La Grand Place

The Vollmer family has owned Im Malerwinkel for several generations. You get a good sense of a small family run business when you are offered a ride to the train station. We are leaving Bacharach and the Rhine Valley on a five-hour trip to Brussels.

Everything goes smoothly as we queue up for a taxi outside the Brussels midi train station. We showed the driver the paper on which our Hotel Thon and address was written. “Yes, Hotel Thon, I know it,” he says. After a harrowing drive through heavy city traffic and €25.00 later, we are dropped off at the wrong hotel. By the time we discover this, the driver was long gone. Worse still, I have no one to whom I can complain, except my lovely wife who is much calmer about the miscommunication. We hail another taxi driver who brings us across town to our correct hotel, the Thon Parnasse. Unknown to us, there are 3 Thon hotels in Brussels. A nice apartment with a balcony softens the frustration.

Our concierge is pleasant and gives us directions and a map for our subway station. We head to La Grand Place, yet another UNESCO World Heritage site and the hottest tourist attraction in Belgium. The UNESCO designation states “The Grand-Place is an outstanding example of the eclectic and highly successful blending of architectural and artistic styles that characterizes the culture and society of this region.”

The large square and its wall of buildings were created in the 1400’s. In 1695, French troops under the direction of the Sun King, Louis XIV, destroyed the square. The only surviving building was the Town Hall. The Hall was initiated by local craftsmen in 1421 who wanted to see more control over public funds. The square was rebuilt entirely a few years after its destruction. Today it is bustling with cafés, musicians, artists and flower markets.

As we leave the Grand-Place we stroke the statue of Brussels’s hero, Everard t’Serclaces. In the 14th Century, Everard successfully led a group of patriots in defense of an invasion from Flanders. Local superstition has it that stroking the statue brings you luck. The luck, we hope, will make it easier to get to our hotel the second time.