After his successful first visit to Hotel Rustique and adventures in other lands, our friend Takashi Carré came back for a brief visit.

No doubt, this visit started out even more action packed than last time ! Arriving near midnight, he awoke to find himself playing in a concert the next day here is a link to video of Le Ton Mité and Karl Blau with Mr. Carré !

The next morning Karl stopped by the hotel and we all participated in the first Sessions Rustiques. Feels good to get that rolling ! You can listen at the link.

 The afternoon provided itself with the opportunity to visit the underground world of Brussels, exploring streets that have been covered up for a few centuries.

And a visit to the national museum of history where we learned about the short but exciting history of this great land.

Museum Night Fever !

Not to be outdone by the night before, there were musical seances by Hoquets and V.O.

After a great evening out, we woke up early for an unusual exploration of the industrial history of Brussels, through the eyes of the canal !

The accommodations were quite pleasant !

The name of our vessel was the Gueuse, and judging from the look of the water, it seemed if we were floating on this magical liquid from Pajottenland !

There were many rich architectural features that hinted to the commercial nature of the canal.

Takashi started asking our guide questions about the gueuse he was drinking.

Here is a film of the locks of ninove ! Under pressure !

And of course we had a fearless Dagobert to keep us company.

Our new water level attained, we continued our exploration.

We saw a few examples of contemporary Belgian art.

And of course tasted a gueuse or kriek under each bridge.

The structures made the hotel think about installing a branch office in a thin space along the canal.

Or taking over the structure to the right.

Post war vernacular housing blocks (why did they do this ?)

And more contemporary art pieces…

We somehow managed to visit a often forgotten Belgian mountain range.

Then quickly found another promising site for hoteling.

This is not what it appears to be, they swear it is not nuclear.

Takashi, unmoved, displays a typical Brabantian headdress

Just in time for our return to port.

The sunny pictures belied the fact that it was 2 degrees outside !

Berlin, Budapest, Bombay ?

It was decided that we should eat. So we visited a peculiar restaurant. 

We were greeted by a Majorcian ghost !

After the scare, we were quickly treated to salad thus calming our nerves.

and the other vegetables rapidly turned into the makings of experimental dishes.

We were transposed through phantom power to Japan, but an alternate reality Japan !

even the lights shifted colors…

after our visit to Mt Sushi, we were transported back to Brussels apple tart,

and perhaps the find of the year : cherry genever !

from 1976 ! Truly a divine ambrosia ! Thank you land of Flanders ! How you art so gracious with your fineries !

Takashi celebrated this treasure by taking the first step to stop his smoking habit.

We rounded off the evening by taming the ghosts and playing a song.

The next day Takashi treated the hotel to participate in his culinary knowledge gained during his recent visit to Morocco.

Tadjine anyone ?

And the next day we were invited to visit the kingdom of cassoulet.

via Nouvelle Belgique and Portugese cherries.

salads abounded !

cassoulet resounded !

La ginja guided us through out tasty path,

right to a peaceful conclusion of the evening.

and a grand victory for Carré.

We were asked to make an excursion to the largest city in Belgium, Antwerp.

After the glory of the train station,

The zoo seemed a bit disorganised.

But we were to relish in the sun and splendors of the city…

Architecture… fashion…

haute society,

and classical monuments

The box of charity was placed strategically

so the saint would stop trying to steal the fish of the other.

Dear Reubens !

Inspired by the folklore of the throwing of the giant’s hand, Takashi invented a new way of opening a bottle.

Deemed unsafe, and taboo in local custom, we had to visit the river to ask for forgiveness and cleanse our spirits.

We passed through the gates of the castle only after buying indulgences from the nearby temple.

rather tasty indulgences with the divine stoopjesaus.

Our newly purified state inspired artistic interactions with publicity.

The gods were happy and invited us to their homes.

Including Hotel Rustique’s dream interior museum of amazing rustic wares !

Needless to say, the Imprimerie de l’Hôtel Rustique, was quite jealous.

We were informed that our spiritual quest was not quite over and had to pass through a giant tunnel to reach enlightenment.

Which was quite well documented.

We, in fact, had to visit the place where the river spirit dwells

and pay tribute in its sanctuary.

a Dagobert danced to communicate that we did well in our pilgrimage.

and we were allowed to return to the city, enlightened,

and blessed with local waters.

The city gave us a hoppy experience, we were quite ready to head back to the hotel and share the knowledge we had gained.

A horse spirit welcomed us back to Brussels.

The next evening we were treated to genever

And carbonnades flamandes one of the specialties of the hotel.

With its homemade fries, it was approved by Mr Carré.

For dessert, we visited the Imprimerie, inspired by our visit to Antwerp and made cards.

The next evening Takashi found himself transformed into a baker.

To feed people who visited an art show and it’s associated table de hôtes.

The hotel spread its wings by hanging arts and slicing salmon.

An amazing walnut tart treated the eaters, with a welcomed revisit of cherry genever from 1976.

It was so amazing that Takashi danced rapidly, and disappeared.

our sources say he has gone to the land of leprechauns, but

only another visit will make this clear.

Welcome dear traveller to the open arms of Hotel Rustique !