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Pardon My French: Brussels and Paris 2026 (part three)

Featured photo is from the Toone Bar… which is also a historic puppet theater.

Sunday morning, Bill and I woke up, got dressed, and had breakfast in the hotel lobby. We were under the impression that we’d be having breakfast in the lobby all week, since the receptionist had told us the restaurant was under renovation. But it turned out the lounge breakfast was only to occur on Sunday. I was glad of that, since it wasn’t an ideal location.

Because we got there at 8:00 AM, there wasn’t a lot of seating in the lounge. We ended up sitting at a very low table, right next to the drink station. Bill fought with the Nespresso type coffee machine, which wasn’t properly set up. We got the side eye from a European couple, who happened to be at breakfast on three out of the four mornings we were at the hotel. I did fall in love with the marvelous pastries, though… It’s good that I don’t have access to them every day!

After breakfast, we decided to take a walk around and see what we could find in Brussels. It didn’t take us long before we wound up at the Belgian Beer World. This fantastic and very modern museum is in a huge, beautiful, surprisingly ornate building. We thought maybe the museum would be one tenant in the massive location, but it took up the entire edifice, with a cafe, brasserie, rooftop bar, and interactive exhibits on several floors.

We happened to be there at 10:30 AM, which was when the museum opened for the day. And, we were also the first ones to explore the museum on that Sunday morning. Tickets were 21,50€ for adults, but because Bill is 61 years old, he got a senior discount, and only had to pay 19,50€. He took it with good humor!

Below are a few photos from the walk to the Beer World, which was very close to Le Fleur de Ville, our hotel. One thing I love about Belgium is the quirky, and sometimes a bit off-color humor that is often on display there. They don’t take themselves too seriously!

*These kinds of comical murals are on a number of buildings around Brussels.*

And below are a few outside photos of the massive Belgian Beer World, which is an impressive place to explore Belgium’s national drink. As a beer lover, I can confirm it’s a fun place to visit, even for children. There are lots of interactive and multimedia exhibits there, presented in several languages.

We walked up the steps and into the massive foyer… I got more photos of the very ornate interior of this building, called La Bourse… This was just the first floor! Until 1996, this historic building was home to Belgium’s financial markets. Now, it’s been renovated to house a fun and fascinating museum dedicated to beer! What could be a better use for such a grand address? 🤭 La Bourse was designed by the Belgian architect, Léon-Pierre Suys between 1868 and 1873. It is now thought to be “a true marvel of 19th century neoclassical style.”

According to the Beer World’s Web site: La Bourse was the site of heroic action: during the First World War, the Bourse district of the city was the epicenter of the clandestine press, a symbol of the Belgian resistance against the occupier.

Besides housing Belgian Beer World, it also serves as a place for hosting temporary exhibits and events. Below are a few photos of the interior:

After we got our tickets to the museum, we climbed up some steps, and took a journey into Belgian beer and the history surrounding it. Below is a photo dump of all the pictures I got at this place, which entertained us for a good while. We learned that beer, at least back in the days before sanitation, was quite literally a lifesaver!

At this point, we had the chance to taste a couple of Belgian styles. We had a brown beer and a lambic… and once again, I ran into someone who badly needed a breath mint. Fortunately, that was the last occurrence of shocking halitosis on this trip.

After tasting the beer, we climbed another flight of stairs and encountered a truly funny exhibit… The Yeast Theatre! This exhibit involved sitting in a closed theatre, as if we were in a glass of beer, and an animated yeast told us the story of fermentation. I even got some video of it! The show happens continuously every ten minutes or so. You go in and sit down; the doors close, and then the fun begins.

Learning about Belgian beer production through a fun exhibit.

After the Yeast Theatre, there’s more to see in the museum, until it’s time to choose which beer you want to sample in the rooftop bar…

A short video showing how we were recommended “free” beers to try in the rooftop bar…

There were several of these interactive virtual barkeep people, “helping” us decide which beer to try.

After we got coasters with the names of the beers that were suggested for our tastes (we both got the same suggestions), we went to the rooftop bar. This was a great culmination after spending the morning learning about Belgian beers. I had a Blanche de Brussels Rosee, which is one I’d never tried before. Bill’s choice was a bit more run of the mill, although I can’t remember which beer he chose. He did say it was kind of ordinary, which is too bad.

We could have stayed and purchased more beer, if we’d wanted to. They offer “flights” at the museum. But we decided to move on and find some lunch. I got some more photos of the bar and the rooftop terrace, which offered lovely views of Brussels. It was a nice day, with just slightly chilly temperatures. We also could have visited the Archeo Site under La Bourse, Bruxella 1238, which unfortunately, we completely forgot about after trying the beer. I wish we’d remembered to check it out. Maybe we’ll get there next time, if we manage another Brussels visit. I’d definitely be up for another trip to Belgian Beer World.

I had noticed that a bar that we visited in 2008, at the Theatre Royal de Toone, was not going to be open on Monday or Tuesday. I definitely wanted to go there again, since we had such a memorable experience the last time we visited Brussels. So we left the Belgian Beer World, and had lunch at a place called Bier Central Brussels. Once again, I had croquettes, which I think kind of put me over the edge. I love them in small doses, though. Bill had sausage with mashed potatoes and bacon… a Belgian version of “bangers and mash”, if you like.

*Ahhh… the Duchesse… one of my favorites!*

After lunch, we headed for the Toone Bar…

If you’re thinking we drink a lot of beer, you’re right. Ordinarily, we probably would not have followed our beer soaked lunch with a visit to a bar, but I really wanted to visit the Toone Bar, which I discovered very much by accident in 2008. I remember we had taken a day trip to Bruges, and came back to the city, looking for something to do on our last day in Brussels. We were walking around, dodging the restaurant row barkers, when just at the right time, I looked to my left, and saw this sign…

*One of two entrances to the Toone Bar and marionette theater, circa 2008.*

If you have been following my blog for any length of time, you might know that I love to explore alleys and alcoves. I’ve found some of our most memorable and quirky restaurants, bars, and shops that way. The Toone Theatre is a historic site in Brussels, but in 2008, I found it completely by chance. It seemed like no one else knew about it, either, because it was fairly empty on that Sunday afternoon. I remember enjoying several beers there, while the barkeep played awesome 60s and 70s era rock music. I also remember someone smoking in there during our visit. In 2026, that is no longer allowed!

I wanted to visit the bar again, but didn’t remember exactly where it was. So I used the GPS function on my phone, which was kind of worthless. We did eventually find our way to the bar, although this time, we entered through the other side from where we entered in 2008. I got lots of pictures, and we drank several beers. Unfortunately, the music wasn’t as good this time, and it was definitely not deserted… But the beers were still excellent, and the ambiance was just as quirky and fun!

Here’s a big photo dump… One thing to know about this bar is that the toilets are up some old steps. You get to the men’s room before the ladies’ room, and it reeks a bit of stale urine. One of the ladies’ stalls is extremely small and narrow, though long. The other is not as narrow, but a bit shorter. I hope one day, we can go back to this bar and actually watch one of the marionette shows! It is, after all, a puppet theater, first and foremost!

As you might have suspected, by the time we were finished at the Toone Bar, I was a bit loaded. We decided to go back to the hotel so we could process the Belgian beers. On our way there, we walked through The Grand Place. Unfortunately, this was where I wiped out on loose cobblestone. A shocked waiter witnessed my spill, which resulted in a twisted ankle and sprained finger, both of which are mostly healed now… I wrote about my fall in my main blog. If you are really interested in reading my thoughts right after it happened, you can click here for the story when it was fresh.

*People were lined up at this bakery, which was selling wonderful breads.*

After my fall, I was understandably in kind of a bad mood. We ate dinner in our hotel room, which we picked up from a Syrian restaurant just across the street from Le Fleur de Ville.

*Sometimes it’s handy to book a suite… I drank Coke at dinner time!*

That about does it for our very “beery” Sunday in Brussels. In the next part, I’ll write about our visit to Mannekin Pis, the Friet Museum, and the Chocolate Museum, as well as a restaurant called Drug Opera. You don’t want to miss that, 😏, so stay tuned!

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Bonding with our German vet over cannabis…

Since Bill and I returned to Germany, I have been spending a lot of time in the veterinarian’s office. The vet we currently use is the same one we used last time we lived here. That vet diagnosed our dog, Flea, with prostate cancer back in 2009. I never met her last time we lived here. Bill took Flea to his vet appointments because we only had one car. We also used the vet on Panzer Kaserne for routine stuff, but that proved to be a real pain in the butt since appointments were hard to come by.

These two dogs are Flea and MacGregor, the dogs we had during our first Germany tour. Flea is the one standing behind MacGregor.

Flea survived Germany and we took him with us to our next duty station in Georgia. He lasted another two months in the States before we sent him to the Rainbow Bridge. About a month after we lost Flea, Bill and I adopted our dog, Zane, from Atlanta Beagle Rescue. Zane is pretty much a bigger, sweeter version of Flea.

Zane, the tri-colored beagle… and adopted “brother” Arran.

When we got back to Germany and rented a house near Herrenberg again, we decided to use the same vets we did last time. Because we now have two cars, the duty of taking the dogs to the vet often falls to me. Zane gets allergy shots every month. I could learn to give him the shots myself, but I’m a bit squeamish. So every month, I take Zane (and often Arran) with me to the vet. She gives Zane his shot and any other treatment he needs. We’ve been in this routine for about two years now.

Many Americans who live in Germany comment that it can take awhile to get to know Germans well. Germans seem to be fairly private people, especially in a professional setting. That has definitely been the case for our German vet. Our visits have been mostly all business. In fact, until a couple of months ago, I was calling her by her colleague’s name. I made this mistake because Bill got their names mixed up last time we lived here and passed his mistake to me. Our vet didn’t introduce herself when I came in the first time, so I was assuming her name was her colleague’s name. For two years! It wasn’t until I mixed the names up in the vet’s presence that she corrected me.

Most of our visits have not been particularly friendly. There’s been a minimum of small talk. The vet has been very matter-of-fact about most things. I actually found her kind of hard to talk to, although she seemed very competent.

Both of my dogs have had cancerous mast cell tumors removed by our German vet. Arran had one taken off in July 2015. It was a very low grade bump that, so far, has caused no more issues. Zane had one taken off in October of 2016. Zane’s tumor was a little bit higher grade and it was larger.

In the weeks since his surgery, Zane has also not really been acting like himself. For several weeks after his surgery, he seemed lethargic and less social. I suspected that he was in pain. Thanks to the mast cell tumor’s presence, I started becoming obsessive about looking for new lumps. I would mention them to the vet, who was astonished that I found them. They weren’t exactly big and noticeable. One was buried deep beneath some muscle.

After Zane was diagnosed with a mast cell tumor, Bill stopped by to talk to the vet and she said, “Your wife is really good at finding lumps on Zane. She seems really knowledgable about diseases. Is she a nurse or something?”

Bill explained my education and work background to the vet. He later told me that when he explained my public health experience, it was like a lightbulb went off over the vet’s head. Suddenly, she started becoming a lot friendlier toward me. I went in to see her in late November to talk to her about changing Zane’s diet, putting him on Benadryl and Tagamet for the mast cell disease, and avoiding unnecessary vaccines. She also asked me about my background and I told her. I also used to work for a vet and spent most of my childhood working in a barn. With that knowledge, it seemed like the vet started seeing me in a different light. It was as if I wasn’t just some American hausfrau anymore.

Last month, I asked the vet about having Zane tested for tick-borne illnesses. I knew that Zane would come up positive for ehrlichiosis, because he had it when we lived in North Carolina. Ehrlichiosis can cause some of the symptoms Zane has been exhibiting. Also, Zane was bitten by a number of ticks last summer, despite my efforts to keep them at bay. He’s been chewing and licking his paws a lot. I thought it was due to the allergies, but now I think he’s been doing it because he’s been in pain. It was not enough to make him limp noticeably, but it was enough to make him not want to play or hang out with Bill and me. I remembered Zane’s previous bout with ehrlichiosis, told the vet about it, and she agreed that he should be screened.

I also told the vet that Zane was having issues with his paws. He would lick and chew the pads until they were raw. Then he would have pain when trying to walk on the frosty grass because the raw paws would be in contact with the grass. The vet had sent me home with medicated shampoo that was supposed to help heal Zane’s paws. Having used this remedy a few times on both of my dogs, I didn’t have much faith that it would be that helpful.

Coincidentally, the day after our visit, I made a big change in Zane’s regimen. I started giving him 5% CBD hemp oil. Hemp oil is rapidly becoming well-known for improving the quality of life for dogs with a variety of ailments.

Yesterday, I took Zane in for a blood test. We had a tick panel done in December and Zane came up positive for ehrlichiosis. The vet wanted to do a more sensitive test to determine if the infection was active. Over the past few weeks, I’ve been giving Zane the hemp oil and I’ve watched him become more energetic and social. He seems to have less pain. He’s stopped licking and chewing his paws as much. Now he confines the licking to one paw, rather than all four, and he doesn’t chew the pad until the skin becomes raw. It’s been nothing short of astonishing.

Prior to yesterday, I had not seen the vet since I made this change. While she was drawing Zane’s blood, we started chatting. She was friendlier than ever. I told her about the CBD oil I’ve been using and how amazed I was by it. She started telling me about other essential oils that we could use for Zane’s allergies. So far, I’ve noticed that the oil seems to make Zane feel better overall and perhaps helps him with pain and inflammation. While he’s still not quite 100%, he’s probably now at 85% or even 90% as opposed to 65% or 70%.

She asked if I was using the CBD oil for myself and I said I’d tried it. I mostly give it to Zane, though, because it tastes like hay. She laughed and I ended up telling her about how I tried marijuana for the first time in The Netherlands. She laughed and asked if we visited a coffee shop. I told her about how it was my 43rd birthday and we got a space cake from a coffee shop near our hotel in Haarlem. Then she told me about how she and the other vet went to Amsterdam with their husbands and the husbands wanted to visit a coffee shop. It may seem silly to mention this, but remember, I’ve been visiting this lady for the past two years, often more than once a month. And this was very close to a friendly conversation! In fact, it was probably the longest chat we’ve ever had.

Having lived in Germany for a total of about four and a half years, I have come to realize that Germans, by and large, can take awhile to warm up. But once they do, you start to see a very appealing side of them. As we continued chatting, we started talking about politics and the vet amazed me by showing that she knows as much or more about American politics than I do. I would be hard pressed to know much about German politics, although I did read yesterday that Germany has just loosened up the regulations on the use of medical cannabis. So we chatted a bit about that… and I would not be surprised if she was surprised that I knew about the new medical cannabis legislation in Germany (which I think is a great thing).

Another thing I’ve learned during the two times I’ve lived here is that dogs can be excellent ambassadors. I have met more Germans because of my dogs than I have in any other circumstance. That was true when we were living here last time, too. Our dog, Flea, actually got our first German neighbors talking to us after we’d lived next to them for over six months. And when Bill and I ran into them last spring, they asked about our dogs (we have different ones this time).

I don’t know how long we’ll have with either Zane or Arran. But I can see that the vet really likes my dogs and is particularly fond of Zane. I could be wrong, but I think her opinion of me has changed a bit, too. Our frequent visits are now a lot less awkward than they were even just a few weeks ago. Who knew we’d bond over pot?

The Traveling Overeducated Housewife

…the wanderings and ramblings of a boring housewife…

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Pardon My French: Brussels and Paris 2026 (part three)

Bonding with our German vet over cannabis…