Chorus Trip to Belgium

The Atlanta Women’s Chorus performed at the Various Voices festival in June, 2026 and I was lucky enough to participate and perform around town.

I flew to London and stayed at the amazing Hazlitt's hotel in Soho for a couple days beforehand. I was supposed to hang with Hannah but she had covid, so while I did swing by her house one afternoon for a curry in the garden, I mostly wandered on my own. I visited the National Gallery, got a boba and foot massage in Chinatown, and treated myself to a nice Sunday roast at Sussex British Bistro.

My room at Hazlitt's

Chinatown where I got bubble tea and a foot massage

My corner booth at Sussex British Bistro

A perfect pork belly Sunday roast

JMW Turner painting at the National Gallery

Hannah with the covid in her garden

My writing desk and breakfast at Hazlitt's

Then I took the Eurostar to Brussels where I stayed at the Dominican. My first night I met up with some chorus friends at Delirium and then out to a small bistro. The rest of the trip I mostly ate breakfast/lunch on my own but found chorus friends to dine with in the evenings.

First Belgian beer at Delirium (Tremens)

Grabbed street beers our first night

Found a restaurant with air conditioning (sorta) after rehearsal

At an Asian fusion restaurant near the Cirque Royal

The festival was unfortunately overpowered by the epic heat dome Europe was experiencing and which I read a week later caused 20,000 deaths. It was 98 degrees and there wasn't relief anywhere. The music venues and rehearsal spaces were like sweat lodges. I'd basically chug water, run from shadow to shadow on the sidewalk, rinse in a cold shower multiple times a day, and use my hand fan vigorously, to stay cool. On top of that, my cards didn't work on Belgian public transit, so I felt very trapped and couldn't go explore the city. The Underground Palace was the best place to visit because the temperature dropped down there.

Our street performance where it was so hot someone had to sit

Our rehearsal space, again so hot I didn't think we'd make it

Coudenberg Palace was the coldest place in the city because it was underground

The first day it was 93 degrees instead of 98 I set out on foot to explore the Sablon, Marolles antique district, and Mazette brewpub. Thank goodness I had one nice day to explore because Brussels was absolutely stunning!

Some sort of focaccia dish that blew my mind at Mazette's

I hung out at this table with a view of a historic flea market for quite some time because of the breeze and good vibes

I liked having lots of time to bond with my chorus pals, it made me feel better about coming back to Atlanta and being part of that community. We wandered around the old town, shared cold spots we found, weathered the heat together, and shared many beers, mussels, and ice cream.

St Michael cathedral

Mussels in front of the stock exchange building

The whole chorus in Bozar

On stage for tech rehearsal

The last day of my trip I did a guided tour of Bruges and while the center was WAY too packed and touristy, I'm glad I ventured out on foot and found a little writing cafe (Postbar) and brewpub (L'Estaminet).

In one of the grand squares in central Bruges

Had a beer and croquette salad on the park

The canals felt very Dutch

The Begijnhof where single women live in solitude

Cute little writing cafe that only took cash

If this trip was supposed to give me more information about whether we should live in Europe, I have to say, it was giving mixed signals.