1936 On the Continent

You’ll see faces beaming with good nature and hear strident, good-humoured voices. At the bottom of the rue Blaes you’ll find the ‘vieux marché,’ a sort of rag market where one can buy anything from a latch-key to a bird-cage, at a very reasonable price. Now and again, too, one finds a real bargain in the way of paintings or furniture.”
The Annual Fair
    “The rue des Bouchers is interesting also—you can have lunch or supper there one day, for almost every establishment in the street is a restaurant. Many of them are ‘fritures,’ famous for their chips. Mussels and chips are a national dish, and if you like them you’ll find that they are deliciously prepared here.
    “Have I forgotten anything? Yes. If you should be in Brussels between July 18th and August 20th you must visit the annual Brussels fair—complete with ancient and modern booths, attractions and merry-go-rounds.
    “I think that’s about all.… Anyhow, that will give you a fairly accurate general impression—and I hope a pleasantone—of the citizens of Brussels, who are kind and jovial people.
    “That’s all very well,” replied Muriel, “I shall certainly take back a more truthful picture of Belgium because I’ll have followed your advice and benefited by your explanation, but supposing I’d been on my own, what would I have done then?”
    “My dear and absent-minded Muriel, you’d have started by buying O N THE C ONTINENT 1936, that most indispensable of guide-books for practical travellers who don’t like cut-and-dried methods. And you would have found in its friendly pages a host of useful and practical information, together with the addresses of our tourist offices, that of the Touring Club (44 rue de la Loi), of the Automobile Club (58 Avenue des Arts), of the Y.W.C.A. (46 rue Coudenberg or 36 A rue Jourdan), of the British Consulate (14 rue Stévin), etc. … and you would have read that any of these data could have been supplied by the first and last of your hotel staff. And you would have learnt, too, that Belgium is a great tourist centre, and that even if you spoke English only you’d have every chance of being understood in almost every hotel and public establishment.”
Environments of Brussels
    There’s an excursion or two that should not be missed before you leave Brussels.
    Waterloo, of course. This will take you sixteen kilometres out of Brussels. As you know, that is the spot where the English and the Prussians defeated Napoleon in 1815, a short time before he was exiled to Saint Helena, where he was to die six years later.
    Nowadays you will find Waterloo a quiet, peaceful little village where a great many monuments commemorate the famous victory. At the top of a hill you will see the Lion of Waterloo facing towards France, and this is a great trial to those who call themselves “the friends of France,” because it is a reminder of defeat. But there—history is history.
    In the war museum of Waterloo you will see Napoleon’s hat and other personal objects which are said to be authentic. The Emperor must have been well stocked inhats if all those kept in countless museums really belonged to him.
    Waterloo is not far from the Forest of Soignes, of which we are so proud. There are magnificent walks in this forest, which is enormous, and it really marks the boundaries of the town of which it is the great game preserve.
    Lastly, if you’ve seen all this and still feel you’re ready for more, there is the Parc of Laeken, with its Japanese tower and Chinese pavilion, and its private royal residence, where the King lives with his children and the Queen Mother.
    All around Brussels are beauty spots, so many of them that it would take too long to mention them all. However, one day spent in Brussels will give you a general sense of the lie of the land and you will realise that you may learn to know the town superficially in a very few days, but that you may live there for weeks on end and find new things every day to stir your interest.
    And you will leave Brussels behind you with very real regret.
    At least I hope so.
Antwerp and its Harbour
    “After this, Antwerp is calling us, Muriel, but we’ll stop at Mechlin for an hour on our way there.”
    “Is that necessary?”
    “Absolutely! Mechlin is a very beautiful little town (population 60,000). It was the old capital of the Netherlands. Our greatest religious dignitary lives there—the Cardinal Archbishop. You know that the Belgians are for the greater