Museum Night Fever

After a somewhat iffy day yesterday (I was sick, but a weird kind that I don't think I've had before) I feel fine today.  I guess whatever was wrong fixed itself.  Alright, the latest news in Brussels?  Museum Night Fever is happening tomorrow night.  It seems to be a night when the museums of Brussels (this year there are 19 participating) are open late and have special itineraries.  I'm not sure what to expect, but I'm sure it will be fun.  Afterwards there is an afterparty which is to be hosted by the museums!  I think there might be more than one, again I don't completely understand what will happen.  For the afterparty page, click here.

Out of the 19 museums that are going to be open, I have visited 10, so I will probably be able to see lots of things I haven't seen yet!  I just read that the bank museum will be open again.  I liked that one.

Then, maybe on Sunday morning, I will be able to go to the market in Place Flagey and take some pictures.  Hopefully the weather won't be as rotten as it was last weekend!

Ok, time to go.  Bye now!

MIM (Musical Instrument Museum)

So once again I went to the MIM (Musical Instrument Museum).  The last time I went was before I knew that I could take a video and turn it into a picture.  My camera doesn't work well in low-light conditions, so that is what I did when I went this time.  As such, the quality of the pictures isn't too great, but it's better than nothing!  Here are some pictures from the museum (which is really big and has tons of amazing instruments!!)

 

The picture above is endives with microphones pointed at them.  The were making music.  Weird sounds, but modern music I suppose.

This is the view from the top of the MIM.

Overlooking Brussels downtown.

The elevator is quite Art Nouveau

I remember suggesting this idea to my piano teacher when I was a kid.  I thought, why don't piano keyboards curve the way our arms naturally move?  He didn't like the idea.  I was right.  haha!!!

Well that's that.  I know I said I'd bring my camera to the Place Flagey market this week, but the weather is not very nice today so that isn't going to happen.  But don't worry, I haven't forgotten!  Alright, I'm going now!  bye!

We beat Iraq.

Yesterday, Belgium entered its 250th day without government and at the same time, beat the record for a country with no government.  The previous record holder was Iraq.

There have been lots of demonstrations around the country, and here are some articles I found in the news.  The first is the one that I think is written the best, even though the content might be a bit risky.

Article 1 - Talking about cutting off the "marital fringe benefits" of the political elite to speed up the process of change.

Article 2 - A very much fact-based summary of the current events

Article 3 - A unique way of reacting to the situation. 

The problem is really complex, but basically the country is divided into 2 parts based on language - the French side and the Flemmish side.  It would be easy to split if that was actually the case, but there is a catch - Brussels.  Brussels is a French speaking city, but it is located within the Flemmish area (Flanders).  It is very close to the French area (Wallonia), I think under 3km at its closest point, but that's the problem.  There is still a monarchy which is currently being lead by King Albert II, but he hasn't had much luck in settling things. 

That's all!  Bowling yesterday - we played one game.  I got 128.  Just below my average.  The game started off a bit sloppy.  That's all for now!  Oh, one more exciting thing - before 6pm on week days and 12 noon on weekends, bowling is €2.80 (plus €1.00 for shoes).  I wish I had brought my shoes from Canada, because it feels a little ridiculous to be wasting so much on shoe rentals every time I go.  Perhaps I'll ask my first visitor to bring them.  Along with shorts, because I didn't bring any.  Anyway, compared to prices at home (it was $18 a week = $6 a game) €2.80 is pretty good!  


Alright, I have to go.  Hopefully today will be my final trip to the commune for my identity card.  Hopefully.  I shouldn't get my hopes up.  I might go and have to fill out more forms and get treated rudely, but we'll see.  In any case, I'm ready for the day - I have had my coffee (in a mug the size of a bowl... a wonderful thing.) and I'm ready.  Yesterday was a very nice day with sunshine and (relatively) warm temperatures, but today the sky is so grey that it almost looks foggy.  But it's not fog, it's just gross.


Have a great weekend everyone!

€0.04 beer.

Ok, I couldn't resist.  After hearing that there was such a thing, I just had to go out and buy it.  Here's a picture.

This is Delhaize's bottled beer, which costs €0.14 which includes a deposit of €0.10, so this beer actually costs €0.04.  With the exchange rate, that's about $0.05 Canadian. lol.  So, here it goes.


Well the smell just smells like beer.  The first taste isn't too bad (not very good either), but then you swallow and the after taste kind of tastes like dust and carbonated water... well I don't know if I'll buy it again, but I'm glad I've tried it!  If ever I find another ridiculously cheap beer, I'll let everyone know and try it out.  Just think - if anyone visits me (and pretty much everyone is welcome!) you can have the privilege of trying this beer of wonders.


...
That's all for now.  Bye!

Beer.

Alright, Belgium is home to apparently 800 different kinds of beer.  So far, my favourite is this one:

It's an amber beer, really smooth and delicious.  I'm not sure if I've written about it here or not.  The reason I'm posting again about beer is because I think I've found the cheapest.  It might also be the worst, but I haven't tried it yet.  I haven't been able to find a picture, so perhaps I'll just buy one and take a picture to put up here.  Anyway, it's the bottled version of this:

It is a beer that is sold at the Delhaize grocery stores (or the 'supermarket' as the Belgians would say).  I forget how much the cans are.  I believe €0.18.  That's a guess though.  Here's the shocking truth that I learned yesterday at Delhaize.  The bottled version is €0.14.  Sadly, that's with the deposit... so we're talking €0.04 cent beer.  I must try.


For a really great, current beer-tasting blog on Belgian beers, I highly suggest reading this guy's blog.
It's got lots of convenient links on the side where you can choose the category of beer and read about it.  Click here to read the blog post of his that talks about Bush Ambrée, my favourite beer so far.


Alright, I'll get my hands on that cheap 4 cent beer and let you know about it.  That's all.  OH!  bowling tomorrow with some friends!!!

Marché de la Place Flagey

Well today I went to the Place Flagey (11 minute walk from where I live).  Every weekend they have a market from 7am to 1:30pm.  I will try to go again next weekend and take pictures - they had lots of stuff (expensive though...) including flowers, cheese, meats, clothing, fruits & veggies, and food stalls that sold hamburgers, cheeseburgers, waffles (of course!) and crepes!

I ended up coming home with some blue cheese from one of the cheese booths.  I'm excited to try it!

Before I get there to take a picture or two, here's one I found on the internet:

Antwerp

It was the 2nd beautiful blue-skied, sunny day in a row so I was lucky.  I went to Antwerp yesterday!  Today of course it's raining again, but that's life.

Antwerp was really a charming place - similar in some ways to Brussels, but in some other ways very different.  Upon getting there I realized that the train station I stopped at (Antwerp Central) was the scene of one of my favourite flash mob dances ever (click here to experience the magic).  I asked for a map at the tourist info place in the train station and headed for the historic downtown.  I found another tourist place there and they gave me a booklet with 2 historic walks I could choose from.  I chose the 2nd (even though it was longer!) because it went by the historic ports which is what I wanted to see, because I know that is where my Grandpa was in 1944.  It was a great experience.  I really suggest self-guided walking tours (if you are in a safe place and during the day), because you can take your time, and stop for a coffee at any time you'd like.  Well, here are the pictures!  As always, click on any picture to make it bigger for your viewing pleasure!  (There are a lot so give yourself some time!)

 My original train was to leave at 10:09.  I got on that train, and about half way to Antwerp the ticket man came around and checked my ticket.  He told me I had the wrong one (I actually had one to go to the airport) and so I had to go all the way back to Brussels Central, to change them.  Once I finally got back the guy wouldn't take my ticket back because he had sold it more than an hour ago.  I tried to explain that it was his mistake in the first place because I KNOW I didn't say Airport.  Anyway, he said something like "If you came back within the hour you could have had it refunded."  I was like "How could I have done that if I was already on the train that I THOUGHT you had given me tickets for!!?!??!!"  Anyway in the end the guy gave me a discount of 5.40 (which was half of the airport ticket, so still 5.40 more than I had to pay).  BLAH.  Well, after all that was said and done, this was the train I finally ended up taking.

 In Antwerp Central station - cool see-through escalators!

 This is where that flash mob took place.

 Coolest invention ever.  Although the sound was a little weird.  It's a trumpet bell attached to the sound section of a violin.

 That's the "Our Lady's Cathedral" in the background - the largest Gothic church in Belgium.  In the Brabantic Gothic style.

I was sure this building was going to fall over while I was taking a picture of it!

The cathedral made for a very photogenic background!
 The picture below has a McDonalds with the cathedral in the background.  I usually put my descriptions under pictures, but this picture won't allow it for some reason!

This is the city hall in the Grand Place of Antwerp, also known as the Grote Markt because we're in the Dutch speaking (Flemmish) part of Belgium here.

The statue explains the name of the city of Antwerp.  "The Brabo Fountain (1887) was conceived by Jef Lambeaux, and represents the legendary Silvius Brabo who, after having slain the giant Antigoon, throws his hand into the river Scheldt.  Popular etymology has it, that Antwerp derives its name thereof: 'throw' in Dutch is 'werpen', and 'hand' is 'hand'; therefore 'handwerpen' (to throw a hand) would be the origin of 'Antwerp'!"

This is just outside the tourist info place in the Grote Markt.  I picked up a pamphlet (panphlet?)... anyway, I picked up a little book about historic walks through the city here.  Like I mentioned above, I did walk #2, which started here and generally went north, while the 1st walk headed south.

"The Steen" is from the 12th century.  Origianlly it was the house of the burggrave (the name appointed to the person in charge of a castle), then it was a prison, then a museum.

In the days it was a prison, the Steen's death row inmates were able to stop here  to say their last prayers before they were put to death.

Just in front of the crucifix, looking up.

This and the following picture made me really happy and proud.  I've highlighted the English parts for you.

This is the site of the historic ports.  I'm not sure when, but they moved almost all of their water traffic to a huge system of ports up north.  This is according to that sign however, the location of the port during the end of WWII.

This wasn't on the walking tour, but it's cool.  I'm not sure what it will be used for.  It seems to be for lease.

It had wavy windows which I thought was neat.

Slightly different than the Best Buys at home eh!

Then the wonderful walking tour brought me through a sketchy part of town...

Then, amidst all this history, I found a tattoo shop!  I was thrilled.

This is St. Paul's cathedral.  It was built between 1517 and 1571.  

Just in front of the church they have a public basket ball court.  I thought the basket ball court and the church in the background made for an excellent photo op.  I just love this one.

This is what the tour describes as where "the City Council has destined this neighbourhood for welfare houses."... this looks pretty decent for welfare housing!!

I couldn't decide which of the pictures between this and the next 2 to choose from, so I put them all up here.  The only difference is the colour of the building.  Anyway, the building is the Vleeshuis.  It was built between 1501 and 1504.  It was originally for the butcher's guild.

In this picture you can see the remnants of the old castle wall, to the left of it is an older building, and to the right a very new building - all sorts of history coming together here!

A small tavern that I thought looked charming and old.

Back to the railway station.

The escalator here went down, then level, then down again.  I thought it was cool enough to warrant a picture.

Then of course the see-through escalators again are neat looking, so another picture.

That was my day at Antwerp!  It's a great city, and easy to navigate on foot.  The people are nice and speak English very well.  If you visit, stay away from using French.  Even if they know it, they don't want to speak/hear it.  If you're a French speaker, it's better to try limited English than to speak French!

Alright, that's it for now.  Meetup group bowling tonight.  I'm also going to a friend's house (Klaude) for dinner.

Have a great Thursday everyone!