Our neighborhood (Sint-Gilles / Ixelles) is particularly dense with art nouveau buildings.
Sunday, and it feels like it
Starting in Persia…ending in Palestine with a flow through art nouveau and odd contemporary in between. We had a late start and a lazy day. Our first stop was for coffee at KooKoo with a Persian touch. Cappuccino and slice of pistachio rosewater cake for Grubb and chai latte with a slice of lemon cake…
Café Mechelen
Outside of some religious art in the dark confines of centuries old cathedrals, Mechelen struck me as one big outdoor café. That’s where most everyone seemed to be, sitting at tables with sweaters tied around their necks drinking beer and wine. Duck in a church to glimpse a Rubens and you’d most likely be alone….
A Candle For Mike
It was the dark look in Kafka’s eyes. A warning. “You might think that taking the train to Mechelen tomorrow will be an easy trip, brief, barely eventful,” they seemed to say staring out at me from the lampshade in the basement of the Parliamentarium, “but trust me, you’ll feel the frustration of sitting in…
Travel!
Subtitle: Toto, we aren’t in Japan anymore. Mechelen, a charming little town just north of Brussels. “Punches above its weight” Claude says. Today we decided to head that way. Tram to train station, train to Mechelen. No biggie. So, the tram was good. First tram ride. No fussing with tickets. Tap our phone to pay…
Battle Dress
Yesterday morning we tried to understand how the European Union worked. Then we had a gourmet lunch that was low on everything that was supposed to be bad for our bodies. It was in a restaurant that was part of swank health club. Just exiting the building I felt I was brimming with health. That didn’t mean…
Yet more Brussels pics
Eew!
Or, if you’re more cultivated, go ahead and say, “E U”, either way we know you’re talking about the European Union. I’ve always imagined the EU to be some abbreviated code for a select group of European bankers who meet periodically behind barrels of distilled spirits in some dank rathskeller to determine the exchange rate…
How To Make Out Like A Bandit In Brussels
Thanks to the many wars that have been fought on its turf, Belgium has been called the “European battlefield”. If one wanted to take this to the economic level and make a killing in Brussels all they would need to do is land a hot air balloon hauling a load of chocolate treats smack in the…
More Brussels flavors
On the walk down to the Parliamentarium, some interesting pics. And lunch. I’d checked in with Claude to ask what might be of interest near the European Parliament. Parc du Cinquantenaire and a nearby cafe called Seven was on the list. Who could resist eating at a place called Seven which turned out to be…
The European Union
Brussels is a hub of European activity, so what better place to learn more about the European Union. What is it exactly? How is it governed? How do you get in? And…well, Britain showed us how to exit. The Parliamentarium answered those and many more questions. The Parliamentarium is what they call the Visitor’s Center…
The Kid’s A Pisser
As example of “zwanze” or bratty Belgian humor there’s Mannikin Pis, the little boy fountain that is located in the heart of Mont des Arts. It was easy to come across; we just funneled down one of the narrow cobbled streets towards the crowd of tourists clogging the corner where the jokey statue is arcing his…
Mont des arts
Yesterday (Thursday)we trekked to the Royal museum complex and Mont des Arts area. Where our neighborhood, Saint-Gilles, can be described as “vibrant bohemian”, the Royal museums quarter was filled with tourists and school groups. A whole different flavor of Brussels. I enjoyed rediscovering Magritte at the Magritte museum. I had forgotten his light-hearted and playful…
Magritte & the Old Masters
The goal of this morning’s trek was to get to the Magritte Musée by ten-thirty. That was the time on electronic the ticket I purchased in January that let us in to the Magritte museum and the Old Masters museum next door. Wait—did I say “ticket”? When we arrived at the building with the large green…
Moules-frites
Mussels with fried potatoes. A cornerstone of Belgian cuisine. This was today’s lunch. Mussels are a plentiful and cheap food, easily harvested along the coast of the North Sea. Although the prized catch comes from Schelde, a shallow river connecting western Belgium to the Netherlands and the North Sea, most mussels used in Belgium these…