It is officially Spring in Belgium. Both in accordance with the calendar and from a weather perspective. I am always struck by the wonders of the jet stream. While it is still snowing and cold in many parts of the US that are much more Southerly than Europe, here we are having mild temperatures and sunny days.
We have often said that when the weather is nice, there are few places that are more beautiful than Belgium. This weekend was a good example of that. With the warm weather, cafe’s disgorge tables and chairs into every available outdoor space. Squares fill up and sidewalks become an extension of the main service floor. And with this, every person able to walk, and some who can’t, stake out their spots for the afternoon.
After some negotiation about which medieval square we wanted to try find our space in, SWMBO and I headed for downtown. We went to the St. Catherine’s area of Brussels, an area we like very much. There are many restaurants and a few cafe’s where, if you can’t find a place to sit, can still order a glass of wine and some snacks and stand and wait for some tourist to vacate their seat. I pick on tourists, because they typically have somewhere to be and on a sunny day in Brussels a local would never relinquish their table in less than 2 hours. They are there for the duration.
We got to St. Catherine’s a little early, so the crowds were only beginning. We settled on a lovely little restaurant that we have passed several times but had never gone into. They have a spectacular raw bar set up outside and as SWMBO does not eat fish, we typically have passed by. This time though, I was in the mood for a Fruits de Mer and there are not many places that will do one for a single person. It turns out they also had a nice selection of meats on the menu so with that settled, we took a sunny table in their courtyard, ordered a bottle of wine and enjoyed our sunny Saturday like a couple of locals.
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