Still the Capital of Europe

As I promised in my last post, here are some additions to my Bruxelles experiences, plus perhaps a more coherent description of my trip (although I cannot promise I'll deliver).

So, to begin this story, we were with a total of 14 people. Myself, of course, the only one of us more or less used to Belgian culture; then, the Dutch part of our group, consisted of Elleke, Renske, Ivan, Martijn and Linda; the Germans were Steffen (Linda's boyfriend), Lukas and Catharina (the last two also a couple); there was a Canadian girl, Andrea; three Russians were there also, Valeria and two others - a couple - whose names I don't remember, but who were actually married; and on saturday Esther was there, but she left on the evening, at which time my dad came, as the trip was organised by the Maastricht Student Chaplaincy, where my father works.

Upon arrival, we were greeted by Mieke, the enthusiastic chaplain of the Flemish universities of Bruxelles. We were brought to the chaplaincy at the Beguinage, dropped our bags and then each went our own way. I had brought a Trotter Guide to Belgium, which proved most handy as it had a complete street plan of the city, listed all the museums with reviews, even, and fitted neatly into my coat pocket. I used this time to explore the east part of the city: the city park and the Jubelpark. The first I wanted to see because, in 1830, all the important fighting took place there, as the Dutch troops dug in in the park and Belgian revolutionaries fired at them from the tall buildings. There was nothing to remember that by, but it was clear that the park was a good place to camp troops.
However, new invaders had arrived since the Dutch forces left in a hurry: Bruxelles now boasts a population of 5 000 Ring-necked Parakeets, mostly spread out in the two parks I visited. They were a true plague and their shrieks were audible everywhere. Operating in groups, they were hard to miss.

Surrounding the park lay some of the busiest streets in town: the Belgian Parliament as well as the American Embassy - the latter defended with concrete blocks, bullet-proof police guard houses and policecars blocking the entrance - were situated there, among others. But I hurriedly followed the road further east, to the Jubelpark, as I'm certain the security guard at the embassy would seize me if I halted for too long. On I my way I passed by the European Commission and probably a variety of other EU buildings too, including a EU bookstore, which was closed. Must be an after-effect of the Dutch No!

After about 45 minutes walk from the centre of the city, I finally reached the Jubelpark, where the Army Museum is housed. I already talked about my visit there in the last post, so I'll only add that they had so many Napoleonic portraits, that they covered the walls up to the roof. The hall being tall, this made it impossible to distinguish the upper portraits. I was pleased to see that there were plenty of paintings, uniforms and other objects to remind of the Dutch period, including paintings of General Chassé and the Princes of Orange.

We had arranged to reunite at the station at 19:15, by which time my dad would arrive, after which we would go out to dinner. 19:15 is too late a dinner time for us western Europeans, so by the time I got to the station I was starving, and so were the others. We went to a fine restaurant where they served excellent pies, and I picked the Lorrainer quiche. Strangely enough it was classed under Vegetable Quiches, yet we all know that Lorrainer quiches have meat - and this one was not lacking in that respect!
I ended up in the German corner of our group, and had a rather interesting discussion about German literature. To my astonishment, not a single one of the Germans surrounding me had read Im Westen nichts neues! However, for compensation, they had all watched the film with their class at one point or another. Still, what barbarism!

That evening Mieke took us on a nightly tour of the city, visiting a pub with an excellent home-brewn beer, Gueuze bière, as well as to an expensive hotel in the lobby of which was preserved part of the city wall. As we then entered its garage where she showed the rest of it, we were kindly shooed out by the butler, or whatever fancy title the man may have had.
After that we made our way up a tall parking lot, from which we could survey the city beautifully, the Cathedral seeming slimmer than it did from up close, and Mieke told us about how people used to jump off of it to kill themselves, so the authorities had had to put up three different means of preventing them - a fence, spikes on top of it and electric wire above that.

We slept in one of the many rooms of the Student Chaplaincy, and I abandoned my sleeping bag at about 8:30, when I had had enough sleep. I brought along the Mabinogion, which I had taken because it was not only light but also highly entertaining. I then read for over half an hour, until Elleke and Mieke had bought some bread.

We then attended Catholic mass - not a traditional mass, as the Priest didn't seem to follow the standard conventions at all, which made it most amusing. He even said "Goddamnit!" twice. Someone actually had to tell me of this peculiarity, as I hadn't noticed it myself.

After that, we made another city walk, had pancakes in a local restaurant, and returned home.
Conclusion: Bruxelles is great.

Quote of the Day:

A haggard man entered the room, with twinkling lights in his eyes.
"My dear Compans, do you not recognise me?"
"No; who are you?"
"I am the rear guard of the Grande Armée. I am Marshal Ney!"

The Capital of Europe

As previously announced, the past weekend was spent in the capital of Europe, known as Bruxelles or Brussel or by some languages, incapable of properly writing location names, as Brussels, which is neither here nor there.

With a group of about 15 students we set out from the stately station of Maastricht and boarded the train to Liège, which doesn't have a stately station but has one that is a complete mess - but it is currently being renovated (and has been for the past few years) so it is even more confusing than it would be in normal situations (and it seems like it won't be worth it, as the station will mix a 1920's building with modern architecture, creating some sort of ugly monster).
The train then passed through the familiar city of Leuven, making clear once again the difference in wealth between Flanders (Leuven) and Wallonia (Liège); the locomotive continuing its voyage, we entered the mixture of Flemish-Wallonian culture that is the district of Bruxelles, the only place where one can find people who consider themselves Belgians (except if the Royal Family are abroad or in one of their countryside palaces, of course) and a strange combination of different cultures - a very charming brew, many must agree.

Bruxelles is a huge city, of which I only saw a fractions, primarily the city centre and the European part, including the building(s) housing the European Commission. It is funny to see the differences in the city - from the grand medieval Great Market to the Art Nouveaux buildings of Victoire Horta to the modern EU and NATO buildings, there's something in every style and many of them are truly impressive, like the Brandenburger Tor-like building in the Jubelpark housing the Royal Army and Military Museum, the Museum of the History of Art and "Auto-world", a museum that probably has a lot of enthusiastic fans around the world, among which I cannot count myself.

The only museum I visited during the weekend was, unsurprisingly, the Army and Military Museum. Its collection can only be described as impressive, showcasing a huge collection of portraits, armour, uniforms, contemporary drawings and paintings, weapons, planes, tanks, musical instruments, etc. Sadly I only got about half an hour to view it as the place closed at the surprisingly early time of 16:30, giving a subtle hint five minutes in advance, when they turned off all the lights. Even though my visit was short, it was enough to make me appreciate the vastness (and value) of this Belgian collection of war-related objects. Their sets of full plate armour on display - of the highest quality - must number over three dozen, and they have virtually every imaginable type of armour (yes, even equestrian armour) produced between 1300 and 1600, including a rather rare surcoat with tiny metal plates still attached to the inside. The fabric of this armour doesn't usually stand the test of time, so to see one complete and showcased in a museum both surprised and pleased me. It was indeed excellently done, and it was also the finest collection of armour I have ever seen.

Mieke, our guide, also took us around the city on saturday evening (visiting pubs, tasting some local beers, including the rather delicious Gueuze Bière) and showed us some of the places you will never see when you go on your own, including Bruxelles from the top of a huge parking building and through the tiny streets within houses.
Surely there is more to write about this wonderful visit on this page later on, but I do not have the time now. I realise I have hardly spent a word describing my companions on this trip, and I shall do so later on, as well as give some account of the mass we visited, the peculiar pancake restaurant, the most expensive hotel and its butler, and the American embassy. But don't worry, I won't waste any words on that travesty, Manneken Pis.

Quote of the Day:

"No, applejuice is finished, is finished!" - our French waiter

For feck's sake...

Just watched the final episode of Spooks series 4, and my reaction is sort of difficult to describe. Surely those devoted followers of the series remember the suspenseful endings of Series 1 and Series 2, which had the viewer crying out NOOOOO!!!! as the episodes ended in ways that put even the summer cliffhangers of soap series to shame. Series 3 had a relatively normal season ending, which I was quite happy with, but now the makers have gone back to their roots and here we are, suspense and tension as we wait for another year before we'll see who survives and who dies.
Luckily, Spooks puts not only the cliffhangers, but also the acting, scripts, locations and overall quality of soap series to shame, and it'll be well worth the wait, I'm sure.
But who will survive?!

Also, just a thing I forgot in my previous post:

Quote of the Day:

"Grenadiers and Chasseurs, I say to you again: if you do not stay with me you are f----d. And anyway, I don't care a f--k. You can all go and f--k yourselves." - Marshal Lefèbvre

Now, lords, for Belgium!

With winter fast approaching, showing its arrival with teasingly warm days of sometimes twenty degrees in the sun, it is pivotal that we move now to Bruxelles, if indeed we do want to visit the city before the cold season arrives; waiting a month longer could mean that the fair city be surrounded by snow, trains grinding to a halt as avalanches bury the railway tracks from the human eye, birds will freeze in mid-air, their playful music exiting their throats for the last time, and cars will implode from the cold. These things have happened before, and have been well-documented by astronomers. If not this weekend, the snow will arrive soon after. There is in fact every possibility we will all be trapped in the city and die from starvation, as there are not enough birds there to feed the inhabitants for an entire winter.

In other words, I'm going to Bruxelles this weekend.