Empty Nesters: Chocolate, Museums and Beer-A weekend in Belgium

Don planned a weekend for us in Belgium which was great! We arrived in Brussels late Thursday night and got back to Heidelberg on Sunday night. We had such a fun time and the hotel Don picked out had great service and an excellent location. Great food, great art, and it was a perfect place to walk around and explore. /We walked 23 miles in 3 days there! Everywhere you turned there was a chocolate store. On Friday, Don had to work remotely so I headed to a museum and some chocolate shops that have been on my bucket list for years. I saw a new exhibit that opened just that day on the art scene in Berlin between WWI-WWII. It was excellent! I also checked out some of the collection of the old masters and the Brueghel paintings. One of the Brueghel exhibits was so unique I took Don back to see it on Sunday.
After hitting up 3 chocolate stores I had to drop off all my bags back at the hotel. Don and I had an excellent meal of mussels and fries at a restaurant out of the tourist area in a local neighborhood. They served us so many mussels we couldn't even make a dent in them.

Some of the pastries and chocolates in the windows

Great art nouveau building that turns out to be the musical instrument museum

Escargot "Belgium Style" Cart

Fountain in front of our hotel

Mussel Dinner

The next day we travelled to Antwerp for the day. I wanted to go to Peter Paul Ruben's house and museum and there was a brewery Don wanted to tour.

Arriving at the train station. We only got on the wrong train once! It seems that the Belgians find posting the train #'s is overrated.

At The Ruben's House/Museum. He was one of the most influential Flemish artists from the baroque period,

This guy was carved on numerous door inside the house

Don at De Konick Brewery. We did a tour of it and then enjoyed the tasting room.

The next day we stopped at more chocolate stores. I returned to the Pierre Marcolini shop for some more goods and we enjoyed a waffle with chocolate. I've been wanting to visit his shop here and it didn't disappoint!