Avoiding Death at The Royal Greenhouses

This day was not like the others. From the beginning, it was different. I woke up super tired because (HOORAY!) I received my second COVID vaccine 24 hours prior. I felt bleck for a few hours about 12 hours after getting it but better and better after the 24-hr point.

My friend Jenn picked me up after the kids went to school and we had tea in the Grand Place before visiting the Fashion and Lace Museum around the corner. The Grand Place had a totally different energy this time of the morning—I’ve only been in the afternoon or evening, come to think of it. Cars are allowed to drive through or unload before 11am, and a wedding party posed for photos by the town hall.

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

After the museum, which is previously enjoyed with my friend Crystal thankfully, so I could have a sit and rest my tired, vaccinated self on a bench, we walked back through the Grand Place to enjoy the noise and energy of the wedding, now in full celebration mode throwing confetti, banging drums, hollering and singing, dancing and throwing the groom in the air. Horses and buggies are out again too, ready to give anyone a tour. And although it was very windy, terraces are open now and cafe tables spill out into the streets. Hooray!

We had time for a quick lunch before our next adventure so we got a table at Au Lotus Thai and ordered the €11 three course lunch menu. During the first course, an awning blew over, then a suspended street decoration flew out of its framework and shattered. Beyond some obstructions down the street we could tell there was activity, but it wasn’t until the second course that the police and firefighters started clearing the street. “C’est dangereux,” they said. It’s dangerous. “Was anyone hurt?” I asked our server. He hesitated but tried to reassure me, “No, no one was killed.” I wasn’t very reassured. My coconut based mushroom soup and chicken skewers in peanut sauce were very tasty.

The police came and told everyone to go inside the restaurant. All four of us (the maximum number of people allowed at a table) went inside. The police came back and said we had to sit outside because it’s against the law to sit inside, despite the fact that we were three feet from an outdoor table and the entire front of the restaurant had been slid open. We moved back outside. Firefighters and police continued to patrol the street and turn pedestrians back. Jenn tried to take a selfie of the table and the nice lady at the only other table at the restaurant offered to take it. Before she could click the button, a policeman grabbed her by the shoulders and pushed her inside the restaurant, yelling at her for acting like a tourist. Her husband yelled at the police for being rough, and the policeman yelled some more, telling us all to go back inside, and stalked off. We apologized to the couple, an Asian couple in their 60s. They were pretty upset, and no wonder! Grabbing her was totally uncalled for and unnecessary. We’d all followed directions every time they changed their minds and told us to do something different. The couple left soon afterwards and we took our third course to go, since the restaurant was forced to shut down and evacuate the street. So if restaurants aren’t forced to close for COVID, I guess they’ll have to close for windy weather and falling obstacles. It’s always something.

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

The next part of this unusual day was—at long last!!—the Royal Greenhouses in Laeken! They’re only open briefly each year and of course were completely closed last year. After a security check point and past the Royal Palace at Laeken, there was a crushed gravel path around the pastoral grounds providing views of the greenhouses. Eloise told me later that afternoon that the Belgian flag over the palace means the King of the Belgians is currently within the country. She learned that in Host Nation class, which is a language and culture class the kids both have at school. They both sing songs in French, Dutch and German, and learn about different festivals, traditions and foods of Belgium. I wish I could take Host Nation class! The Royal Palace at Laeken is where the royal family (the King and Queen of the Belgians and their four children) actually live; the palace downtown is not their fulltime residence.

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

I LOVE greenhouses, so my favorite part was OF COURSE the Jardin d’Hiver, or Winter Garden, with a fancy cupola completed in 1876 and used for receptions I think. Another greenhouse, called La Serre du Congo, used to hold only plants brought back and propagated from Congo. It now houses plants from across the tropics.

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

A loud SLAM startled us outside as we walked toward the palace exit—a 15-foot tall tree in a huge container blew over less than five feet from us. We escaped death yet again! After a quick stop at one of Belgium’s ubiquitous waffle trucks, we headed home and, unsurprisingly, got sharply cut off and almost got in a car accident.

So there you have it: shattering street decorations, police brutality (or at least over-enthusiastic and rude crowd control), falling trees and Belgian traffic—it was a day we were thankful to be alive and not a day we’ll likely forget!