i started the day off by joining an organized bike tour of brussels.
first stop. grand place.
grand place is the old medieval "downtown." this is where the 48 guilds (trade unions) of brussels was gathered. so, these flemish-baroque are old guild offices that were burned down and rebuilt between 1696 - 1698.
the semi-wide building with the greendome, flanked by a statue, was the baker's guild office. now it's the headquarters of InBev, the largest brewery in the world.
brewer's guild.
the white chapel-like structure is the town hall. however, it was built in parts in two different times so it's asymmetrical. the left wing is much longer than the right.
so, the architect used some tricks to mask the asymmetry (thought not very successful). first, the arcades on the right are wider to make that wing seem wider. second, the entrance to the town tall is much closer to the left in order to widen the right side.
afterwards, we proceeded on our bikes to....
manneken pis, symbol of brussels. one of the myths surrounding this statue is that it's commemorating a boy who extinguished a huge fire in brussels by peeing on it. i forget the "true" story, but the important thing is that every now and then it's wearing a costume. in fact, the museum of brussels has thousands of outfits that it has worn during the past years.
on our way up towards marolles. i didn't know this but brussels is a major cartoon city. apparently, it has the highest concentration of cartoonist per capita (not sure how you measure that statistic). some major belgian cartoons include TinTin and The Smurfs. so, walls with cartoon murals are ubiquitous in the city.
marolles used to be a very poor area, but as it happens in most cities, it's becoming very hip, trendy and posh. this area is largely flemish because it's become more and more expensive to live here. (more on the flemish and french dynamic later)
palais de justice. this is a court building, but it's closing down within the next year for several reasons: impracticality (too huge to be of any effective use), expensive to maintain, insecure (three prisoners have escaped from here in the past year, while they were waiting to be tried), and finally there's apparently no way to cost-effectively/efficiently heat the complex. no clue what it'll end up being used for.
statues representing the 48 guilds, (they're everywhere!)
my bike @ sablon square.
the white marble status on the right corner (holding a ball) is gerardus mercator. he invented the first comprehensive and scaled atlas, and he also invented and standardized all the symbols of maps (like the cross for hospital etc etc)
then, on our way towards the EU quarter one of the bikes had mechanical issues, the PEDAL CAME OFF. so our guide sara had to scramble to get a new bike for the person while we stalled for about 15 minutes. but, all worked out because around 12:30 we headed to get the famous belgian frites!
at maison antoine! one of the two most popular frite stands in brussels.
classic large fries with mayo for lunch (couldn't finish all of it, or else i would've felt sick biking). i say, anything double-fried is absolutely fantastic.
while eating my fries, i chatted with a couple on their honey moon and a junior from washu in st. louis, who's also spending a semester in london at king's college.
after a nice frites lunch, we headed to the EU quarter.
glass monstrosity. here's the most ineffective thing you've probably ever heard. the EP is held in two different cities, in brussels and in strasbourg, france. neither of the cities are willing to give up their housing the EP, so on a weekly week, the 780+ MEPs alternate meeting in strasbourg and brussels. complete waste of energy, money and time. (i already knew this from my EU class. also, thanks to my EU class, i was the only one on the tour to know that the EU has 27 Member States! woot woot!)
brussels gate. it was here that we talked about the fact that belgium DOESN'T HAVE A GOVERNMENT RIGHT NOW!!! the prime minister resigned a few days ago, as have the past two prime ministers during the past two years......this is due to the constant tension between the flemish and french constituency in belgium. belgium is officially bilingual.
belgium is divided into 3 sections. Flanders in the north where they speak dutch, Wallonia in the south where they speak french, and a german portion in the far east. this all gets very iffy because french-speaking people hold most of the government positions even though they only constitute a third of the population. BUT, the flemish people, who are underrepresented, constitute 60% of the population and are the richer population. so, the government has perpetual difficulty balancing the flemish and french constituency. in fact, there's constant talk about the possibility of belgium splitting into two. but, I'd personally like them to stay unified because i think it's fantastic to have two language co-exist so beautifully.
parc de bruxelles, one of the many pretty parks we biked through.
brussels cathedral, our last stop in the bike tour.
overall, the bike tour was only satisfactory, not spectacular. It was great that we got to cover so much ground in 3.5 hours. also, it was fun riding through the cityscape, feeling the wind in your face. these are some of the negatives. firstly, the guide was very new and today was only her second tour so she wasn't as knowledgable, suave, or comfortable giving the tour. however, i once was an inexperienced tour guide (for exeter and nyu) myself, so i empathized with her. second, we didn't have enough photo opportunities so I missed a lot of things i'd have liked to record, but i took many mental pictures. finally, it made me realize that i am possibly the least graceful person on a bike. you'd think i could manage biking through a relatively flat city, but no. i embarassed myself multiple times so i don't think i'll be going on anymore bike tours.
in order to make myself feel slightly better about being so ungraceful, i bought myself a waffle. it was delicious and it instantly made me feel better.
mont des arts.
musee royaux des beaux-arts. including the ancient art, by which they mean 15th - 18th century art, not ancient greek or egyptian. and modern, meaning 19-20th belgian art.
venus et l'amor by lucas cranach l'ancient. 1531. love this piece, whose artist was previously unknown to me. story: cupid came crying to his mom venus after having been stung by bees while stealing honey. then, venus told him sth along the lines of "loves wounds will sting more."
elongated body in the gothic style. and look at venus' demonically coy smile, while being "covered" in a translucent veil.
rubens room! didn't know peter paul rubens spent most of his life in antwerp, belgium. also didn't know that hispieces were so ginormous.
cool surrealist piece by salvador dali. elephants on spider thin legs. after a good hour and half at the museum, i simply wandered around to explore.
place du grand sablon, where i went chocolate sampling at all the chocolatiers that are concentrated on this little square.
i got 8 pieces of chocolate here. 2 of each of: earl grey praline, pierre marcolini dark chocolate, strawberry glazed white & milk chocolate, and another not delicious enough to remember. of course, i finished all of them during the afternoon and had the last piece just now.
hodgepodge of architecture throughout brussels. some parts are really beautiful, and some are ugly. the different quarters all have their distinct look. grand place is flemish-baroque. the royal quarter is neo-classical with modern art buildings. marolles is almost rundown. and the north & EU quarter is disenchantingly manhattan-like, and quite ugly.
one of the last standing original, very modest, friteries.
bilingual metro sign in the north of the city, near the moroccan quarter. there wasn't too much to see. another area becoming gentrified.
grasmarkt
petite rue des bouchers & rue es bouchers . little street packed with tourist-trappy seafood restaurants, but i craved the famous mussels, so i went into the cutest looking one i could find.
brussels mussels, frites and belgian beer. what better way to end a day in brussels. that pot of steamed mussels was absolutely delicious!! interestingly, the waiters kept referring to me as "lady." "lady, you want beer?" they'd ask. what? it was a tad awkward. but, after i told them i was from new york they called me "new york." slightly better. but, when i said new york, one of them asked "what part? new jersey?!?" haha. those belgians need to brush up on their geography, but my guess is the americans no far less about european geography. also, one of the waiters asked me if i had an email address, but didn't ask me for it. awkward but cute.
today, i saw a lot of brussels, both the charming and the super industrial parts. i kind of wish i was wiser with my time, so i could've seen another museum rather than being disenchanted after walking through the manhattanesque area. but oh wells. also, i probably overdid my daily suggested calorie intake by 500%, but how else was i supposed to experience brussels?
all in all, great day. I mean, really, how can you go wrong with a day in a city known for its fries, waffles and chocolate?!
(these blogposts are taking me forever. are they supposed to take this long?)
(these blogposts are taking me forever. are they supposed to take this long?)
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