who had kindly agreed to put us up (and put up with us) over the long weekend. May 9th being Europe Day it made sense to go to the capital of the EU to check out the scene and celebrate as a true Europeist (there is some doubt over whether this word exists...)
We got to Brussels Friday lunchtime and Lucy took us to her flat which is a stone throw's away from Madou metro station and the European Commission building she works in. After lunch we walked around central Brussels, a mix of the old, the new, a building site and hypermodern architecture. A bit of a mad urbanist's pet project it seems.
In no particular order, that day we visited the famous Grand' place and explored the little streets that run round it,
saw the Mannequin Pis - (legend : a small boy gets lost in Brussels in the 17th. Father goes mad with grief and pledges to donate to the city a statue of the boy in whichever position he is found. At least he wasn't taking a dump) - who was today sporting a red jacket
walked through parks, visited the European quarter, where the modern, futuristic even European Parliament and some Commission buildings are,
visited the amazing steel and glass shopping galeries,
went round the cathedral dedicated to Ste Gudule.
And of course drank copious amounts of beer: Kriek which is cherry flavoured, framboise which is raspberry flavoured, Jupiler which is lager. Water costs roughly three times as much as beer.
We went for fries at a famous Belgian outlet, la baraque à frites Chez Antoine on the place Jourdan next to the European quarter.
We met a couple of guys in the queue for cornet de frites sauce andalouse (spicy, vaguely cocktail sauce with a kick) , Vince and Nico , who live and work in the Brussels area. We met up with them and their friend later. They were chilling out in the vast, deserted expanse that surrounds the European Commission. We joined them
then went for beer and then had a few smokes near the European Parliament. Poland, England, France, Belgium and Spain having a laugh outside the EP on May 9th: the Europhile in me was weeping from so much symbolism!
