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The Botanique and downtown
There is a beautiful garden and a lot of cultural events are held at the Botanique. Alright, so I've gotten some anxious emails from those eagerly anticipating my next installment (now I know how JK Rowling feels, kinda), so here it is... in two parts; I hope it doesn't disappoint! Sorry for the long wait, I've been crazy busy with school final projects and rehearsals for the theatre performance I will be in at the end of May!
Yes, that's right, spring break in France is 2, count 'em TWO weeks long! First leg of the trip, Brussels Belgium to visit my friend Laetitia who was an exchange student to the US when I was a junior in high school. And what a perfect way to see Brussels, with my own personal tour guide! Here's what we packed into 5 days:
Friday: Got to Brussels and did the tourist-y thing. Saw the King's palace, the central square with some grand governmental buildings (I think that's what they were...?), more churches and cathedrals, the Mannekin Pis (the famous fountain of a little boy peeing), the Botanique, and of course, got some Belgian beer at the "Delirium" which has over 2,000 different types of beers.
Saturday: Museum day! Went to the Musée de Beaux Arts of
Brussels (which has a lot of Magritte paintings... they will be finishing a whole separate museum just for his work sometime this year), then the MIM (Musée des Instruments de Musique), and then I went off by myself to go see the Atomium which is a huge structure of an atom that was built for the 1958 Exhibition that was held in Brussels after WWII to promote peace among the nations. There was also an event going on in the park hosted by the Circus school of Brussels, so we got to see an acrobatics act and a burlesque troupe... for free!
Saturday night was the "Bal des Vampires" for the Belgium International Fantasy Film Festival in the Taxis building (no, it's not a taxi garage... from what I understand it actually used to be a central hub for the European postal service during the Habsburg period during the 16th century and now it is used for cultural events). It was the best non-halloween costume party I've been to! Some of the costumes were pretty intense and detailed, and even mine... which I had put together that night from a mask and some wings... went
The MIM
Take note of the beautiful architectural style: Art Nouveau, which was "born" in Belgium. over pretty well! I wore the mask on the back of my head and the wings on my front, and walked backwards some of the night and creeped some people out when they thought I was staring at them. My mask even got interviewed by a Brussels television station! When I heard the voices I turned around and freaked the reporter out, who then asked me about my costume *she pats herself on the back for giving an interview in French*. We danced danced danced until about 4 am, whew.
Sunday: Field trip to Namur! It's a small town about an hour away from Brussels. We went to the Citadel, and I got the chance to take a mini-tour of a town that hasn't been as commercialized and touristy as Brussels. And of course, we tried a Belgian beer of Namur.
Monday: I took a Kara day and took a train to Bruges, Belgium which is called the Venice of Northern Europe because it is also a city built on and around a canal, basically. It was very pretty but extremely touristy... but I did get some amaaaazing chocolate and had a relaxing day just exploring the small
"Brussel-ization"
Belgium's other well-known architectural style is "Bruxellization" where a historical building or another decent looking edifice is torn down or made ugly... Voilà, I give you.... Bruxellization! town. And everyone speaks dutch there, which is kind of a blend between german and English so it was interesting to listen to conversations and be able to pick out things that sounded like English but didn't make sense at all.
Tuesday: Last full day in Brussels... we went to a museum about the 1958 Exhibition, and it would have been a lot more interesting if I were say, an architect, but as I am no architect... a lot of the technical explications (mind you, in the three official languages of Brussels: French, German, and Dutch... none of which are ENGLISH) were lost on me. That night we went to see a play called "Garde à Vue" which we mistakenly thought to be a comedy, but alas it was not. It felt more like we were watching a film actually, but I did enjoy it quand même.
Wednesday: Catch the train to meet my parents in Paris... TO BE CONTINUED!
Fin of part 1...
Wednesday
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