mardi, février 21, 2006
Un petit voyage à Bruxelles
What to do on a grey and boring February weekend, when the Eiffel Tower can hardly be seen through the clouds and fog? Why, take a weekend jaunt to another country of course!
Belgium, to be more exact, and Brussels, to be even more exact, was the destination of choice this particular grey weekend. Sadly, Brussels was even more grey of weather, but at least the background was new and exploration-worthy!
After arriving on our €25 (return!) bus tickets, Ruxandra and I immediately went in search of the famous belgian beer. The bar looked normal enough, rather quiet, a bit smoky, beers of every shade of brown between black and gold lined up along the counter, an aging barmaid with a cigarette clamped in the corner of her mouth and too much make up (there but for the grace of god...) lining up even more. Things livened up with the arrival of two girls wearing knee high boots, black sunglasses and black vinyl trenchcoats. The sunglasses stayed on, but the trenchcoats only lasted 20 seconds or so. Luckily, there were a few scraps of gold sparkly material underneath, and the two belgian beauties (more belgian than beautiful) proceeded to writhe and wriggle up and down the tired and cramped passageway in front of the bar, about a metre from our table! The performance lasted three songs, before the audience was kindly invited to jam their cleavages full of euros. We, however, beat a quick exit, for fear of further entertainment!
I can happily report that while the quality of the exotic dancers could be improved (are gold sequins exotic? what would you call them?), the beers were top quality! As were the moules frites (mussels and chips, delicious belgian specialty), the many gaufres (belgian waffles) and the chocolate. Suffice to say, we were never hungry for long!
Brussels itself is an interesting city. Certainly not as classically beautiful as some cities (in my opinion), though it does have plenty of beautiful bits - the very grand Grand Place, for example - but instead, I would describe the city as interesting and rather charming. We saw some lovely churches, and managed to catch two choir concerts in two of these, an underwhelming chocolate museum, the atomium (a giant "iron molecule" - don't ask me to explain this, I know that iron is not a molecule, and I know, I know, but we are chemists after all), a rather deserted European Parliament (from the outside!), and of course the Manneken Pis, pissing.
Accent-wise, I'm afraid I've discovered that my french is not good enough to distinguish between the, apparently obviously different, belgian french and french french. Maybe next time.
The Grand Place, surrounded by beautiful buildings and filled with tourists.
Two lovely girls in front of the Mannekin Pis. Why this little fountain is famous, I'll never know (unless I find out).
Self-explanatory.
The bandes dessinées (comic books) are even more popular here than in France, and they have the murals to prove it.
The atomium!
Belgium, to be more exact, and Brussels, to be even more exact, was the destination of choice this particular grey weekend. Sadly, Brussels was even more grey of weather, but at least the background was new and exploration-worthy!
After arriving on our €25 (return!) bus tickets, Ruxandra and I immediately went in search of the famous belgian beer. The bar looked normal enough, rather quiet, a bit smoky, beers of every shade of brown between black and gold lined up along the counter, an aging barmaid with a cigarette clamped in the corner of her mouth and too much make up (there but for the grace of god...) lining up even more. Things livened up with the arrival of two girls wearing knee high boots, black sunglasses and black vinyl trenchcoats. The sunglasses stayed on, but the trenchcoats only lasted 20 seconds or so. Luckily, there were a few scraps of gold sparkly material underneath, and the two belgian beauties (more belgian than beautiful) proceeded to writhe and wriggle up and down the tired and cramped passageway in front of the bar, about a metre from our table! The performance lasted three songs, before the audience was kindly invited to jam their cleavages full of euros. We, however, beat a quick exit, for fear of further entertainment!
I can happily report that while the quality of the exotic dancers could be improved (are gold sequins exotic? what would you call them?), the beers were top quality! As were the moules frites (mussels and chips, delicious belgian specialty), the many gaufres (belgian waffles) and the chocolate. Suffice to say, we were never hungry for long!
Brussels itself is an interesting city. Certainly not as classically beautiful as some cities (in my opinion), though it does have plenty of beautiful bits - the very grand Grand Place, for example - but instead, I would describe the city as interesting and rather charming. We saw some lovely churches, and managed to catch two choir concerts in two of these, an underwhelming chocolate museum, the atomium (a giant "iron molecule" - don't ask me to explain this, I know that iron is not a molecule, and I know, I know, but we are chemists after all), a rather deserted European Parliament (from the outside!), and of course the Manneken Pis, pissing.
Accent-wise, I'm afraid I've discovered that my french is not good enough to distinguish between the, apparently obviously different, belgian french and french french. Maybe next time.
The Grand Place, surrounded by beautiful buildings and filled with tourists.
Two lovely girls in front of the Mannekin Pis. Why this little fountain is famous, I'll never know (unless I find out).
Self-explanatory.
The bandes dessinées (comic books) are even more popular here than in France, and they have the murals to prove it.
The atomium!
# posted by Jenny @ 10:28 
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At last a post from the travelling swede!!!
Tell me Jen, have you recieved anything interesting lately?
Lovely to see and hear you are well.
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Tell me Jen, have you recieved anything interesting lately?
Lovely to see and hear you are well.
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