L'automne dans Bruxelles

For the past few weekends, I've been staying in Brussels and enjoying the wonderful autumn weather we've been having!

One weekend I went to St. Gilles, which is a region of Brussels that is quite nice and has a lot of Art Nouveau architecture. I visited the Horta Museum and then went to the Musée d'Art Fantastique for the Festival de la Biére Fantastique. My uncle had suggested this beer festival to me...and it was quite interesting, to say the least. Basically, it was this unusual art museum that was in a small 3-storey house, and they called it a beer festival because there were some beer comics and on the second floor you received a glass of beer. It was definintely something unique to go to in Brussels! On the Sunday, I went across the street to the Hippodrome to this huge rummage sale that was being held there. The Hippodrome is this fenced-in area that has forest, pavement and some old buildings. I was told that it is the sight of some major parties throughout the year, but so far, the rummage sale was the only thing we have seen happen in this area.

On Saturday of the following weekend, I went to Ludger's grandmother's house for the day. She lives out in the country on a huge piece of land that had apple trees, pear trees, chestnut trees, and walnut trees, and her house is surrounded by farms. Ludger's grandma served us a delicious lunch and then we spent the rest of the day doing some yard work for her and cutting her grass using the tractor lawn mower - SO much fun! The great thing about going to Ludger's grandmother's house was that she didn't speak any English so it was a great opportunity for me to practice my French. That evening, we went to Magali's house and ordered Thai food for dinner. On Sunday, I went to the Boisfort Market to get some fruits, vegetables and cheese. They have it every Sunday and it's only about a thirty minute walk to get there (or a 10 minute tram ride). After the market, I headed over to the Grand Place, had a cup of coffee and walked by the Manneken Pis...just to see what outfit he was wearing! :)

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