Belgian Weekend: Canals, Chocolate, and Pissing-Boys

---

Just spent a weekend in Belgium with the International Club and it was great. I love traveling in Europe...the national border looked like a toll station on the New Jersey Turnpike and took half to time to traverse...hooray for the European Union and the era of the Schengen Visa! (Which permits you to travel freely, without hassel or red tape, between the core European countries which ratified the Schengen Zone Treaty). OK, I made up the name of the treaty but it's something close...you get the point.

Preface: a quick geo-anthropological lesson

Belgium is a small, northern European country situated on the coast between France and the Netherlands. It is known for: beer, chocolate, lace, and being the capital of the European Union. (But there are lots of other great things to discover too!)

It has two official languages - a Belgian dialect of French and a dialect of Dutch (Neerlandais). These languages are widely understood by much of the population, expecially in a metropolitan capitol like Brussels where everything is bilingual. (Schoolchildren usually start learning their second language around the age of 10, and their third language is English.) However, the northern (10?) provinces are the 'Dutch' speaking part, while French is the lingua franca of the southern half of the country. Bruges is Dutch-speaking, while Liege and the Ardennes Forest region are French. Brussels (Bruxelles) is right smack in the middle. According to some Belgians there is a decided rivalry between the two regions, because the french-speaking Belgians are (supposedly) somewhat supercilious in their comportment towards their northern countrymen...French being the midieval court-language, the Dutch dialect of the north was looked-down upon as 'primitive' in the past and retains a hint of 'commonness' today. I think it depends on whom you talk to. I have a Belgian friend (first-language: Dutch) who explained all this to me but who does not feel herself to be the slightest bit inferior!!!

One other interesting thing is that our trip took place the same weekend as the national elections...and the result of the election was that the more liberal party will probably take control of the Parliament with a coalition of other parties. The good (and historic!) news is that, for the first time in a while, the far-right racist political party did NOT gain any ground in the cities. This reversed a longtime trend of growth among the urban centers, which have their problems just as does any city...

The extreme-right party is actually the largest in the country electorally (I was shocked to learn this!) and thus the parties of the center-right, center, and center-left parties are compelled to form awkward coalitions in order to counterbalance this far-right. These recent elections saw continued growth in the rural areas for the far-right, but luckily they do not have an absolute majority- just a relative majority. The party receives about 35%!o(MISSING)f the national vote, if I remember correctly. Surprising for a nation that harbors the European Union, epitome of intercultural exchange and national integration!

Bruges / Brugge

So anyway, on to the subject of this blog. 3 and 1/2 hours on the bus and we arrived in the lovely city of Bruges in northern Belgium, not far from the English Channel. Renowned as "The Venice of the North", Bruges is blessed with a series of interconnecting canals that permit you to travel around the city in boats. It's not quite the equivalent of the ancient Tenochtitlan of the Aztec Empire or the watery maze that is Venice, but the bridges and waterways are picturesque and it makes quite an alluring stop for tourists who flock there by the hundreds. It is marked for its characteristic brick architecture, the style being quite unusual for the era because the material was taken from local quarries/brick-making factories. I found the style to be less ornate than other Gothic or Renaissance cities that I've visited in Europe, decidedly more prosaic because of the preponderance of brick, but also warm and inviting and a little more down-to-earth than elsewhere...kind of like the Belgian people, in fact!

Bruges only appeared in the late middle ages, having been founded by a count who decided to built his palace on the site, strategically placed near a junction of two rivers flowing towards the sea. Subsequent fortifications (a double-ring of city walls); the easy shipping of goods via canals; and a thriving textiles trade soon propelled the fledging city to prosperity and international reclaim. Bruges is the celebrated (adopted) home of Hans Memling, a German who settled in the city and became to Bruges what Rubens is to Antwerp. The Hospitaalmuseum Hopital Saint-Jean - for which he painted a celebrated altarpiece - todays houses a collection of his works. Another excellent stop for art-lovers is Groeninge Museum, which holds a collection of early-Flemish art (Flemish 'Primatives') who lived and worked in Bruges between the 14th and the 20th centuries. Some of these celebrated artists are Jan van Eyck, Gerard David, Hugo van der Goes and Hans Memling. After studying all of the artists in 'Art History: Renaissance to Modern Art' class last year I REALLY wanted to visit this museum but...alas, not enough time. We only spent 6 hours in Bruges when in reality you could pass a whole weekend there happily. I suppose I'll just have to go back someday... ; )

However, while we were there we took a 2-hour guided tour of the southern half of the city (which is not very big) and then I kicked around with a couple french friends for the last couple hours. Here is what I saw:

*the Beguinage (convent/sanctuary for the women of Bruges, especially those widowed during the Crusdades)
*Palais provencial
*Basilique de Saint-Sang (which houses one of the few Michelangelo statues outside of Italy; carried there by a wealthy Belgian merchant after the family that commissioned it could not pay for it!)
*Basilique Saint-Saveur
*Maison ter Beurze
*Brasserie de Halve Maan (Half Moon Brewery)
*Minnewaterpark (translates roughly to Lovers' Lake)
*Katelijnepoort (one of the ancient city gates, now-defunct because the city walls were torn down, but which used to control the passage of boats into and out of the city)
*the Burg (central square, which is huge and contains the oldest building in the city, built entirely out of wood)
*a boat tour of the canals with a guide who alternated between English-French-Dutch (Neerlandais)...quite amusing and titillating that I could understand some of each language!
*the flea market (a tourist-trap specializing in cheap blue&white pottery, lace, and...junk)
*LOTS of other buildings/statues/landmarks/markets/churches that I either can't remember or don't have time to recount...so go yourself if you get a chance!

Today the principal industry is probably tourism, thanks to the beautiful buildings, the romantic atmosphere, and the warm welcome of its citizens, but the chocolate and lace industries are also in evidence, as well as the last remaining brewing-house ('De Halve Maan' brasserie). Exactly like its reputation, beer is Belgium is cheap, varied, and really good, so a local brew is not hard to find. The microbrew that is made in Bruges is family-run and a couple hundred years old, and you can take tours of the brewery as well as partake of the product...something I unfortunately did not have time to do but intend to do next time I return!

Bruxelles / Brussels

After our too-short visit to Bruges we hopped back on the bus and drove an 1 1/2 hours south to Brussels, which is the political capital of Belgium as well as the headquarters of the European Union. MUCH larger than Bruges, Brussels has a metropolitan feel and international flavor that mixes the old with the new and welcomes all types. You never know to what nationality the person next to you might belong...the EU institutions attracts all types to the city!

Our youth hostel was located outside the old city walls in the eastern side of the city, in a Muslim neighborhood that was absolutely DEAD because of Ramadan. It only took 25 minutes to reach the Grande Place (center city) though, so on Saturday night a big group of us walked it, in search of a 'typically Belgian restaurant' that wasn't too expensive...

Well, as with all big group excursions, that took forever and the coordination was impossible. But eventually I sat down to dinner with 2 Belgians and 2 Mexican girls and we had an excellent meal of Charbonade flamande, a beef dish in a creamy beer sauce that is a national specialty. It was excellent! The Hoegaarden beer before was also good...thanks to the Pub Italia in Ottawa this summer I knew that this was a beer I would actually LIKE...!

After dinner was a tour of the central square at night, which was gorgeous (and filled with Spanish tourists, for some reason!) and a visit to the Mannekinpis. The Mannekinpis is a small statue of a little boy peeing into a water-fountain...and for some reason it is emblematic of the city! I bought a silver spoon with my own minature boy on it as a souvenir. While 'admiring' the fountain we were accosted (in a very friendly way) by a very-tipsy 50-something Belgian man who started asking us if we liked the music playing from an apartment window above the fountain. The music was wierd- kind of American 70s era mixed with some more modern pop/sing-song/Disneyland music- and we couldn't understand why he was so interested. He told us he was polling tourists to see what kind of music they liked...I could only reply that it depends on the time of day... corny 70s music might work at midnight but certainly not at 8am!!! By the end of the conversation we realized that he was in fact the OWNER of said music-projecting apartment and was trying to poll people to appease the objections of his neighbors. I can only imagine their complaints, living next to this guy and listening to that 24/7...ahhh!!!

So it takes all types. Humans are such intersting creatures, aren't they?

Wow, this blog is WAY to long so I'm going to resume my EXTREMELY busy and awesome Sunday in the following way: in brief, I spent it with my newly-acquired french friend Lucie (REALLY nice and we had a blast!) doing the following things:

*Cathedrale de Sainte Catherine /St. Katelijn
*the Begijnhof church (old monastery) where we gave a confused Belgian directions to his own polling-station!
*the Bourse / Beursv(financial center and beautiful building)
*Place de Monnaie with requisite memorial statue
*Colonne de Congres and Tomb of the Unknown Soldier
*Parc de Bruxelles (ancient hunting ground of the dukes)
*Palais Royale and the Place Royale
*Marche - outdoor market
*Cathedrale Saint-Michel (highly-celebrated, STUNNING stained glass and a famous Rubens painting located inside, built upon Roman foundations dating to c. 200 AD
*Gallerie de la Reine (covered shopping gallery, very ornate and LOTS of chocolate and lace shops!)
*'Typical Beligian cuisine': lunch under the awnings of a restaurant on the Rue des Bouchers, a tiny, twisting pedestrian street chocker-block with restaurants. I had 'Moules et frites' (mussels and french fries) which is the CLASSIC Brussels specialty- a whole bowl-ful of them for only 12 euros! (salade and coffee included) Not bad...
*Musee du chocolat (yum...)
*Musee national du brasserie (national beer museum) located in the cellar of the Brewers' Guild House on the Grande Place...an ancient and dignified institution where the solemn induction process and oath-swearing is accompanied by...a mug of beer! Surprise surprise. I never knew there was so much to learn about beer! It is truly a national pasttime...
*Musee de la ville de Bruxelles (all about the history of the city, from Roman times to today)
*several visits to the marchand des gaufres (the waffle-maker stands). You've never had a waffle until you've tried one of these...thick, fluffy, cake-like waffles loaded with strawberries and dripping in dark-chocolate...can you say heaven???

I think I'll stop there. You can't get any better than those waffles, so I'm not going to try. Suffice it to say, you need to go to Belgium in person and taste one yourself. And that's an order.

Over and out in Paris.

---