Brussels II

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Facts about Belgium:

Roughly, the population is about 11 million.There are the Flemings in the North, speaking Flemish and the Waloons in the South speaking French. The official languages are Dutch, French and German.

National Geographic says, I quote:
" There are three regions in the federal state: Flanders in the north (with 5.8 million people) where the official language is Dutch; Wallonia in the south (with 3.3 million people) where French is the official language; and Brussels-Capital region (950,000 people) where both languages are used. The smaller German-speaking community (about 70,000) is in Wallonia. The regions and language communities enjoy autonomy in cultural and economic matters."
NationalGeographic

Brussels- the capital, is also one of the most important European Union capitals, with a population of slightly over 1 million. I could hear people mainly speaking French there, but post signs are given in both Dutch and French.

Food-wise, Belgium is famous for waffles, which can be found in a wide variety- with chocolate, caramel, fruit etc. Mussels are world-wide famous and are usually served with chips. Should we not forget the beer and the yummy luxury chocolate!( 2.50 euros/ 100g).

The second day we visited Mini-Europe, at Heysel Station, a large park with the most important cultural land-marks in the Europen Union states. .

Examples of what you can expect to see: the castle of Olavinlinna in Finland,Tallin from Estonia, the Riga monument of freedom in Latvia,the University of Vilnius in Lithuania, the Houses of Parliamnet in the UK,etc

Apparently they did not bother to do a lot of research on Romania, maybe because we only joined the EU 8 months ago. Mini-Europe displays, for no sensible or justifiable reason a memorial house from Mogosoaia which in fact doesn't say anything about Romania. There is a plethora of historical and cultural land-marks that could have been used to represent Romania, there are heaps of famous monasteries, cathedrals, famous castles, definitively more representative of Romania! Funnily enough, in front of the house they also displayed a miniature of Dracula. Is that really the only thing people care to know about Romania? Bulgaria hasn't been represented yet in Mini-Europe, so I guess Romanians should be thankful for the honour...?!..

We were on our way to the History Museum when we accidentally came across the European Union cartel with all the official buildings. I have never seen so much police in my life! Security here must be very tight!

That's all from Brussels, over and out! Enjoy the pictures!

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Photos

mini-Europe
Heysel station, 10-15 minutes from Brussels center

Comments

[Adina]

Learning lesson
Honestly I've been here for 1 month already, but I haven't visited Mini Europe yet..hehe..I hope I can post soon some things about my trip to Paris..it was a very romantic one..and sunny as well ;)