Belgium Adventures Day 12: Liege Museums

After the race I walked through La Batte, the weekly public market to where I was staying. I cleaned up, ate something, and went to two museums on Outremeuse.  I intended to also visit an outdoor sculpture garden, but as it was located "below the map," with Google maps estimating another 30-40 minute walk in the opposite direction, I opted not to go.

I was thankful the threat of rain did not become a reality.

My first stop was a tiny house called Musee Gretry. Andre-Modeste Gretry (1741-1813) was the master of French comic opera. Yes, that's a niche description. His three story home has some of his instruments and other personal items. I admired the (Delft?) tile fireplaces. According to Google, under highlights they list it has a public bathroom. Admission is only 2.25 euros (about $2.50). I spent about 15 minutes there. The docent seemed bored. I wondered if I was his first and only visitor of the day.

There were several busts of M. Getry

And numerous musical instruments

I then walked to the Musee des Transports en Commun de Wallonie. Yes, it is ironic to walk to a transportation museum especially when it was off the beaten path. The museum had a large parking lot, suggesting not many people actually take mass transit to visit it.

The museum highlighting two centuries of mass transportation is located in a warehouse. It starts with the horse drawn carriage era and ends with the new tram and information about the importance of public transportation for the future success of cities. 

The two highlights for me were when I stepped into a bus like the one I rode each day to school (school buses are an American thing, in Europe I took public transportation from the suburbs into Liege) and when I sat in the new tram. I was disappointed to miss riding the tram by a day (it was originally supposed to launch the day I left, but that was postponed another two weeks). Sitting in one felt like a consolation prize.

On that Sunday afternoon there were not a lot of visitors. I saw a dad with a toddler-aged son. He also remembered the bus from his youth. There were a couple of other people quietly walking through the rows of vehicles. There was also a woman quietly sitting with her sketch book.

We were allowed to step into many of the busses, trams, and trains.

This was the point in the trip when I stopped making notes. I didn't write my feelings about these two museums, or about spending a few hours in Brussels the next day, or Oslo during my layover. Those posts, like this one, will be mostly pictures.

Original modes of transportation

Original Trams. It is a shape they stopped using
them in the 1960s.

That's a lot of routes!

The new tram

An older tram.

The future for transportation

I rode this bicycle "through"
different cities. Shame there was
only one. I bet it is popular
on class trips.

In Dutch on one side, and French on the other

Similar to the train I used to take

Brings back memories

A double!

I can picture validating my bus pass
in one of these

Sign in French on one side, and Dutch on the other

Only the tall invalids?
Only adult ones?

The restoration is stunning!

When finished it is hard to believe
what rough shape some of these cars
were in at the start

Though the Musee en Plein Air du Sart Tilman is open 24/7 and is free, it will have to wait for another trip. My feet were not up for that much more walking.