I really quite like the last one, I like the expression on the woman's face on the right, and I like what the people are doing in the picture. Anyway, then here are some other pictures...
That is a gas station under an apartment building. They are common here, and apparently were common in Spain, but in Spain they got rid of them for safety reasons. I'm not sure I'd like to live there...
This is what most of Brussels looks like to me right now. I can't tell the difference between one street and the next. I guess I have to train my eyes to look for more detail rather than landmarks (at home it's easy to figure out what street is what because of huge stores on most of them).
This church is just at the end of our street, probably a 3 minute walk.
Yesterday I went for a walk and found 2 long skinny lakes along side which there were paths. I went around both lakes and it was a nice little walk. You'll notice that this day it was sunny. It was wonderful! People in Brussels tend to dwell on the fact that the weather is always dull & gloomy. I guess no matter where you go, people talk about the weather. At home it would be that it's too hot in the summer, too cold in the winter etc.
Those 3 pictures are of a style of house called 'art nouveau'. The architecture of the houses and their embellishments are supposed to mimic the way plants grow - very freely without many (or perhaps any) right angles. You'll see in the 3rd picture how the curves of the railing echo the natural shape of the plants in front of it. There are lots of these places in Brussels. Some of them are really noticeable, some are very subtle - like one we saw that had the smallest asymmetry in the design of the balcony railing.
These two pictures came just before the long lake park - they're of a WW monument. The names listed are the people from the area who died during both the first and second world wars.
Then there was a lady feeding the birds so I thought I'd take a picture because I thought they were very cute. Apparently you're not supposed to feed the birds... I can see why - it's probably horrible for their systems to be introduced to something that isn't naturally part of their diet, not to mention they'll start scavenging like seagulls... but at the same time, I don't see the harm in giving them a few small pieces of bread... look how cute they are!!
The next beer I tried was Duvel. It's a golden pale ale. I didn't much care for the wheaty grainy taste, but it was refreshing anyway.
That's all of my news for now. Today is Wednesday and in 2 days it is my birthday!! How fun. Today I plan on studying some French, and I'll see if I can make it to a house of a guy named "Victor Horta" aka the guy who spearheaded the drive of art nouveau. He is very important around Europe, and especially Belgium & Brussels. His house is apparently something to be seen!
Alright, finally I've posted pictures! I hope you enjoy them! I hear motion downstairs. I'll go see who it is.
Bye!
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