Day 4 - Bacharach to Brussels

We woke up in the morning to very dense fog. Above us somewhere amongst the clouds were hillsides covered with vineyards and a mountain top vineyard. I looked at Matt and said, "This should clear, right?" He just shook his head at my attempt at being optimistic/unrealistic. 

By the time we had finished a delicious breakfast, the fog had finally lifted from the river at least. We enjoyed an early morning walk through the village and along the river, discovering the hidden secrets of Bacharach, including a find of kiwi on the vine.

There were no river cruises since it was winter and we were did not have time to hike the trails through vineyards (that's the big thing to do in September in Bacharach), but the quietness of the village was a nice way to start our day. We will definitely return here on our next visit to Germany. The area is dotted in castles, churches, monasteries and great hiking trails, so there is lots to see and do.

Leaving the valley, we drove high into the hills and finally broke the thick fog ceiling. Along the ridge line were farms, villages and grazing cows.

It was another exciting journey on the autobahn. Even though this was Matt's 3rd time driving a European Delivery car through Germany, he was a bit more on edge since he was driving Mom's car. The ride was very scenic and when we crossed the border into Belgium, the only difference was that the signage changed from German to French.

Getting into Brussels was frustrating. It should have taken 10 minutes to reach Old Town once arriving in Brussels. However, it took 1 hour due to traffic and construction along city streets. It was tough watching our limited daylight slip away as we inched our way to Old Town. By the time we made it to the parking garage and walked to our hotel, it was nightfall.  We stayed at the St. Nicolas Hotel on a pedestrian street in Old Town. The hotel's website stated that their rooms had all been renovated in January 2014. Although, some rooms were updated, including ours, the rest of the rooms on our floor were totally under construction. The construction workers were milling in the hallway smoking, so that negated our smoke free room. Our room was big with a nice new bathroom though. All the rooms had posters of chocolate on each door. It was already 5:30, dark and chilly, but we were heading out to explore Brussels and what a happy surprise it was.

Brussels was completely decorated for Christmas. Lights were everywhere with Christmas decorations galore. It felt like a European Christmas card. We visited chocolate shops and beer shops as we made our way to the Grand Place, the main plaza in Old Town. 

We walked along the cobblestone streets and discovered a delicious little place that sold crepes...and had a great beer selection. I asked for the darkest beer they had. Matt had the Kriek and Mom chose the Frambroise. Low and behold, we learned that Mom likes beer in Belgium. She really enjoyed both the raspberry and cherry beers. Our crepes were the perfect comfort meal to the end of a long day.