Visit to WIC, Brussels
Saturday, May 15 - Thursday, May 20
12 ladies, full of expectation, left early Saturday morning for a visit to WIC Brussels. 3 of our party had left on an earlier fl ight.
In Brussels we were met by Simone Contant and Taru (club members) who took us to our hotel where we rested before our afternoon tour.

Saturday
Simone and Taru took us to the neo-classical Palace of Charles de Lorraine for a guided tour. The museum is the unique collaboration between the Royal Albert 1st Library, which owns the building and the Royal Museum of Art and History in the Cinquantenaire. This provides the setting for a magnificent collection of XVIIIth century furniture, ceramics, glassware, musical instruments, and much more, together with artefacts owned by Charles de Lorraine himself. After the tour we ended our day with a very cheerful and delightful dinner.

Sunday
We took a walk from our hotel towards the immense Graeco Roman style law courts, which stand on a raised plateau dominating a large part of Brussels, this is also the site of the medieval Galgenberg (the gallow hill). From there we took the lift to reach the Quartier des Morolles which lies below the terrace. This is a densely populated area which is still the home of many true natives of Brussels. We then looked at the daily flea market at the Place du Jeu De Balle, which was very nice, we next went to the Antiques Market which was outstanding and we had a very pleasant time shopping there. As our day had been a walking day we decided to enjoy a lovely dinner at our hotel.

Monday
Our morning tour took us to the Musee Van Buuren “A temple of Art Deco”. The Van Buuren Museum is a beautifully preserved example of Art Deco at its fi nest. It is now a museum after following the wishes of Alice Van Buuren but is essentially a private house with 8 gardens. In the afternoon we took a tram to the end of the Avenue Louise which has 2 toll booths of neo-classical style. We also saw a private street known as “millionaires row”. After sheltering from a belated April shower we continued our walk back to our hotel.

Tuesday
This was a “day in Brugge” with Taru. We first visited the Diamond Museum Bruges, which is the oldest diamond centre in Europe. After lunch we toured the “Chocostory”, a chocolate museum and learned about its history which included tasting hand made chocolates. Bruges was enchanting, like going back to medieval times with many historical buildings including the Old St.John Hospital, Our Ladies Church, the Arentz Gardens, and the Grote Mark with Belfry.

Wednesday
We attended a morning reception at the Swedish Nato Embassy situated near the NATO headquarters. We were warmly received by the First Secretary. We had a very informative morning and learned all about their work at the embassy. I wish to thank Veronika, Jessica and Emma for this. Simone had invited us for a private lunch at her exclusive town house where we met WIC President.In the afternoon we had tea at the Cercle Gaulois, a neo-classical building near the Brussel Park which is very exclusive Club for gentlemen and we wish to thank the husband of one of their members for arranging this. Here we met some 30 ladies from WIC Brusssels and exchanged club experiences. I
took the opportunity here to thank the club for their kind invitation and the fantastic programme which they had arranged for us. I also invited them for a return visit to IWC Stockholm. It was a very enjoyable afternoon with these ladies.

Thursday
As this was our last day we decided to shop, rest or visit places of interest before going back to the airport on our return journey to Stockholm. The participating ladies and I want to say thank you to WIC Brussels for an
unforgettable 5 days with you in your beautiful city. A special thanks to Simone and Taru for their great planning of our days with them.

Hannelore Randquist
International Coordinator

Last Update: 7 September 2010