Belgium, the Country that Isn't

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May 28th 2008

Published: May 28th 2008

When the European Union forces all of its member nations to give up their sovereignty to build a super-nation, Belgium will be the model and Brussels will be THE capital. But hold that thought for a moment while I recount dinner Monday night, which I had previously forgotten to do.

On Monday night, Elizabeth and I went to her French friend's house. Sandra is from the area and has a very nice apartment. She speaks English, but the three of us got along the entire time in French. Sandra later commented that I had a French accent, but not a French vocabulary. 😞 Hey, at least I got the accent down!!! While there, we watched some TV - including "Les 100 Stars le Plus Sexy." However, we only saw 100-4...the program switched before we could find the 3 sexiest stars. Oh well. Now back to Belgium.

So today I walked Brussels. Yes, the entire city today (well, most of it). When I got here, I went to the hostel, but check-in wasn't until 3 (and it was currently 11), so I left my bags and decided to seek out the European Parliament building. 45 minutes later, I had walked past L'Opera, La Grande Place, a few important gardens, and even the royal palace (it's huge!). Along the way, I couldn't help but notice that every flag flying from every building was that of the EU; only every so often did a Belgian flag appear. I dismissed it as a function of the direction I was walking, but it was a nagging thought in my head. I arrived at the EU Parliament only to see a protest (for what I still do not know). It was rather exciting. Then I passed by a high school in which every student spoke a different language, and finally decided to come back to the hostel.

I kept seeing the EU flags, and that is when I realized that Brussels really is the perfect place for Europe. Legally, all signs only need to be in 2 languages - French and Flemish/Dutch - but realistically they are always in at least 4 (add English and German) and as many as 11 (add Spanish, Portuguese, Polish, Russian, Arabic, Chinese, Japanese). Welcome to the world. As a side note, while Lille had a lot of British people, I keep running into Americans here in Brussels. Anyway, this language is key to Brussels usefulness. Even walking into McDonalds to get a coke today, I heard the cashiers constantly switching between the 4 main languages as they talked to customers. To me, it was rather amazing.

Back to my long and arduous adventure, I returned to the hostel and got a room that was for girls. Obviously a slight problem. I guess the candy counter lady just got in, because after she and the receptionist exchanged greetings, the receptionist said "Ce monsieur est une fille." "Oh, c'est une probleme, oui?" "Well, non," I said, "mais oui." They had a good laugh and then started talking to each other in what I assumed was Dutch while he changed me to a guy's room. I didn't realize he switched to English until he said "You're all good to go." He had to repeat it. It was funny at the time.

After getting that all sorted out, I decided that I wanted to walk to the overlarge atom. This atom is Belgium's contribution to architecture insomuch as it is a structure built in 1958 to commemorate the world and now serves as a museum concerning its construction. But it's still cool. The views from it are absolutely amazing and, even though I only went about halfway up (I wasn't allowed higher), I could still see far into downtown. Getting there was the adventure, however. The atom was built away from central Brussels with the intention that the city would follow. The city didn't. Even the EU Parliament went in the complete opposite direction. What this means is that it is not really on any map of Brussels proper, but is actually in the city and at the end of the metro. Me being smart, I decided to walk it. An hour and a half later, I had gone through some pretty interesting neighborhoods and consulted random maps posted in the city to make sure I was going the right way. Even then I was never really sure. Alas, I did find the atom and enjoyed it. I even got to here Swahili spoken along the way (Belgian, as a language, is English/French/Dutch with some Arabic/German/Swahili words mixed in for good measure). To avoid any major problems returning, I took the metro back to the hostel to plan the next part of the day.

That next part, in my mind, definitely needed to include food. I walked along the main street, but none of the restaurants/little shops along the way felt right. I did get a real Belgian waffle, which is even better than you could imagine. Anyhow, before I knew it, I was back at Gare Bruxelles Midi/Brusel Zuid, the train station to which I arrived. This demonstrates the identity crisis I previously mentioned. In French, it is "Middle Brussels;" in Dutch, "South Brussels." You figure it out. It was a 45 minute walk. I got some food at the train station and then headed back for the return journey. I passed through what could only be described as the Arab half of town. Every restaurant/store/alley had either a Moroccan flag or an Algerian flag (the Tunisians live in Mouscron, I figured out yesterday). It's a nice section, but it seriously takes up the entire southern half of the city. Strange.

Also in this neighborhood has the worst-planned intersection in history. Four roads officially meet at a square, but at least three others cross through all of the other streets, adding traffic lights. To complicate the situation, there are additional traffic lights at the edge of the square meaning that you can turn, but then cannot move. About four cars fit in the square, but twelve try to pile in. When I walked by, it looked like a scene straight out of Africa (from the pictures I've seen). Hint: don't make eight streets intersect, or you will have a traffic jam.

Well, this entry is extremely long. I'm off to Zurich tomorrow. When I return at the end of July and have access to my pictures, I will add them to this to make it less wordy-looking. I have some pretty good pictures! Hope all is going well with everyone else.

Belgium, the Country that Isn't

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