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Published: September 5th 2008
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Once I arrived in Brussels, Kevin and Claudette drove me around a bit so that I could see a few things. But before I get into that- I was surprised by how much of everything was in English. For those of you who don't know, there is a division in Belgium between the French speaking South and the Dutch speaking north. And there is definitely a divide.
We went to Waterloo, which is where Napoleon was defeated. The people have made this huge hill, and at the top there is a gold lion that watches over the city. It's interesting to say the least.
When we got to their house, I noticed that we were surrounded by corn fields. But the people here don't eat the corn on the cob like we do- I'm thinking a little strange. And there are cows everywhere. They both laughed at me quite a bit because I was surprised to see so much farm land that close to the city.
That night, I met Bebe, Kenzoe, Denzel, Bunny, and Pluscat. They are so adorable! Bebe is Kevin's cat. Pluscat came from a city in Britany called Pluscat. Denzel is a bluehaired little devil with yellow
eyes, and he is named after Kevin's favorite actor, Denzel Washington. Un Lapin is the French word for a bunny. So they called their French rabbit Bunny. And I don't know the story behind Kenzoe, except that he doesn't like being alone.
Later I met Kevin's girlfriend Sophie, and her brother Beignoir (not sure on the spelling- sorry!).
On Saturday, we toured Brussels. We went to the Place de ville. Every big European city has a main square at it's center. Brussels' is said to be one of the most beautiful in the world because of all the gold on the buildings. We even rubbed a golden statue for good luck.
We had lunch in the most popular place in town. There is this little alleyway, that is more narrow than Bull St. just past Derenne, and it has tables on both sides of the street for the people to sit outside. There are placards everywhere with the "carte de jour" or the menu of the day. The waiters stand in the middle of the alley to stop everyone that passes to try and convince them to stop for lunch at their restaurant. I had the carte du jour, or
the menu of the day, which included escargots, moules et frites (mussels and fries- what Belgium is famous for), and cake, and to drink we had a rose wine, beer (Jupiler), and coffee. It was delicious and definitely a learning experience.
After lunch we visited the Palais Royale and the Palais de Justice. The King was not in Brussels at this time, if he had been the Belgian flags would have been flying. The Palais de Justice was being renovated when we visited it. I was surprised by how much graffiti was everywhere. On the trains, the metro, and the trams, and on the buildings, even the Palais de Justice!
There are waffle stands everywhere, like you would find a hotdog stand in New York. It was really funny to see people try to eat waffles with mountains of creme and fruit on top of it, while walking down the street.
That evening we went to the Atonium which is a huge atom that was built for the 1958 world fair.
On Sunday we visited some chateaux around Brussels. The southern part of Belgium, the Wallonie region, belonged to France during the reign of Louis 14th or the Sun King.
He had a small palace built in this region, and it is called the Chateau de la Hulpe. It is beautiful and the grounds are amazing. The building is closed but the public is free to roam around. There is even a farm on the property. Along the winding road leading up to the palace are pieces of art work by an artist named Jean-Michel Folon.
Monday morning, Kevin had to return to work, so Claudette and I found the mall and the Collegiale de Sainte-Gertrude in Nivelles. A collegiale is bigger than a church, but smaller than a cathedral.
The collegiale was bombed during WWII, so it has been altered quite a bit.
On Tuesday, we went to the Le Paradisio du Parc which is a habitat for mostly birds, but some animals as well. We saw all types of birds, and there were lots of babies! They have a small aquarium with penguins and seals, and they even had a baby seal! It was really quite nice, and Belgium is beautiful when it isn't raining.
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Pat Beatty
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Photos
Christa, you take beautiful photos, and they make me want to come to Brussels,and see it all. You can see all the history there. Hope you enjoy your time there and see all you can. Oh yeah, don't forget you went there for school. Pat