We decided that we would make a quick hop to Brussels on the day of the preview for Eurantica.

This is a large antiques fair that is staged once a year and was previously held in Brussels in one of the beautiful halls of the Heysel exhibition park. This is conveniently located in Brussels itself and you can get there on the underground. This year they have moved to a new hall in between Brussels and Antwerp.

We took the first train out on Eurostar, the 6.50 am which gets us to Brussels around 10 am. At least we are in the city centre and its 10 minutes ride to the Sablons where many of the antique shops are situated. The train is late and so we don’t start looking around really till near on 11 am.

We have arranged to meet some friends for lunch at the Trosieme Act, a restaurant in the area where I have never failed to have a good meal. It is approaching 1pm and we have so far seen nothing of interest. Just before getting to lunch we come across Tom Desmet’s new shop. Tom has beautiful sculptures and works of art and impeccable taste. He has just moved into a large house which he is turning into a beautiful gallery. I took this picture of the front entrance hall.

After lunch we realise that in order to get to Eurantica, we have to get going straight away. The new venue is an hour by car with traffic and roadworks. We get there just before 3.30pm. It is a prestigious fair, but they really have put it in the middle of nowhere.

It takes about an hour to walk around and the stands are well presented. They have good quality items and this is a fully vetted show.

Of particular note is Yannick David’s stand. Yannick is the husband of Paula Swinnen, the Belgian bronze artist whom we represent in the UK. He is also exhibiting one of her vine tables that we showed during our exhibition with the artist last year.

Also I loved this pistol chandelier on Bie Bart’s stand. I didn’t feel it was really Guinevere though.

Our train is at 7pm so we aim to leave the show at 5. Leaving an antiques fair is hard. On the way out you meet everyone you know. So we get to the car by 5.30.

Still, we arrive at the station at 6.30 and our train gets into St Pancras at 8pm. So we get home around 9.

It’s a long day just to see an antiques fair. If they stay with this venue next year I will either fly to Antwerp or stay at home. But at least we had a nice lunch, saw some old friends and came home with some delicious chocolates.

Marc