Saint-Gilles

After lunch, we again headed to the metro to make our way to the Horta Museum. Victor Horta was a Belgian architect and designer, and one of the founders of the Art Nouveau movement. We visited his house and studio, that has been turned into a museum. There are many examples of his work across Brussels. His style, the curving stylised vegetal forms, influenced many others including Hector Guimard, who used it in the first house he designed and in the entrances he designed for the Paris Metro. Horta typically designed not only the building but also the furniture, to match his particular style. His house is an excellent example - he also designed the wall paper and soft furnishings. We were not able to take photographs in the museum, so I purchased some post cards which I have scanned so you can see his wonderful work and how beautifully it has been preserved and restored.

We finished off the day with dinner with Gui, Geertje and Brigitte out at their place in Tervuren. Paulette dropped by to say hello also. Always great to catch up with family. We had a wonderful dinner:- Burrata with tomatoes (Ottolenghi recipe) which was absolutely delicious; a chicken curry; and, for dessert, a berry crumble with fresh raspberries from Geertje’s sister’s garden (Jamie Oliver recipe). It was a great night with lots of laughter. Gui then kindly dropped us back into the city - he had picked us up from the Stockel metro station before dinner.Read more