Tag Archives: beer run

BeNeLux

The last full day in Mons (part five)

On Friday morning, Bill told me he would probably be finished early and would come back to the hotel at some point after noon. So, instead of walking around Mons on Friday, I decided to wait for Bill to come back to the hotel. I put the “do not disturb” sign on the door and waited for a private message. I finally got one indicating that he’d be back in the early afternoon.

I got a little bored waiting for him, so I made another talking video for YouTube. It was about our experience at the restaurant the night before, listening to the blowhard talk about his vast experiences as a foodie. I mainly made the video to pass the time, since I find typing on my laptop somewhat difficult. If you know where to look, you can find my video, but I don’t think I’ll post it here. I like to keep the travel blog somewhat PG rated. 😉

When Bill got back to the hotel, I told him about La Fontaine, the charming little brasserie I’d noticed the day before. I looked them up on Google, and saw that they were open for lunch. So we headed over there, and found that yes, indeed, La Fontaine is a local gem in Mons. It was bustling with business! They had room for us, though, so we took a seat and waited a bit for them to get to us. There were a couple of boisterous parties there for lunch that were taking up their attention.

The waitress who helped us didn’t speak perfect English, but she spoke enough to answer when I asked if the lasagna had mushrooms. It didn’t, so I ordered that. Bill had pork loin with mashed potatoes and gravy. Both dishes were excellent, and we washed them down with local beers. I couldn’t help but notice the friendly, convivial air in the restaurant. I could see why it was so busy, and I was very glad I’d found it. Bill and I agreed it was our favorite place of all the restaurants we tried in Mons. And there are many more we didn’t get a chance to try.

I really liked the lasagna because it was such a nice change of pace. Somehow, I managed to eat the whole thing! The waitress told me that usually, they do make it with mushrooms. I’m glad I asked before I ordered it. It was delicious!

A little amuse…
He appeared to be a local character. I was struck by his sartorial savvy.
They gave us a house digestive of homemade brandy after we paid.

By the time we finished lunch, it was late afternoon. Bill and I had a feeling we might be too full to go out again, so we stopped by the Delhaize on the way back to the hotel to pick up some snacks and wine. It’s so weird to see the lion logo, which looks so much like Food Lion. Now that I know Food Lion is owned by the same company, it makes sense!

That’s pretty much all I have to write about Friday, as we basically hung out in the hotel room, talked, drank wine, and maybe watched a little TV? I don’t even know… I did buy some hamburger flavored Lays Potato Chips because I was curious. They mostly tasted like pickles. We got some Belgian chocolate bars and long chips, which are kind of like Pringles, but in long, rectangular strips.

22 years of bliss…
He’s so good to me…

We went to bed early, and on Saturday morning, woke up to our 22nd wedding anniversary. Bill gave me one of his trademark mushy cards, which I really appreciated. He said he’d actually bought the card for another occasion, but misplaced it. This year, there was no time for him to find a new one, so he used the one above when he happened to find it.

I’ve been feeling a bit out of sorts, depressed, and anxious since Election Day. Bill’s card was a real morale booster. We had breakfast, loaded up the car, checked out of the Belgian hotel, and made our way north to The Netherlands. I will write about that in the next post.

Before we got on the road, though, we stopped at the enormous Carrefour store at a huge shopping center, just outside of Mons, and picked up some beer to bring back to Germany. I’ve been enjoying our haul all week. Feast your eyes! Maybe we should take a day trip back into Belgium for another beer run. Why not? I really enjoyed Mons and would happily go back, although next time, I would prefer a different hotel. I also wish we’d remembered to buy some chocolate… but then, maybe it’s better that we didn’t.

The drive up to The Netherlands was pretty boring. It was cloudy and grey outside, and there wasn’t much to see on the drive. I didn’t take any pictures, so now is a good time to stop until the next posting. Stay tuned, because the next post will be a big one.

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Lavazza in Ludwigsburg!

Bill and I decided to go to Ludwigsburg today and stop by Heinrich’s to drop off some old beer bottles and pick up some new suds.  Because we left our house at noon, we got to town at about 1:00, which is kind of close to the “witching hour” of two.  That’s when some places quit serving lunch.

We’ve been to Ludwigsburg enough times to know where we can get a bite to eat all day, but I’m always looking for new places to try.  Since it’s been awhile since my last local restaurant review, we decided to look a little harder than usual.  Today, we left the main square, which we hadn’t done in a long time.  I think we went that way some time ago and didn’t think there were any restaurants around there.  We were wrong.

I noticed the inviting smells of seafood and a sign that said “Mediterranean Grill”.  We turned the corner and ran into Lavazza, a Greek cafe/coffee bar/restaurant.  They were doing a pretty good business when we came in and sat down at a large table in their small dining room.  A friendly lady gave us a couple of menus and I found myself tempted by a number of different options.  They had some enticing specials available, everything from mussels made with wine sauce to chicken breast with oven baked potatoes.  They also had a nice looking regular menu with many different and appetizing dishes to choose from.

Obligatory shot of Bill, looking happy to be about to eat lunch on the town.

 

I was really happy that we found a Greek restaurant.  It’s been too long since my last hit of t’zatziki.  Though I was definitely tempted by the fish, I ended up ordering plain old gyros.  The waitress, who spoke excellent English as well as Greek and German, asked if I wanted regular gyros or their gyros salad.  Not being an especially healthy eater, I went with the regular ones…

These were delicious.  The pork was very fresh, well seasoned, and flavorful.  I liked the way they did their t’zatziki, too.  And the pommes, while pommes, were thick and hot.  I paired this with a glass of Chilean sauvignon blanc because at first, I thought I was having fish.  Next time, I will have fish for sure!

 

Bill had one of the specials.  It was grilled pieces of chicken breast and olives served with baked potato wedges.  He had a glass of very nice St. George wine from Greece.  It was dry and tasted a bit like sour cherries.  Perfect wine for a nasty rainy day like today.  

I really enjoyed the atmosphere in Lavazza.  Though it was a little crowded in the small dining room, their bar area was a little more conducive to smaller parties.  There were pub tables in there.  I noticed they were playing sexy Spanish music on the sound system.  I even had to Shazam one or two songs because I liked them so much.  I also noticed the awesome looking cakes on display.  Had I not been so full after failing to finish my lunch, I might have tried one.  They offer breakfast, too.

The outside.  There’s an umbrella set up out front for those who want to smoke.  

Service at Lavazza was very friendly and competent.  I told Bill I hoped we could go back and have dinner there sometime.  They had some dishes that looked very interesting and were priced accordingly.  The bill for today’s lunch was 38,90 before tip.  It included a house shot of ouzo.

We parked near the train station.  On the way there, I noticed the ebikestation.  You can book one and ride all over town to your heart’s content.

And they have instructions in English, too.

Random graffiti shot.

 

After lunch, we went to Heinrich’s, bought some beer, and proceeded to annoy a bunch of Germans because I picked an item that wouldn’t scan.  We ended up having to leave without it because there was no way to pay for it.

Then, we visited some friends on Kelley and enjoyed a little gathering…  It’s been awhile since I last socialized.  I may need to make more of a habit of getting out and about.

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