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2/5/2012
So today was the day when I was going to see James Taylor play LIVE in Brussels. I had waited months for this, and everything from my trains, to where I was staying, to how I was getting back was all worked out. All I needed now was for time to pass faster. Because today was a Wednesday, first I went to Liege, and went to the infamous ‘Carre’ with all the other exchangers, and had a merry ol’ time. After which I took the train directly to Brussels, and had around 30 minutes to spare. Dinner was a Durum, and after which I made haste to get to the concert hall first, and get in line. The place was called ‘Palais des Beaux-Arts’ (Palace of beautiful arts). Couldn’t have been in a more appropriate venue, and as Mr Taylor pointed out himself, the acoustics here really were stunning. I had a seat on the second story of the building, and I had a pretty good view. But the way he just came out, and almost without any words, got straight into playing was a bit of a breath of fresh air in terms of pre-show action. Whether or
not this was for the better or worse I don’t know, but it was different. James is actually a really funny guy, and the way he said (around the interval time), “Alright people, I’ve been told we’re having an interval now, I don’t actually know why. All we do is wait backstage and watch the clock. But that’s the way it is” was a good comedic stab.
The rest of the show was just him playing all the sorts of songs you’d expect of him. Carolina in my mind, Mexico, shower the people, little baby James, How sweet it is, and all the rest. The highlight of this show for me was that he’s tell a little story of what each song was about before he played it, which was a cool little bit of fan knowledge. But the end of the show as awesome, and when most people would come back (if you were lucky) for an encore, James came back and played not one, not two, not three, but FOUR extra songs, to the extreme gratification of all of us lucky enough to be there. But all in all, an amazing showman, a great performer, and just
a nice guy. After this, in a state of mild hypnosis, I got my train from Brussels to Brain l’Alleud, where I met Ash and her host mum, and went back to their place where after a bit of chatting, absolutely crashed out.
5/5/2012
Atomium ! the world famous structure, reaching over 102 meters tall, built in the form of an Iron crystal, magnified hundreds of billions of times. Today it was another agonisingly early wake-up for a weekend, but we had to suck it up and get to Liege at 8:45. Typical rotary, we ended up leaving on our bus destined for Brussels by half past 9. It was hard not to imagine the extra possible minutes of sleep that could have been squeezed into this void of unused time. But on our way we were, and after a long drive, our first stop was the Atomium itself. This thing is massive, I mean it really is huge. Seeing there were windows at the top of the highest ball made for (after a few necessary exterior pictures), a fast forming line to the single elevator that when it was built (in 1958), was incredibly advanced in terms
of capacity and speed (20 persons, 5 vertical meters per second). The view was spectacular from up there, and I sympathise to whoever cleans the windows up there, because it was a long way down. There were a number of balls (yes, it took us a while to stop laughing too..) that you could walk inside, made possible by the number of discreetly placed elevators in the connecting rods between them. The all-important souvenir shop was downstairs, and the masses of over-priced generic statues of the Atomium flew off the shelves.
Our next stop was at “La Jardin du Roi” (The king’s garden), and is only open 15 days per year, that many people have to wait all day in line for to just get a look. We walked (somewhat guiltily) through the line, and got immediate entry into the garden which was, even to the boys, pretty danm beautiful. There were ferns from NZ there, and all sorts of different plants and trees from all around the world. Much of the trip was in a greenhouse-like tunnel that spanned for what seemed like forever, but eventually when we got out, it spanned out into what only can be
described as the passionate panoramic-photographers dream. The amount of work here was amazing, and they really do spend the rest of the year getting (and keeping !) this massive garden tidy for the very few days its open.
After this visit, it was the end of the day for some people, but those of us keen to keep on going went to liege, and off to the carre for a few. Little did I know how many things would turn for the worst though. At the beginning of the day, I dropped my phone on the ground. The result this has was that my battery fell out, and so when I turned my phone back on, the SIM lock engaged. The only way to unlock (and then be able to call or text people), is through a card that was sitting in my room back at home at the time, rendering my cell phone useless for the day. When I decided to head off from the carree that night, I took the same ol’ number 1 bus, that for EVERY other time I’d taken it went straight to Guillemins, the main train station in Liege (on a side note,
it was designed by the same man who designed the Sagrada Familla in Spain, Gaudi). However, this time when I took it, it went way the hell out into the opposite side of the city and finally came to a stop. With everyone else having got off already I asked the guy where Guillemins was. His reply was along the lines of, “Ah, that’s the other side of the road”. I’d taken the right number bus, from the right company, at the right time, at the right stop, but I was on the wrong side of the street. Donc, I had to wait for another ten minutes, plus the return trip to get to my station. Before I’d departed, I’d got my friend at the bar to text my host dad when I’d be arriving in Verviers, because I didn’t have a phone, and it was past the hour that the busses finished running. Basically I then missed the train that I wanted to get, resulting in me being around an hour and a half late for Alain, who was waiting there. But after an explanation of what had happened, and learning the fact that while he’d been waiting he
discovered how he could send e-mails off his phone, all was well and I got home.
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