of the structure.

Up to the Lion, Out in the Hammock

For our adventure last weekend, we went to the battle site of Bonaparte's defeat. In addition to walking up the 226 steps to see the lion (the view from which I took this picture of Glenn and Amelia), we also went into the panoramic museum to learn about the battle--but the realism of it was WAY too much for Amelia, so that didn't last long. I'm including pictures of this adventure and lollygagging in our yard/garden in Waterloo.

One of Amelia's photos

of the valley from the lion.

Amelia digging in the yard.

Michelle & Amelia helping the Reigeluths build a garden

Michelle & Amelia in the hammock.

First Week in Belgium

Friends,
Glenn, Amelia and I were scheduled to leave Greenville Airport on Sunday the 30th, but bad storms in Atlanta prevented us from getting out of GSP. And when we found out that it would cost over $100 to take a shuttle back to Clemson (one way), we opted to rent a car to get home and sleep in our own beds. My mom would have said our returning home was "all in devine order" because when I got home, I had made a small mistake with the pool that would have been costly and perhaps also dangerous if it had gone on for several days until Cousin Russell came to house sit. Though we had planned to veg out in our "gifted" time, we ended up shutting down the pool (in record time) and finishing up some things we'd left half-done.

Take two: Monday we took an early flight out of GSP to make sure we'd get out of ATL, and all things ran on time. To keep Miss Pickle busy, I had wrapped a little present for her to open each hour of our flight, several of which were packaged craft projects. She got a kick out of that.

Glenn & Amelia playing tic-tac-toe in GSP

We arrived at the Brussels airport Tuesday morning, and the folks at CUBC (Clemson University Brussels Center) had arranged for a taxi to pick us up. Then we got our first introduction to Belgian driving (wow!) and a constantly jammed-up ring road. The 25 minute trip took over an hour and a half, and I needed a Drammamine by the time we got to the house.

We are renting this little yellow house from Susan Reigeluth, Amelia's teacher at Montessori House Belgium. Amelia has a bedroom, we have a loft bedroom above hers, the house has a full kitchen and den area, fully equipped with fireplace, TV, wireless and toys and books for Amelia. I could say we got lucky, but I think Mom planned this trip for us. :) She'd have certainly been here were she alive and well.

Glenn asked Amelia this morning what her favorite things about Belgium are so far: the choclate (I'd agree), the waffles (I'd agree) and walking up the 226 steps to see the lion (on the 1815 battle site of Bonaparte's defeat). We'll post pictures from that later.

We have had to rent a car because living in Waterloo is a bit like living in Simpsonville and working in Greenville--not really navigable by foot. One difference, though: a very good and extensive public transportation system. Amelia enjoys walking to the bus stop, taking the bus to the street near her school and walking the mile or so down to her school. Not so fun in pouring rain, but it's been gorgeous the last few days.

Amelia at Montessori House Belgium on the playground.

Michelle & Amelia waiting for the bus.

This weekend we're planning to venture up to Holland to see the windmills (and to see if we can figure out why Holland has 2 names). Oh yeah, and I start teaching next week; the students get here Thursday. Working on syllabi, commenting on an MA thesis for one of my advisees and reading, reading and reading to try to prepare to teach a sophomore literature class I've never taught before. As we're learning to use the Metro, bus, train and tram system, we're also enjoying getting to know some new foods--and foods we thought we knew but didn't really. The 3 of us shared a waffle with chocolate sauce and vanilla ice cream and a crepe with fresh strawberries and strawberry goop on it. We had to convince Amelia that licking the plate is bad manners, but we did let her drag her finger through the leftover powdered sugar and chocolate sauce. Mmmm! I'll leave you with that thought.