Surprising Brussels

Back yesterday afternoon from a long (and very sunny!) weekend in the capital of Europe, Brussels. Being the capital of the European Union I had kind of expected the city to be a bit boring with not much happening on the weekend, and not so beautiful to look at. But I was pleasantly surprised. It was really buzzing, with loads of funky cafes/bars, lots of people sunning themselves on terraces and has THE most beautiful central square I have ever seen!

The square is ringed by wonderfully detailed and impressive buildings that were originally constructed as guild houses. The town hall can also be found on the square and looks more like a cathedral than a town hall with its impressive spire.

Two of the quirkiest things I discovered about Brussels is, one, the most famous tourist attraction is a bronze statue of a little boy peeing (Manneken Pis), and two, ALL the street signs, billboards, menus etc etc are in both French and Dutch. Originally almost totally Dutch speaking, Brussels has been Frenchified, and now almost 4/5ths of the city's population is French speaking!

Brussels is also home to the lambic style of beer :-) This is a special type of beer only brewed in and around Brussels, and is unique as a result of its capacity to spontaneously ferment. The beer ferments when it is exposed to the bacteria and wild yeasts that are only found in the air around Brussels! However it is made, it tastes pretty good, with my favourite versions being cherry and raspberry - yum !!

We also visited that iconic Brussels attraction, the Atomium. Originaly built for Expo '58, (the Brussels World Expo of 1958), the Atomium is a gleaming silver model of an iron atom magnified 165 billion times! It stands at 102 metres and consists of 9 steel spheres all connected together with tubes. Most of the tubes enclose escalators, one of which is lit by futuristic neon lights, and it is possible to visit most of the spheres. The central vertical vertex still contains the original lift from 1958, and travels at the then very fast speed of 5 metres per second !!

The city is also home to its very own style of art nouveau architecture, with one of the most important and well respected architects (Victor Horta) calling Brussels home from 1880 to 1947. We spent the first few hours of Sunday following the "art nouveau route", passing by many buildings designed by Horta himself, and finishing at his former home/studio that is now a magnificent museum. Even though Jeroen was a bit disappointed by the quality and quantity of the buildings (after Riga nothing really compares!!), I found the more understated style lovely, and the round windows especially appealing. Was a pity that we couldn't visit one of his most famous buildings, the Tassel Hotel. Judging by the photos the interior looks spectacular! The interior of his own house though was a sight to behold - everything was specially designed in the style of Horta - from clocks, to window latches to doorknobs. The crowning glory however, was the entry hall and the amazing spiral staircase leading up 4 levels to the glassed over roof - wow!! Sadly it was strictly "no photos allowed", so the only photos are those on the official website :

http://www.hortamuseum.be/main.php?lang=en&part=maison&page=visite

Alli xxx

Amsterdam for the day

Spent a lovely day/afternoon yesterday in Amsterdam with Sarah, Joan and Charlie. Hereby a couple of photos :-)

I know Sarah (originally from the UK and now living in Leiden, NL) and Joan (from Wilmington, Delaware USA, and here on a short vacation) through the expat women's website, and Charlie is a friend of Joan and currently lives in Amsterdam. What an international little group we were! The weather was absolutely perfect, and the Spui was a great place to stop and eat our picnic on a bench in the spring sunshine. Life is pretty good!

And thank you SO much Sarah for the cheese twisties - yum!!

Alli xxx