Art Nouveau and an Environmental Festival

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One of the positive things that came out of our 5 hour layover in Barcelona was a chat with a Belgian man who mentioned that Belgium considers itself the capital of Art Nouveau. Since we had really enjoyed Gaudi (Spain's art nouveau), we decided we would check out some of the buildings near us on Sunday when most sites were closed.

Just down the hill from our apartment was a huge market in the square. There were trucks selling every conceivable bit of deliciousness. There was a rotisserie chicken truck, a fish truck, multiple cheese and sausage trucks, and produce galore. Plus there was a beautiful outdoor plant and flower market. Unfortunately we made the classic mistake of deciding to pick up snacks on our way back, at which point it was all gone.

We wandered the streets and enjoyed taking in the architecture and finally managed to find the Horta musuem, Brussel's Gaudi. It has some enviable work hours: 2-5:30pm so we'd have to work in a visit later in the week. On the way we found a park for Delaney to play in. She's going down slides on her own now (though with a look of shock each time). I'll post the video, but you'll have to turn your monitors sideways (doh!).

After her afternoon nap, we headed over to the park to check out the Green Festival they were setting up the day before. There were hordes of people, organic food stands, loads of inflatables for the slightly bigger kids, and live music. There were even people zip-lining off the top of Brussel's Arc d'Triomphe. The band we heard was actually very good (even if they were prone to yelling incoherently in French sometimes).

We grabbed another round of frites at Maison Antoine, Brussel's oldest friterie, on the way home. We went with curry sauce this time and it was yet another delicious gut bomb. For dinner Pat brought home Ecuadorian food: sheep in gravy with rice and an avocado salad and a whole fish with plantains, rice, and salad. Delish (though strangely similar to our African dinner).

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