Brussels Day 3

We started out with breakfast in bed on my last day in Brussels. Of course, the nutella beignets were present.

We dropped my bag at a friends house and I fell in love with this piece from Ikea…look at those shadows! 

gorgeous colors of autumn en route to the Horta museum

Soph had been to the museum before and mentioned to me what I was in for. I won't lie, Art Nouveau is not my exactly my speciality, nor did I know anything about Horta's life or artistic style and contributions to the Art Nouveau movement in Brussels.

The building is jammed in the middle of the block, next to all other residential houses, yet Horta's is unique in the attention to detail of the stone and iron facade. 

Unfortunately, photography is not permitted inside and in a way, I'm almost glad it is not welcomed because I don't think it would do the house justice. He truly transformed his own residence into the style that he was pioneering, making the interior a piece of elaborate art with marble flooring and intricate ironwork throughout most of the rooms. The kitchen is probably my favorite room, with a swirling mosaic tile floor, floods of natural light, and tiled walls.

Horta designed and built the house from 1898 to 1901 and lived and worked in the house and studio downstairs until 1915, when he sold both separately. They were bought by the city of Brussels and created into this wonderful museum. For only 4 euro, I really recommend taking 30-45 minutes to walk through this 

Afterward, we walked to grab some frites, salad, and more Belgian beer.

In some ways Brussels reminded me of San Francisco, especially with the tram running alongside you, the amount of young families everywhere, the houses all stacked on top of one another that still manage to look different than one another, and of course, the love of good, fresh food.

Of course, Brussels is Socialist and has a deeper historical life than San Francisco, since it has been around since the 10th century and has experienced both World Wars. It is also a historically Dutch speaking city, that also speaks French and English.

This stunning building is now an Abercrombie & Fitch...

a quick & delicious hot chocolate

I picked up some chocolates to bring back for Kelsey and headed to the train back to London! A great, but short trip, I was still happy to see London Saturday evening, as I always am upon returning to this world class city. 

Hope you had a great Monday!

xx