Top of my list for our last day in Brussels was a tour of the Magritte Museum. It had been closed and reopened just a few days ago. I expected to see a lot of Magritte paintings and was surprised that much of the exhibition was about his family and friends. Starting with childhood photos and his mother’s suicide. Then his association with different artist groups who were his best friends and then rejected his changes in style. He had several distinct artistic periods and early on produced advertising posters and covers for music scores in order to survive.

In the same complex of museums is the Fin-de-Siecle which – among others- had extensive work by James Ensor who was new to me. I enjoyed it very much. Here is a glimpse of the variety of his work.

The Royal Museums of Art complex has many subterranean levels. When were ready to leave we were on level -7 and took an elevator – that had seats!!!

Our last destination before home (and packing) was the Tintin shop where I planned to get a tee shirt for Byron. Unfortunately they did not have his size. But the shop is near an excellent chocolate shop and we bought some more. To get to the Central metro station we walked once last time through the Grand Place and came upon a graduation ceremony taking place at the town hall.

All packed we went to The Lodge for a second dinner. It is 2 blocks from Stephanie’s house and has a wonderful neighborhood restaurant feel. We had excellent dinners. Carolyn’s mussels and I had Mechelen coucou- a special breed of chicken. As tender as I have ever eaten.