It was morning when we heard a knock at the door. The other ladies were ready for breakfast. My roommate Joy and I just got up. Anyway, when we went down to the dining room they were gone.
As expected, we had bread and cheese. There was a chocolate nougat for a spread. I liked that a lot. I had coffee and Joy had juice. It really was good that we had a relaxing morning . It was a walking day.
Trias rep Anne Marie picked us up at 9:30. We first went to Circle des Voyagre for coffee and to discuss the schedule. The drinks were good. The discussion was even better. The only part we were not so happy about was that there was not much time to venture far from Brussels.
After that, we met up with Unizo rep Evelyn who brought a couple of people. One of them was a Filipina married to a Belgian. She was our guest actually. Over lunch she told us her story. We asked her about how she coped with the difference in culture. From her and her husband, we learned how open minded the Belgians are. There are no negative stereotypes of Filipinos. The Belgian or Brussels community is multicultural based on history so they easily welcome people from other cultures. Of course there are not that much Asians, much less Filipinos in the country.
After lunch, we had a tour of Brussesls or at least the city center. It was a walking tour so we were not expecting to get the suburbs into the picture. That did not mean it would be a walk in the park. The program was scheduled from 2:30 to 6 in the evening. So from where we were, we first looked at the architecture in the area. Brussels has a mix of old and new buildings. What's interesting is how the Belgians reused old buildings.
There were residential buildings dating to the 1800s that were made of brick or chalk or limestone. The old cobblestone streets were binded with lava rock. The guided pointed out sidewalk tiles and wall additions that were placed at different times. That day, there were still colorful decorations because there was a gay parade the previous evening. It was a pity we did not venture too far from the hotel when we were looking for food. If we did, we would have been able to watch the parade as well.
We visited a small church that began at the time of the reformation. We also went to the cathedral which was built during the time of King Leopold. The guide also mentioned other churches built at other times that are now within city limits.
We went through the old marketplace which is described as the center of activities of the city. We also visited the grand market which is the current active marketplace, actually a tourist shopping district. We also passed the more upscale shops. Brussels is organized in such a way that the shopping distric and the office sector is well defined.
We went through a park that was said to be the former hunting grounds of kings. It was outside the royal palace which was the office of the king but not his residence.
Finally, we had dinner in an Asian restaurant. The others went on to explore and do some shopping but I went back to update this blog/
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