Boy am I happy we are not riding today. There is a RED wind warning, gusts up to 70kph! Fingers are crossed that the wind abates some by tomorrow when we have to get on our bikes again.
There is an immersive Dali exhibit showing which we go see. It was informative and intriguing and very well done. I loved the music in one room and the visuals. The last room was a VR experience. Headsets were placed on us (mine worked better without my glasses on) and it took us to a ship. We could walk about the ship and watch as the ship passed isles, rocks, elephants. Objects appeared on the ship too – a giant candle, an egg and ship parts. Now I can tell my children I have experienced VR!
Next stop is The Church of Our Lady to view the Madonna and Child by Michelangelo. The charge is 8 Euros to be able to wander the back of the altar and the sides of the nave looking at the huge paintings, sculptures and prayer rooms. And then there is the Madonna and Child. It is small but beautiful, sculpted in the early 1500s.
Around the world it is not unusual for museums or art galleries to be closed on Monday. Even though we have been travelling for many years we still get caught on that one every once in a while. If visiting Belgium you have to keep your head up. It not just the tourist attractions that close on Mondays and Tuesdays. Things like restaurants work on the weekends and rest on Monday. There are those that stay open but if you had eyed a particular place to eat on your Sunday tour it may not open on Monday when you had intended to frequent the place.
The sights today were not nearly as crowded as yesterday. There were lots of tourists but there was a bit of breathing room. I knew there was ‘Open Monuments Weekend’ on Saturday and Sunday but did not realize it would attract so many extra people. There was not just your normal tourist crowd but Belgians from miles around hopped on the train and came for the day. The popular tourist attractions were crawling with people.
Another random thought about the wind. Debbie mentioned the gusts were 70+kph today. There is an extra danger that lurks on such windy days. Almost every day we have ridden we have come across wonderful alleys of trees that line the bike roads. As we pass under those trees there is a constant crunching of the nuts that have ripened and fallen to asphalt. We ride over them and there is a snapping crunch as we crack the shells with our tires. Today in those winds we found it dangerous to stand under those oak (maybe) trees. The nuts were raining down and plunking on anything and anybody within a few meters of the trunk. We survived the on-slot and will live to tell about the trauma.