Belgium: Day 1

Hey everyone! I'm on the Continent!

First stop on my tour of the European Union: Brussels, Belgium.

Here's some background info: languages--French, Flemish, and German, religion--98% Roman Catholic, but no one goes to the churches, so they're being repurposed as indoor markets and such.

Soon to become an indoor farmers' market

Mmm...Belgian Easter chocolate

On our first day, we had a walking tour of the city. It's a lot smaller than London, and even though we walked for two hours, it felt like nothing compared to what I'm used to. Good thing, too, because not only is it Easter weekend, but also the Metro is closed because the workers are on strike.

 

City wall and hotel

Our tour guide, Elisabeth, started showing us around Brussels. The first stop was a remnant of the city wall that is now surrounded on three sides by a modern hotel. What is so striking about Brussels is how the architectural styles are all jumbled together, combining multiple eras on the same street from contemporary to Art Deco to bourgeoisie imitation of elegant Parisian apartments. It is ugly but inspirational and so entirely different from the organized, uniformly Georgian and Victorian design of most of London's buildings.

According to Elisabeth, a lot of this mish-mash of architectural styles comes from the nouveau riche's desire to construct apartment buildings that advertised their wealth. They became prosperous in the Industrial Revolution of the late 19th Century. Belgium was the first country on the Continent to follow England into industrialization.

Another thing we saw is the cartoon art on "blind walls." This decoration is intended to beautify the wall and discourage people from urinating on it or stowing trash in front of it. The blind walls are a result of the extension of streets from the medieval period, but the new additions were built with wider roadways, so the sides of the buildings that used to be at the end of the road are now exposed.

Manneken Pis

We were issued a really cool map by our city correspondent, Anna. The map is made by local volunteers and gives tips about Brussels. It says that here everybody wants to have an easy-going style, and to be called "trendy" and dress like Parisians is not fashionable. I like this a lot. The feel of the city reminds me of Amsterdam, and they wear the kinds of clothes I like here. In fact, the first person I saw here was wearing a black bomber jacket and leather pants, hair over one eye, and angrily smoking a cigarette--like Lisbeth Salander from The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo but less dramatic. Awesome! Both Brussels and Amsterdam feel like places I could live.

I also saw the Manneken Pis (pissing boy) fountain. I've actually seen that before--in my favorite video game, Animal Crossing! I didn't even know that was a real thing until I saw it on the street. Of course, I got a little Manneken Pis figurine as a souvenir.

On the way to dinner

Our welcome dinner was supposed to be typical Belgian food, but it was fish and chips. The chips are called fries here and are thinner and more greasy than English chips. They're pretty much American French fries. We also had tomato bisque, bread with delicious horseradish mustard, and then a fluffy chocolate mousse for dessert. It was tasty. All this travelling has left me with a severe shortage of healthy food though. I don't think I've had a straight-up vegetable in three days, so I'd better fix that.

Ok, see you soon! It's going to be a lot easier to blog because I have to journal for class, so I can just type my journal entries now. That is, if I continue to have internet access.