Rainy Day in Mons - Passport Diaries

It’s that time of year when a 100 percent chance of rain could mean a single brief shower or a prolonged deluge. You know what they say: there’s no bad weather, only bad clothing. Clearly this theory is false. We try to live by it, but alas, some days we succumb to the rottenness of the weather. Saturday, the temperature hovered around freezing, and the rain drizzled down steadily all day until it turned to soggy snow on our drive home.

“Ok, I’m ready to leave,” I said to Chris on our Mons exploration day. When Eloise stopped skipping and told me her feet were already soaked, I pulled her into a doorway and layered my down vest under her coat and tucked my hat over her ears, lending her a certain adorable waif-ishness. Now I was cold, standing in the rain while Chris turned in circles, taking photos no one will ever see. He stopped and frowned. “We’ve been here like 20 minutes…?”

“I’m cold and wet,” I shrugged. “Ready to go? Now?” This is a trick I’ve learned from almost 15 years of marriage to Chris. If I tell him what I’m willing to do—sure honey, let’s go to the bell tower and then leave—he will insist on first seeing the town hall and 10 other things while the kids trudge along, soggy and despondent, the happiness of their happy meals wearing off. So I skip right to wanting to leave, and he counters with first seeing the bell tower. Now everyone is happy and we leave before the kids are crying. Effective time management. Ah, marriage! Oh no, if Chris reads this he will learn my secrets….

Our first stop in Mons was of course Saint Waltrude Collegiate Church. I think the general sentiment is that you can only see so many castles and cathedrals before they start to look alike. That’s probably true on a trip when you’re cramming them all in at once. Since we have not been able to take many trips like that, we’ve been forced into the (arguably preferable with kids) more spread out day trip touring format. The negative side of this is that we’re exploring on a rainy winter Saturday. The benefit is that I haven’t reached cathedral saturation yet. The kids reached cathedral saturation, of course, after visiting exactly one cathedral over a year ago.

Anyway, in so many Belgian/European towns, the cathedral grew up out of the village and the town expanded around the cathedral. Community life and festivals to this day center around it. Mons, for example, has a huge annual Saint George and the Dragon festival or something. So while some of the details of the architecture, paintings and stained glass can blur from one cathedral to another, there’s always the distinct local stamp of hundreds of years of worship and intimate history. In Mons, many aspects of the chapels reflected tools and influence of local craftsman, like gold smiths. A wooden dropped ceiling created space for a night watchman, and the corresponding dropped ceiling across the cathedral housed a library of records of the crusading Knights of the order of Malta. We weren’t allowed into the treasury because of Covid. The cathedral dates to 1450, so practically brand new as cathedrals go.

After the cathedral we huddled under an awning to quickly eat lunch coldly, then proceeded on to the beffroi. Upon reading about a second incident of the bell tower collapsing, I was overcome with an urge to descend. This is the only Belgian bell tower in a baroque style. It’s quite lovely. And perhaps liable to fall. The kids really liked that it was heated, and that you can see the big bells, and also the interactive city views and giant touch screen bell tower games.

Despite picking the absolute worst possible weather day to visit, I think we were charmed enough to go back again, especially for a festival. Or to feed the sad pigeons, in Isaac’s case. We proceeded on to the commissary to stock up on random American items on our way home. When we told the kids we were planning a commissary trip (kind of a big endeavor, since it’s an hour away and involves a big boring shopping trip) I was surprised when both kids celebrated and cheered.

“Yay! I love going to the commissary!” Eloise said.

“Really?! Why?” I asked.

“Because we buy lots of stuff,” said Isaac.

“Yeah! We say, ‘Can we get this?’ and you say yes! ‘Can we get this?’ And you say yes!” Eloise added.

If you’re wondering what those items are specifically, it’s lunchables and Cheetos. And on this day, they definitely earned it!