11/09/25 The Bloodthirsty Middle Ages. And Chocolate.

It would have been remiss of me to visit Belgium without at least paying some attention to Belgian chocolate.  Other than eating it drizzled over waffles, that is. So I booked us afternoon  tickets at the Chocolate Museum and we headed out for separate walks in the morning.

Away from the tourist strip the alleys and laneways were quiet as Belgium went about its everyday routine. Cyclists pedalled purposefully through the streets, teachers shepherded crocodiles of students on educational missions, and occasional cars rattled over cobblestones. To my amazement, full sized city buses squeezed through the streets as pedestrians and cyclists flowed around them like water. 

I visited the Michelangelo statue at the Onze-Lieve-Vrouwekerk (Our Lady Church). The building was positively stuffed with artworks from Belgian masters both ancient and modern and offered a portal into a museum with more treasures to view. 

I didn't enter the portal, not because of a lack of desire: more a need to regulate my diet of museums and art galleries due to finite resources for entry fees. I already had tickets for the Groeninge Museum for a walk through Belgian artwork from the 13th century to the present.

Well the Groninge was an interesting walk to be sure. The old masters presented, in impeccable and hyper-realistic style, a window into Belgian life in the middle ages. As the art moved from religious iconography it documented in brutal detail medieval highlights such as punishing greedy officials by pouring molten gold in their mouths, chopping off people's heads for reasons unknown to present day observers, and flaying judges alive when they were caught taking bribes.

Once flayed, the skin was tanned and used to upholster a chair, which happened to be the chair that the flayed judge's son sat in when at work (he was also a judge).  Just a little reminder not to take bribes lest he end up like dear old Dad.

Well, after all that bloodthirsty culture I needed a change of pace, so I met Roger at the Chocolate Museum and we went on a fascinating journey through the history of chocolate from its origins as a spicy, bitter, ritual Mayan drink to the seductive sweet we know today. The journey culminated with a demonstration of chocolate making and some tasting which, let's be honest, was what everyone was really there for. I didn't think to take even a single photo, not even of the fantastical chocolate sculptures in the museum.  Although I can't imagine what possesses someone to make an entire display cabinet full of chocolate hats and handbags and display them for so long that they gather dust.  What a waste of good chocolate in my uneducated opinion.

After a day on my feet on cobblestones, bed never felt so good.

It wasn't all blood and beheading at the Groeninge Museum.  Here to finish of is a Book of Hours, beautifully hand printed and richly painted.