London Fun At Museums of Illusions - and more worldwide

 The opportunities for fun in London seem to be expanding.

 I loved the Absurdia museum I visited on holiday in Tenerife in the Canary Islands in June 2026. I  put photos from that in an earlier post. 

Angela at Absurdia in Costa Adeje, Tenerife, Canary Islands. Photo by Trevor Sharot.

Now I have seen online not one, not two, but three such places in London. The prices vary. If I simply wanted some funny photos at the cheapest price I would opt for the upside down house .

The Upside Down House, London, England

 The Upside Down House takes one of the illusion ideas which you also find included at the other attractions, but expands upon it with multiple rooms.

Worldwide - Most Affordable Museums of Illusions

If you are driving through Europe to Belgium or another country with Belgium en route the capital

s Belgium boats of the first Museum of Illusions. They are offering, in July 2026, the attractive and competitive price of 12 Euros for an adult. You can take in one toddler under six free with a paying adult. You also get small reductions for teachers and students who have an identify card showing their status. As the supermarket ad says, every little helps.

Museums of Illusions Worldwide

AUST|RALIA

Trickd Illusions, Gold Coast

https://trickd-illusions.gold-coast-tickets.com/

BELGIUM

Museum of Illusions, Brussels, Belgian

https://illusionbrussels.be/en

CANARY ISLANDS

Handy websites for Museums of Illusions

Absurdia, Tenerife, Canary Islands

https://absurdiatenerife.es/

UK

Museum of Illusions, London, England, UK

Paradox Museum

Upside Down House

Twist Museum, Oxford Street, London

Please share links to your favourite posts.

Chocolate festivals, museums, shops, cake and online kits

Chocolate Brands You Can Buy and Try Worldwide
I have been researching chocolae for days. The famous names in chocolate have spread worldwide. I recently gave a speech about chocolate to two toastmasters clubs in Singapore. The first time I visited Eminent at Dell business, an inhouse club, whose members travel a lot.

I had looked around Valu$, the cheapest shop for chocolate in Singapore, just near Changi airport, and near Dell's office. In Valu$ I saw several of my favourite brands. I wanted to pass around some chocolate. I was worried that I would not have enough chocolate and had a secodn bar ready. However, when I passed around a bar which could be broken into small pieces, it was sufficient for under 20 people. I think one or two people did not eat sweet items. Dieting, diabetics, whatever.

Next I gave a similar talk at Braddell Heights Advanced speakers' club, whose members knew a lot about chocolate.  When I asked, "Does anybody have a favourite brand?", one woman immediately called, "Godiva!" Two of the men shouted agreement.

Singapore is a hot country. But chocolate is still popular and the European and American brands are known..

 I checked the various brands countries of origina and made a list:

BELGIUM

•Godiva, Brussels, Belgium.

•ENGLAND

•Cadbury World, Birmingham, England, UK.

•https://www.hotelchocolat.com/uk

•FRANCE

•Contact details:

•Le Salon du Chocolat
70 Rue de la Tour, 75116 Paris, France
Phone: +33 1 45032126
Fax: +33 1 45034004

•Contact Email:

•contact@salonduchocolat.fr

•Le Salon du Chocolat website

•

ITALY

•18-27 October 2019 Eurochocolate Festival in Perugia, Umbria, Italy. The opening weekend starts with a giant sculpture of chocolate. Entry is free for the public. Expect lots of temptations! The local chocolate is Baci, containing a nut.

SINGAPORE
I enjoyed a great chocolate brownie containing nuts with creamy chocolate topping in the Sheraton Towers hotel. It was served at the Toastmasters International club TMCS, which meets the first three Mondays of every month, except sometimes dates very due to public holidays. Arrive at 6 pm for the pre-meeting buffet, 20 SGD (Singapore dollars) a rotating menu and one of the three meetings will have cake.

If you must eat chocolate, now. Try one of the chocolate shops for a variety of cakes containing chocolate.

Singapore Chocolate Shops
Awfully Chocolate - several branches including.
At Tampines, near Changi Airport

Awfaully Chocolate. Photo by Angela Lansbury. Copyright.

In Europe I immediately think of Alprose. We went there from lake-side Lugarno on a train which has a face on the front.

•SWITZERLAND

•Alprose, Switzerland.

Alprose Chocolate museum in Switzerland

They have a giant shop. Even if you visit at the weekend when the factory is not working, the static machines with long conveyor belts are impressive.

RUSSIA
Chocomuseum

Statue of the chocolate fairy outside the museum in Russia.

USA
I stopped at a chocolate shop in New York. It was not a museum, but so many types of chocolate, it was like a museum.

•Photo from Wikipedia of the Hershey Museum, Pennsylvania.

•The Hershey Story. The Museum on Chocolate Avenue.

•63 West Chocolate Avenue.

•http://www.fieldmuseum.org/

•https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_chocolate_museums

CHOCOLATE TREATS
What if you can't wait for your next trip and want to order chocolate now? You can order a chocolate kit online, or organize an evening to try chocolates at a shop in London (several do this - just check the notice boards in chocolate shops or ask the staff.)
Or organize a chocolate  making party. 

China Mug Resembling Chocolate

•https://www.amazon.co.uk/Chocolate-Chunk-Cadburys-Styled-Coffee/

•UK chocolate egg by choc on Choc and lollipop kits from 12 pounds from yuumbles.com free delivery

•Chocolate layer cake. Chocolate cakes in a mug.

•https://www.yumbles.com/artisan/chocolate%20makin

•USA DIY ChocolateHouse

•https://www.amazon.com/Hersheys-Chocolate-Cookie-House-Kit/dp/B01MFC75ZI?th=1

•https://www.ebay.com/itm/3D-DIY-Christmas-Cake-House-Fondant-Chocolate-Mould-Xmas-Cake-Cutter-Mold-Decor/

•

•Silicone Mini Chocolate Spoons Mould £3.99 from Lakeland.co.uk

•Alphabet letters Silicone Chocolate Mould from Lakeland  £2.99

•USA

•Edible Bra

•https://www.ebay.com/itm/Edible-Bra-Chocolate-1-Adjustable-Bra-Playful-Romantic-Lingerie-Gift/323774

Kits
Hobbycraft UK posts worldwide.

Also consider

Chocolate parties.

Useful Websites
singaporeair.com
Useful Websites
umbriatourism.it
http://www.italia.it/en/home.html

About the Author
Angela Lansbury, travel writer and photographer, author and speaker. See my other posts including Chocolate cake at Sheraton Towers Hotel Toastmasters International buffet. Please share links to your favourite posts.

Flanders Food and Gent Goodies: Spiced Speculoos biscuits and Pomme Muscovite

After Brussels and Bruges, name another Belgian place you know. Ghent? Yes. You may not have heard of Leuven and Haselt but circle them on your map or make a list of places to visit if you are planning to visit Belgium or just want to know where famous foods come from and can be found.

GENT'S FOOD AND DRINK GOODIES

DRINK
Elderflower aperitif.
www.roomer.be

Beer brewed with herbs instead of hops.
www.gruut.be

EAT SNACK FOOD
If you like savoury Scotch egg, served as a lunch time snack in England's pub, you will like Vogelnestje, meaning birds nest hand boiled egg in mincemeat, in Flanders deserved with chips (fries).

Prefer something sweet for a snack?
Boke met choco
Bread with chocolate spread.

Gent neuzeke (meaning little nose)
This purple cone of tjoepke or cuberdon (cube or cone shape) has a syrupy centre and hard outside. One story goes that priests invented it, hence the name, priest's hat. The alternative version is that a pharmacy was making the usual concoctions of medicines in syrup (like cough mixture), and left some lying around until it developed a hard outside, then decided to sell it as a candy.

Photo from Wikipedia.

Seasonal food for the winter months, from early September to late March.
Snowballs (Sneeuwballen)
www.confiserielarmuseau.com

Gent region
See TripAdvisor for reviews and pictures of the Bartholomeus Restaurant's raspberry dessert, a ring of red on a ring of white.
www.restaurantbartholomeus.be

L E U V E N

DRINK
BEER
Beer-pulling course in the Stella Artois brewery, Leuven.
www.breweryvisits.com/web/nl/stella/showinfo

Palm brewery and Diepensteyn Castle, Steenhuffel, Leven, Belgium.
www.palm.be

De Kroon Beer Centre, Huldenberg (Leuven region)
www.brouwerijdekroon.be

Beer trips, province of Flemish Brabant
www.beerhop.be

WINE
Hageland Wine has won awards.

FOOD
POTATO / RESTAURANT
Pomme Muscovite
If you like potatoes and caviar or mock caviar this is a place with a chef you'll be pleased to meet.
Mashed potato with caviar or mock caviar (salmon roe) on top.
Suggested by Thomas Locus of Bistro Margaux
www.bistromargaux.be
I suggest you email or phone to book at able and be sure that the dishes you want to try are on the menu.
A Michelin one star restaurant with 16/20 by Gault and Millau, seats 45, closed Monday and Tuesday.
Bistrot Margaux Dorsplein 3, 1700 Sing-Martens-Bodegem, Lleven, Belgium
tel:+32 (0)2 460 05 45.

Centro Chocolates
Chocolate and food pairing.
www.centho-chocolates.com

If you can't get there or you want to try it at home first, here's a recipe:
https://sites.google.com/site/ghinaskitchen/thoughts/pommemuscovite

HASSELT (IN THE PROVINCE OF LIMBURG)

DRINK: beer, gin, wine.

Trappist beer brewed in a monastery
Blonde and brown beers.
www.achelsekluis.org

The city of jenever (genever or gin).
See how it's produced and try it in the tasting room.
National Jenever Museum, Hasselt
www.jenevermuseum.be
October gin festival.

Wine Chateau - Genoels-Elderen
On the old Roman road.
www.wijnkateel.com

FOOD
Speculoos (Spiced biscuit)
Unlike most other places ((See Brussels) which produce thin, hard, brittle biscuits, this place produces soft, these Flemish biscuits are thick, soft and dark with a flavour of cinnamon!
www.hasselt.eu

(See next post.)

ANGELA LANSBURY 

TRAVEL WRITER, RESEARCHER, AUTHOR, SPEAKER

Food From Flanders: Brussels, Bruges, Magritte, McCrae and more

I have been reading through a book on Flanders food which I picked up from the Flanders stand at the World Travel Market. Before throwing it away, I thought I'd check out interesting foods. Alas, I've now decided I must keep the large format book on my already cluttered kitchen shelves. But I've made a list of the places to visit and foods to try, for my own benefit, and you might find it interesting and useful, planning a trip to Belgium or just around your local supermarket.

Bruges in West Flanders

BRUGES

DRINK
Poperinge Hop Museum

FOOD SAVOURY
Meat
Kortrijkse bil
Salted veal.
I have heard of salt beef but not salted veal.

FOOD SWEET
Ypres Honey
Honey is known as liquid gold.

Chocolate
If you don't want to eat it, just buy it, Belgium has many chocolate shops.
Here's one:
Chocolatier Sukerbuyc make pralines from a 'secret' recipe.
Surely the word Suker is sugar. Is that deliberate?
ww.sukerbuyc.be

The Ten Best Bruges Restaurants
https://www.tripadvisor.co.uk/Restaurants-g188671-Bruges_West_Flanders_Province.html

SIGHTSEEING
If you feel the urge to walk off those calories, try the Bruges World Heritage City walk:
www.visitbruges.be

If the phrase 'In Flanders Fields' rings a bell, it comes from the WWI poet John McCrae, a Canadian physician (in the UK we would say doctor). In Canada you can see a memorial to him at his birthplace, Guelph. This photo is from Wikipedia which has a full article on the poet and details of the photograph. The poem uses the phrase three times, in the first line, (In Flanders Fields the poppies grow ... ) in the middle and at the end, the last three words. Plus, of course, the title.

• In Flanders Fields Museum
• www.inflandersfields.be

Poperinge Hop Museum
www.hopmuseum.be
visitbruges.be

BRUSSELS
"The capital of Europe"

DRINK

Brewery

www.brasseriedelasenne.be

FOOD

BISCUITS
S p e c u l o o s biscuits spiced biscuits are available from
Maison Dandy
www.maisondandoy.com
Wikipedia has a long article and pictures.

Speculaas (Dutch: Speculaas Dutch pronunciation: [speːkyˈlaːs], French: spéculoos, German: Spekulatius) is a type of spiced shortcrust biscuit, traditionally baked for consumption on or just before St Nicholas' feast in the Netherlands (December 5), Belgium (December 6), and around Christmas in the western and southern parts of Germany. Speculaas are thin, very crunchy, caramelized, slightly browned and, most significantly, have some image or figure (often from the traditional stories about St. Nicholas) stamped on the front side before baking; the back is flat.

Speculaas dough does not rise much. Dutch and Belgian versions are baked with light brown (sometimes beet) sugar and baking powder. German Spekulatius uses baker's ammonia as leavening agent. Indian, Indonesian, Mediterranean spices used in speculaas are cinnamon, nutmeg, cloves, ginger, cardamom and white pepper were common in the 1400-1500's due to the Dutch East Indies spice trade. Family recipes may also include other small amounts of spices like anise, etc. Traditionally, speculaas were made from Frisian flour and spices. The name speculoos was coined for Belgian wheat flour cookies with hardly any spices. Today most Speculaas versions are made from white (wheat) flour, brown sugar, butter and spices. Some varieties use some almond flour and have slivered almonds embedded in the bottom. Belgian Speculoos varieties use much less or no spice.

CHOCOLATE

Most of the chocolate factory tours seem to be in Brussels, (with one in T o u r n a i)

http://www.visitbelgium.com/?page=chocolate-lovers.

SIGHTSEEING

Magritte Museum (Museum of Fine Arts)

www.museum-magritte-museum.be
One of the best museum websites I've seen. Shows clearly that the collection is huge, three floors of Magritte paintings. You can click on icons across the top of the website for each floor. Then clock on the pictures of groups of paintings in different areas of the map to make the pictures of the paintings bigger.

I read through the Wikipedia account of Magritte's life. Horrified to learn that his mother committed suicide and was found drowned, and that Magritte's pantings of people with missing faces could be attributed to the impact on him of this event. I was further unhappy to read that he and his family were involved in forging paintings and banknotes. But if you investigate the lives of famous people, just like infamous people, and ordinary people, you often find tragedies and questionable morals. If you are put off an artist or writer by the subject matter, its origins, or the lifestyle of the author, you would cease to enjoy art, literature and music. I hope I have not upset anybody by revealing this and drawing attention to it.

If you are still a keen fan of Magritte, the grave of Magritte and his wife is in a cemetery alongside the Brussels Cemetery. Although nothing spectacular about the gravestone, it could provide a point of interest on your travels.

The graves and battlefields of Flanders are also hardly jolly, but they mesmerise us a century later. So enjoy your search through history, and recover your equilibrium and jollity with Flanders food.

• Musical Instruments Museum, Brussels, Belgium www.mim.be
• Magritte Museum (Museum of Fine Arts) www.musee-magritte-museum.be
• Brasserie De La Senne (Brewery) www.brasseriedelasenne.be
• www.visitflanders.com/en/themes/belgian-beer

Angela Lansbury, travel writer, researcher, author and speaker.

Travel Affected By Terrorism: Places Closed; Events Cancelled; Vigils Planned; Lights Lit; Travel Cancelled

Terrorist attacks in Paris on the evening of Friday 13th November 2015 have sent ripple effects to other countries. That always happens.

FRANCE
Paris
Closure of the stadium and restaurants and nearby roads condoned off. Lights on the Eiffel tower turned off on Friday 13th and Eiffel Tower closed.
Bars shut. Curfew Saturday evening. Disney, Paris region, closed.

Borders and Transport into France
Delays caused by high security, extra checks at airports and borders.

Red, white and blue lights from the Charlie Hebdo event were put up on YouTube.
Signs JeSuisParis on banners.
Hashtag PorteOuverte on Twitter offering refuge to those who were stranded or needed a refuge.

BELGIUM
Travellers asked not to travel to Paris. Some streets were blocked while raids were made by police.

GERMANY
Brandenburg Gate, Berlin. Tricolour lights.

ITALY
Michelangelo's David. Tricolore lights.

UK
Flag at half mast at 10 Downing Street, London, home of Prime Minister.
Candle-lit vigil and flowers started during the afternoon although advertised as starting at 9 pm in Trafalgar Square, London England on the north side in front of the National Portrait Gallery. People painted their faced the colour of the French tricolour flag, and were asked to lay red, white and blue flowers and tea lights. Some carried signs.

Red, white and blue colours on London's Tower Bridge, The London Eye, and the Arch over Wembley Stadium in NW London, which can be seen for miles, even the car park on the cliff top opposite Grimsdyke hotel and along roads nearby.
Vigil in Liverpool, England.
Vigil in Glasgow, Scotland.

AUSTRALIA
Red, white and blue lights in sympathy with Paris on Sydney Opera House, Sydney, Australia.

CANADA
Lights on CN Tower, Toronto; Calgary Tower, Alberta.

NEW ZEALAND
Lights on Sky Tower, Auckland, New Zealand.

USA
Red, white and blue lights on New York Trade Centre and Empire State Building in sympathy with Paris.
One American airline has cancelled flights to Paris. Others are still flying. If you plan flying, or meeting somebody on an incoming flight, check your airline.
Tricolour lights on San Francisco city hall.

S AMERICA
Lights on Rio de Janeiro's Christ the Redeemer statue, Brazil.

I am updating tomorrow. See next post. Come back and/or favourite/like my blogs.

Great photos of the lights around the world in an article in the Daily Mail online. You see a complete set of pictures of the world's largest or tallest landmarks, arrayed in colour, the way columns were coloured centuries ago by the Greeks.
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-3318549/Britain-s-communities-solidarity-France-wake-Paris-terror-attacks.html

http://metro.co.uk/2015/11/14/wembley-stadium-lights-up-arch-in-french-colours-in-show-of-solidarity-with-paris-5502408/
http://www.mirror.co.uk/news/world-news/paris-terror-attacks-world-landmarks-6830872
http://www.theaustralian.com.au/news/latest-news/sky-tower-lights-up-for-paris/story-fn3dxix6-1227609161479
http://www.gettyimages.co.uk/detail/news-photo/the-french-flag-tricolore-waves-during-a-vigil-organized-by-news-photo/461491434

Angela Lansbury travel writer and photographer.

Chocolate Hotels and Factory Visits

England has a chocolate hotel. Belgium has a chocolate hotel.

England's Factory tours and shops

England has chocolate factory tours and workshops. you can visit a chocolate factory in Birmingham and a chocolate maker in York. Or stay at a chocolate hotel. In fact you could do a chocolate tour of England.


















European Chocolate Factories

Museum of Cocoa and Chocolate, Brusssels.

http://www.visitflanders.com/en/themes/belgian_chocolate/chocolate-experience

Switzerland has a chocolate factory tour, Alprose. Plus a few more.

Chocolate Hotels

tp://www.thechocolateboutiquehotel.co.uk/

Word of the day - one or double? English and German

For years I've been making lists of foreign words when I travel. Or read a newspaper. Or the label on a dress, or a battery or a box of chocolates.

Sometimes I see one useful word and wonder what to do with it. One word is not long enough for a list to start a post on a blog. Today I had an aha moment. Word of the day! Yes, I can use that in a bilingual Toastmasters International Speaking club, or when talking about them. I could keep a word of the day in my diary when learning Spanish. That's 365 words a year. Enough for a short, friendly conversation. As Oscar Wilde says, take your diary on the train in order to have something exciting to read on the train.

My word of the day

German-English - doppelgänger (same in English - or just double)

You can try using this in a short English or German sentence. It's a great conversation opener and way of making friends. You have a doppelgänger - my friend ......

If all blonde girls, or tall guys, or Americans, or Germans, or Asians, seem alike to you, easy to turn this into a plus point. My friend has the same blonde hair, is about as tall as you are  ... your doppelgänger.

Black Forest Toastmasters - Toastmasters Belgium

https://sites.google.com/.../b1toastmasters/clubs/.../black-forest-toastmasters-...

Black Forest Toastmasters of Brussels is a German-English bilingual club, founded in 2006: We use both languages to an equal degree ...


PS
Words of tomorrow and yesterday:
delicatessen 
kindergarten

So now you know a word of today doppelgänger. And what is the German for double? Doppel?