A Short Stay in Brussels, Belgium (part one)

The train stopped at the main Brussels station, Gare du Midi. Everyone had to step out of the train as it was the terminus. I had been several times at the Gare du Midi, but that was a while back.

Vintage postcard of Gare du Midi, Brussels

I did not see the station as pictured above – I am not quite that old yet, and it does not look like this anymore. The first time was in 1958. My Italian friend, who had come to France to spend a month in my home, and I took the train to Brussels to see Expo 58. This was the first major world’s fair since WW2. Below is a picture I took of my friend Marisa at the fair.

But the friend who came to greet us at the Gare du Midi was a childhood friend. As I mentioned in my first year anniversary post I spent my childhood in Cité Condorcet in Paris (pictures can be seen on the posts here .) There I played with my best friend Nadia whose family was Armenian. She had a younger brother, Serge, who was a terror. He would run after us or take our toys. With age he became much nicer and we had great times together. Below is a picture taken of him and me on some Paris boulevard. I am not sure of the date but I must have been 19 or so.



He married a young lady from Brussels who he had met in Paris. My husband and I visited them once, I believe in the early 80s and then because of our respective busy lives, we lost contact. But then, several months ago, Serge contacted me. He had found me through the Internet. He invited us to come and visit him during our next trip to Paris. We had already decided to go in May, so I quickly booked our seats on the TGV train. I wondered how the meeting would go after an absence of almost 30 years. Frankly, it was as if we had left him just a few months ago. He drove us to his house which is in Brussels proper. Flowers under the windows welcomed us.




My friend’s wife had prepared a tasty lunch, which we ate on the veranda. The house is tall, 4 stories, with a nice little garden in the back. Stairs are narrow and as shown in the picture below, when people move out of a house the moving of furniture is done through the window down a moving ladder.

Click on collage then click on each picture to enlarge

After lunch our friends took us on a little tour to reacquaint us with Brussels. We went through several of Brussels’ districts. Each of the districts, or communes, has a distinctive flavor. The architecture is quite diverse - classic but also Art Nouveau and Art Deco buildings.

Actually Brussels is the capital city of the Art Nouveau world. Victor Horta (1861-1947) was the Belgian architect who was one of the earliest initiators of Art Nouveau. He built some of the most remarkable pioneering buildings in that style in Brussels. Below is a postcard showing the staircase in the Horta museum – which we did not have time to visit.

Postcard of Horta’s House staircase (now the Horta Museum)
- (photo courtesy Evrard and Bastin.)

As we drove I could not stop taking pictures of all the remarkable buildings we passed by. The car was stopped briefly so I could take a better picture of the building below. I just love that circular window in the center.

There are more than 1200 Art Nouveau buildings in Brussels on which to feast one’s eyes. They are all quite varied – large and small, from little town houses to large department stores. I can understand why many French architects came to Brussels to get inspiration.




We found a spot to park near the Grand’ Place and walked to the Place. I could write a whole post just on the Grand’ Place of Brussels. It is on the prestigious list of World Heritage of Humanity and it merits it. It is the most beautiful city square in Europe. It is an assortment of public and private buildings from the seventeenth century. The history of this place dates back to the middle ages. The original Town Hall in the place was completed in 1455. Many of the buildings were burnt in 1695 by order of Louis XIV, king of France, then rebuilt later.




My pictures don’t give a good idea of the majesty and beauty of this unique place. The two postcards below show the Grand’Place at night and when it is covered with a flower carpet. Every two years, on August 15, the place is covered with a carpet made up of a million begonias.




As we walked up the Grand’ Place I took pictures looking inside courtyards, looking up façades or looking down at the cobblestone pavement.





Too much to photograph! including the mounted police and horses.




Around the Grand’ Place are narrow streets with many restaurants for tourists. It was middle of the afternoon so the restaurants were almost empty, apart from a couple who seemed to enjoy their tall glass of beer and mussels.




But there was more walking to be done – not too fast as the cobblestones are not very soft on the feet.

Restaurants in Tennessee and Hollywood, California

Last week I talked about our visits to the Loveless Café and Vingenzo’s Restaurants (see post here.) While we were near Nashville we also went to the historic town of Franklin, Tennessee. The first house in Franklin was built by an emigrant from Balgalkan, Ferintosh, Scotland. His descendants have lived there continuously since 1798. Franklin has a nice old-fashioned downtown.

Click on collage then click on individual photo to enlarge

It was a warm day, about 85 degrees F (almost 30C) but the town still had their winter signs at street corners.

We walked a bit in town. Some of the windows were decorated in honor of the upcoming royal wedding of Prince William of Wales and Catherine Middleton.



Then we ate lunch at the Battle Ground Brewery and Restaurant. It was established in the historic Franklin jailhouse built in 1909. It is an interesting place. I had a mug of their Soldiers Joy IPA - (India Pale Ale) and enjoyed it as IPA is my favorite type of beer.




The jailhouse is historic but not the restaurant which was established about 1 ½ years ago. Now miles from here, in California, is another restaurant where we ate in February, and that restaurant is historic. It is located at 6667 Hollywood Boulevard, Los Angeles, California.



I don’t have to explain Hollywood.

Vintage Postcards

In June 2010 we were supposed to have lunch at this historic restaurant called Musso and Frank Grill but could not. I have a first cousin who lives in Cairo, Egypt, and he also has an apartment in Hollywood. I do not see him often as he is always traveling to see his son in Singapore or his other children in Egypt. I had read a 3-part review of Musso and Frank Grill in Naomi’s Here in the Hills’ Blog (see here Musso Part One is dated Sept. 4, 2009 and is at the bottom of the page.) I was much intrigued by the place after reading this great report by Naomi and asked my cousin to meet us there. Unfortunately it was a Monday and the restaurant is closed on that day. We ate at a Lebanese restaurant near by – my cousin was happy to make all the selections for us since his wife is an Armenian from Lebanon and he knows the cuisine well. I did take some pictures of the American Cinémathèque across from the restaurant.

This past February 2011 after our trip to Hawai’i we stayed several days with our daughter who lives in Long Beach. Fortunately my cousin was back in Hollywood and we, again, decided to meet at Musso and Frank Grill for lunch. I had asked him to bring some old photos from the family since I have so few from my father’s side (his mother was my father’s only sister.) He did bring several and I have to read all the good explanations he also provided. He brought two pictures of me from the first time I went to Cairo to visit my aunt and her family.



The pictures are not too clear, but my old-fashioned hair style can be seen, unfortunately. One picture he gave me is of my grand-mother’s sister (I think.) She lived in Istanbul and looks pretty with her long hair – her name was Seranouche or Siranush I am not sure (it is an Armenian name.) I had never seen her picture before or even knew of her.



So we had a booth at Musso and Frank Grill and it was perfect for a leisurely lunch where we all could talk and look at vintage family photographs. Please read Naomi’s account of this restaurant as she explains its history so well. The restaurant is located off Las Palmas and Cherokee, just east of Highland Avenue and has been there since 1919.



As you enter the restaurant you can feel the old world atmosphere – it is like a nostalgic walk back in time, to the old Hollywood. I would love to be, just for a moment, in this restaurant in the 20s, 30s or even 40s and observe the Hollywood Elite coming here. I understand that some of the regulars included Mary Pickford, Bette Davis, Orson Welles, Charlie Chaplin, Greta Garbo, Gary Cooper, Humphrey Bogart, Joan Crawford, Ernest Hemingway, William Faulkner, F. Scott Fitzgerald, Ginger Rogers, Marilyn Monroe, Steve McQueen and nowadays stars such as Keith Richards, Mick Jagger, Madonna, Sean Penn, Johnny Depp and so many others.



Even though the restaurant is a breath from the past, it is still popular now. I read that in Season One, Episode 7 of the popular Mad Men TV Drama, the bar and old room of Musso’s is prominently featured. They use this restaurant also in Season 2, Episode 5, as a substitute for Sardi’s in New York. It is also featured in Greenberg, Ben Stiller’s movie. So the celebrities still patronize this nostalgic place. As we entered from the back we passed the counter lining the grill and sat in a cozy booth in the old room, under the oak-beamed high ceiling.



We were there early and the first patrons in this room, some other clients were sitting by the counter. It certainly was a different ambience from the Hollywood strip outside. The restaurant was opened in 1919 by Frank Toulet, an immigrant from France and originally called “Frank's François Café,” then, around 1923 he was joined by another immigrant, from Italy, Giuseppe Musso. The restaurant is still owned by descendants of the original owners.



The staff stays working at Musso and Frank for years as for them it is not just a restaurant but a family. One of the chefs, Jean Rue, a Frenchman, was employed there for 53 years, starting in 1922. He created the old fashioned menu of "comfort" food such as the flannel cakes for breakfast, chicken potpie (just like mom used to make – or even better), the bouillabaisse with a varieties of fish and chunks of lobster, clams and shrimp. There is a strong following for more of the old standards from another era: the braised short ribs, sand dabs and the corned beef and cabbage. All the dishes on their voluminous à la carte menu are very satisfying. The Martinis are said to be the best in town, but I had a glass of wine.

Martini photo (left) courtesy Paige Photography

I had the Welsh rarebit and that certainly was eminently pleasing to my palate. The first time I had this dish was in a restaurant in San Francisco in the 60s and since then it has been one of my favorites.

Our lunch was relaxed and our conversation was a long one but the staff never rushed us. Our waiter was unobtrusive but attentive. This was a moment in time to be enjoyed, savoured really. It is not a “hip” restaurant with chi-chi nouvelle cuisine, but a venerable institution with retro-glamour and understated old Hollywood patina – a piece of Hollywood history if you wish.



We left through the front door and we said goodbye to my cousin. I carried away a bag of old family photographs he let me borrow. I also carried away a bit of Hollywood’s past in my memory and hope that Musso and Frank Grill will also be part of its future.



Before going back to our car I took some pictures of the brass stars embedded in the sidewalk.



Then it was time to drive up into the Hollywood hills to visit Naomi, the Lady in the Hills – but that will be another post.