Brussels Jazz Festival

One of the great things about summer in Europe is the festivals, such as the Brussels Jazz festival.  We jumped on the train after work on Friday afternoon and we were in Brussels by 8pm, ready to enjoy some music.  All through the city there were pubs, cafes and squares with live music.  Ideally it would have been nice to sit out in a square under the warm sun enjoying a cold beer- unfortunately the weather had other ideas and any outdoor music viewing was done with warm jackets and hot drinks.  Nevertheless, across the weekend we enjoyed quite a few different bands.

Main stage in the Grote Markt

Outdoor stage at Sint Katelijneplein

Jazz trio in a cozy little cafe

We also took in a few different sights while in Brussels, including the Musical Instrument Museum and the Museum of Original Figurines which highlighted Belgium's rich contribution to cartoons and comics which includes the Smurfs, Tintin and Asterix.

Theremin

Brass inventions by Adolf Sax

Smurfs at the Museum of Original Figurines

Asterix and Obelix

Tintin

Another well known Belgian product is the beer.  We tried a number of styles of beer unique to the country, including the tripel-style Delirium Tremens at the Delirium Cafe (named the best beer in the world in a survey a few years ago) and a lambic beer at cafe Lambic Moeder, a type of beer produced using the old-world technique of spontaneous fermentation caused by wild yeasts and bacteria.

Delirium

Lambic beer with a side of barley grain

Despite the gloomy weather, the city was bustling and had a great (grown up) party atmosphere, making for an enjoyable weekend away.

Enjoying some flaamse frites

Home town tourists

When away on holidays, I find I am so much more likely to get up and go out when presented with the opportunity.  Part of this is the mindset of travelling, realising it might be the only time you get to experience something in this place, not being dragged down by the well worn tracks of everyday life that we let ourselves fall into. When we first moved to Amsterdam, every day was like being on holidays even though I was at work.  Inevitably, and even necessarily, tracks do form, even on the other side of the world.  We've had family stay with us over the last few weeks, and seeing Amsterdam and the Netherlands through the eyes of tourists again reminded us that there is so much to do and see, even just around the corner from our house.

With this in mind, on Friday night we visited the Van Gogh museum for the first time since its reopening last month.  There was a great relaxed atmosphere in the gallery with a live acoustic jazz band playing, and there was not so many people there so there was actually some space to move and time to enjoy the artworks.

Van Gogh house

Further down the same street is the House of Bols, an interactive museum/bar that is a tribute the 500 year old Dutch distillery company.  The 'museum' was like a self guided distillery tour with some interesting interactive displays of different tastes and smells, and of course the night finished with a cocktail each of our choosing.

Collection of annually issued Delft Blue houses full of jenever

23 different liquors to smell

On Saturday we revisited the Amsterdamse Bos and went for a walk along the lake which was busy with rowers.  The end point of our walk was thecharming pancake house Boerderij Meerzicht.  Aside from the delicious pancakes (the bacon, cheese and maple syrup pancake was incredible!) the highlight was the wandering peacock that was trying its best to pinch food from our plates.

Farmland at Amsterdamse Bos

Peacocks and Pancakes