Belgium 2017: Brussels - Military Museum, Antique Cars, Grand Sablon

On each visit to a new city, we always look for opportunities to check out sights that are off the beaten path in terms of typical tourist attractions.  In Brussels, we decided to walk 45 minutes east of the old city to reach Parc du Cinquantenaire (or Jubelpark in Dutch), a 30 hectares urban green space that is full of picturesque gardens, ponds and waterfalls.  It was previously used as the exhibition space for the Science and Industry Expo of 1888.  In 1904, temporary exhibition spaces were replaced with a giant monumental arcade at the request of King Leopold II.  It consists of three arches topped by a bronze sculpture of a chariot with four horses and a female charioteer holding the national flag of Belgium.  The arches are flanked by colonnades with a long sequence of columns along the front and colourful mosaics at the back.  It was completed in 1905, in time to celebrate 75 years of Belgium’s independence.  Several major exhibition halls remain and house various museums including a Military Museum and an vintage car museum, which were our intended destinations while visiting the park.

The initial collection housed in the Royal Museum of the Armed Forces and Military History came from the Brussels Expo of 1910, where a selection of 900 items of Belgian military history was displayed.  After World War I, the collection grew with donations from foreign governments and equipment left by the Germans when they withdrew after the two World Wars.  Today, the museum hosts artifacts from military history ranging from the 19th to late 20th centuries, a map room, print room, archives, an Air and Space section as well as one for the Navy.  Due to Rich’s love of history, we have visited many military museums in our travels, including ones in Paris, Beijing and Vienna.  From my perspective, what I saw in this museum seemed rather similar to the rest, including armour, historic uniforms, drums, older weapons like swords and cannons, and modern day guns, tanks and aircraft.  I relied on Rich to explain to me what I was looking at and why it was significant in military history.

We saw some interesting 19^th Century weapons including a 50-barrelled volley gun, an early predecessor to the machine gun which fired multiple shots simultaneously from each of the barrels.  Invented by Belgian gunsmith Joseph Montigny, it looked like he strapped many guns together and caused them to all fire at once.  Unlike a modern machine gun, this one could not support automatic loading and firing.  There was a mobile anti-aircraft gun from World War I that sat on a horse-drawn carriage which made an illuminating comment on the changing nature of war at the time, given the juxtaposition of a weapon pulled by a horse fighting against the modern airplane.  A recreation of a 1915 Mors-Minerva armoured car caught my eye, since it was painted bright green with what looked like a bright red/blue/white circular target painted on the side, almost as if to say “hit me here”.  These early armoured cars were created by the Belgian luxury car company Minerva by adding armour and weapons to existing civilian vehicles.  Not surprisingly, none of the original vehicles survived the war.  The British Medium Mark A Whippet tank built a few years later in 1918 started to look more like what we expect from modern day tanks.  Known for its relative mobility and speed, it was used to break through the enemy lines with fast mobile assaults before heavier tanks rolled in to finish the job.

The impressive Air and Space Gallery was added in 1972 and boasts a large collection of military and civilian aircraft, some dating back to the early twentieth century.  To give some  historic perspective on the early attempts at flight, there were some theoretical drawings of how it might work, including a contraption propelled by a flock of birds.  A model of the hot air balloon by the French Montgolfier brothers in 1783 marked the first successful attempt at human flight when the balloon flew for 10km in 25 minutes.  Amongst several planes from the early 1900s was the Caudron G3 (1914), a French single-engined sesqui plane with 1.5 wings that was used as a reconnaissance aircraft and trainer in WWI.  The smaller lower half wing was meant to reduce interference drag between the wings.

I was intrigued by the little Link Trainer, built in the 1930s-40s by American company Link Aviation Devices as virtual reality training devices for pilots.  These early flight simulators were used as key pilot training aids by almost every combatant nation during WWII.  There were several Canadian connections in this gallery, including an Avro CF100, the only Canadian designed and built military aircraft to enter into mass production.  Built in the 1950s and featuring a short takeoff run and high climb rate, it was used as a jet interceptor/fighter during the Cold War, primarily by the Royal Canadian Air Force, but also by Belgium.  The British De Havilland Dominie was a high-speed short-haul biplane that accommodated 6-8 passengers.  It was built in the 1930s and was economical and durable despite being made mostly with plywood.  The Hawker Hurricane was a British single-seat monoplane used as a fighter aircraft during WWII, where it became renowned for helping to win the Battle of Britain, a period in 1940 where the British Royal Air Force defended the United Kingdom against large-scale attacks by the German Luftwaffe.  The Hurricane accounted for 60% of the RAF’s air battle victories.

After touring the military museum, next on the agenda was AutoWorld, a vintage car museum featuring over 250 vehicles of various origin spanning over a century.  With everything from horse-drawn carriages to sports cars, the museum does an excellent job of recounting the history of the automobile in terms of both technological advancements and aesthetics.  We have been to other vintage car museums including the personal collection of Monaco’s Prince Rainier III, so getting up close and personal with beautiful old cars was not a new experience.  Because this museum concentrated more on automotive history and evolution, there were some very unique vehicles on display.

What Autoworld does so well is to divide up the collection by decades, highlighting the new features developed in each decade.  It was very interesting to see when functions or attributes that we now take for granted were originally added to the standard vehicle.  The first car fitted with inflatable rubber tires came in 1895, followed by the introduction of a carburetor, electric ignition, 4-wheel drive and 4-wheel brakes through 1909.  In 1910-19, the electric starter, battery ignition and V12 engine were added.  The 1920s saw the advent of hydraulic brakes, suspension, engine fan, oil filter, and front wheel drive, while front suspension, V16 engine, retractable headlamps and flashing indicators were developed in the 1930s.  Air conditioning was not available until the 1940s, along with electric windows, radial tires, disc brakes.  Seat belts were not added until 1949 while power steering and cruise control came along in the 1950s.  An alternator and anti-lock brakes came in the 1960s and airbags in 1972.

One of the oldest vehicles in the museum is the Gala Berline Royal Carriage, which was used for the wedding of Napoleon III to Eugénie de Montijo in 1853.  Featuring the Imperial coat of arms, 7 windows and a rear platform for footmen to stand on, the carriage was pulled by 6 horses.  A row of rear-wheel-drive cars from between 1910-1912 varied widely in power capacity, including the French 1911 Le Zèbre Type A4 with only 1 cylinder, the 1912 De Dion Bouton with 2 cylinders, and the 1910 Delange Type T with 4 cylinders, which was used for racing.  The most powerful vehicle in this group was the 6 cylinder 1911 Rolls Royce Silver Ghost, which was displayed with its hood open so that the engine could be seen.

There were several French cars on display that were shaped like boats including the Citroen Type C Boattail (1925) and the Ravel Type B 12.26 (1923-27) that particularly looked like a boat on wheels.  The Citroen Type C was nicknamed “The Little Lemon” since it was originally only available in bright yellow, while only 150-200 Ravel Type B cars were made.  While these two cars merely looked like boats, the West Germany Amphicar (1965) was built to be watertight, which allowed it to float and to travel in water, propelled by twin propellers mounted under the rear bumper.  Its long tail fins were just for aesthetics.  This amphibious car was required to comply with both highway and maritime regulations, but did not perform well either as a car or a boat—a classic case of “a jack of all trades, but master of none”.  It was fun to watch a video of the Amphicar navigating in water.

The 1924 Ford TT Motorhome was like a traveling cottage on wheels, featuring a small kitchenette, seating area, a back porch and presumably a sleeping area.  The long, black Chevrolet Bel Air Hearse was easily identified by a cross and what looked like cremation urns on its roof.  The funeral car was created back in the 1970s, but was used in the Belgian city of Elsene until 2011.  One of my favourite vehicles in the museum was the 1964 West German Messerschmitt KR200, a 3-wheeled bubble car, so named for its unique aircraft styled bubble-like canopy roof.  Messerschmitt used to make German aircraft during the war, and converted to producing economically affordable 1 cylinder mini cars.  I was really surprised to learn that the Jamais Contente, a light alloyed vehicle with a torpedo-shaped body was a replica of a car that was made in 1899!  It was the first road vehicle that could go faster than 100km.  I guess the wheels were the give-away, but the shape made me think the car was more modern than something created at the end of the 19th Century.

The odd-shaped 1941 Peugeot VLV, was an electric car built in France during the German occupation in order to overcome petrol shortages.  It reached a top speed of 30km/h and had an operating range of 80km.  The space that Autoworld occupied had two floors with the more recent cars (from 1960s-90s) on the second floor.  Against one wall, they also stacked multiple vehicles for more efficient use of air space.   As always, Rich was enamored by the vintage hood ornaments that adorned various cars.

On the final day of our Belgian vacation, we visited the area in Brussels called Sablon, which featured a large square called the Grand Sablon where a large antiques market is held each weekend, and the surrounding streets in the area that are home to high-end chocolate shops, art galleries and antique shops.  We visited multiple modern and contemporary art galleries where quirky and interesting drawings, paintings and sculptures could be found.  I particularly liked the cartoon drawings and bright red sculptural representation of Philippe Geluck’s comics character Le Chat, as well as a gallery that displayed stamps featuring iconic images from paintings by Hieronymus Bosch, and one with fashion drawings of women dressed in 1950s attire juxtapositioned against figurines of cartoon characters.

Although we had already tasted some amazing chocolates and cakes throughout Belgium and particularly in Brussel’s Galeries Royales Saint-Hubert, we learned that the Grand Sablon was the place to get “home-made” hot chocolate from gourmet chocolatier Pierre Marcolini.  We had thought that our previous experience of drinking hot chocolate from Neuhaus was excellent, but the one by Pierre Marcolini was over the top in terms of rich dark chocolate flavour.  We saw many of the big-named chocolatiers that we had been visiting throughout our visit and took the opportunity to add to our chocolate supply that we planned to bring home as souvenirs.  One new shop that we found near the Grand Sablon was Wittamer Chocolatier, which had a beautiful display in its windows of chocolate “flower trees” and checked white and dark chocolate high-heeled shoes.

As we were wandering through antique shops, we found one that specialized in Art Deco sculptures, in particular ones of female forms in 1920s garb including flappers dancing the Charleston.  Finally we reached the square where the weekend antiques market was being held.  While not as large or elaborate as the one we visited in the Paris St. Ouen area the previous year, there were still many booths with the typical fare including furniture, pottery, paintings, china, cutlery, jewellery and decorative arts.

Whenever Rich is at an antique sale or flea market, the first thing he looks for is a vender selling watches.  He dreams one day of finding that needle in a haystack—an old, rare watch within a junk pile of watches, whose value has been underestimated by a seller that doesn’t know what he has.  Unfortunately the antique market at the Grand Sablon did not have such a cache.  There was a seller of vintage watches including some Jaeger LeCoultres, but there were no bargains to be had.  And then we spotted something that got us really excited.  It was a magnificent authentic Art Deco marble lamp created by noted Parisian sculptor Max Le Verrier, which featured a clothed female figure mounted on beautiful dark green marble with white veins.  I have always wanted to own an Art Deco sculpture and we fell in love with this piece.  We negotiated what seemed like a reasonable price for it, but unfortunately we had no easy way to get it home safely and we were leaving the next morning.  We agreed with the vendor that he would calculate the shipping price for us and if it was not exorbitant, we would buy it once we returned to Toronto and have it shipped to us.  As it turns out, the shipping was not that bad but the vendor would not accept our credit card over the phone.  He wanted us to wire transfer money directly to his bank account.  This was not acceptable to us, so sadly we had to give up on owning the lamp.  I still regret not trying to take it home as carry-on and think of it as the treasure that got away.  At least I have some photos to act as a memory and it was exciting for the brief period of time during when I thought we would own it.

We had good dining experiences in Brussels, eating mussels and frites, croquettes, stews, and drinking framboise and Trappist beers.   More memorable than the food was the décor of some of our dining establishments.  Near the Grand Sablon, Le Perroquet restaurant was decorated with some gorgeous Art Nouveau features including wall murals and ornate trim.  La Quincaillerie, the restaurant we went to after visiting the Victor Horta Museum, had an old-fashioned glamorous air about it.  Located in a former ironmonger’s shop and designed by a student of Victor Horta, it features an ornate iron staircase, leading up to a giant clock and long, narrow seating areas on each side, overlooking the ground floor.  The walls of the second floor were lined with little wooden drawers that were once used by the ironmonger to store his nails and screws and other parts.  We ordered drinks at an outdoor table at Le Forestier, which happened to be situated on a very steeply sloped cobblestoned street.  It was quite the experience sitting at a table that was literally tilted at a noticeable angle and to be able to look up at the table to our left and down at the table to our right.

Although we had already tried a version of it in Antwerp, we wanted to eat the Belgian Liege styled waffle in Brussels where it was invented and were told that Maison Dandoy was the place to go.  I ordered mine with my favourite toppings of stewed cherries and whipping cream, while Rich went for one with brown sugar, hazelnuts, and lemon juice.  What makes the Liege waffles special is the use of pearl sugar which does not dissolve in high heat, but caramelizes instead.  Inspired by this tasty treat, we went on a hunt for authentic Belgian pearl sugar and ended up finding a 454g bag of it at one of the bigger Carrefour supermarkets, for a mere 2.15 Euros.  Had we known how costly it would be to try to get more once we returned to Toronto, we might have tried to lug home another bag in our carry-on suitcases, but we were saving our allocated weight for chocolate!  Anyways Rich ended up successfully recreating the Liege waffles at home and they were just as tasty.

This marks the end of my blogs regarding our Belgian vacation including a 9 day home swap in Antwerp, overnight visits to Ghent and Bruges, and a 1 week stay in Brussels.  We had a fabulous time, as there was so much to do and see and eat.  If anyone we know gets inspired to visit Belgium, please bring us back more Neuhaus Incredible chocolates and a bag of pearl sugar.