With new tires, our old cranky Seat Ibiza (now made trusty after R's miraculous fix) drove us through the French countryside up to the Ardennes mountains in northern France. After 650km, we arrived at Luxembourg the capital city of the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg, the 2nd smallest country in the EU, after Lichtenstein. Luxembourg city sits high up, with an unforgettable skyline dotted with towers, bridges, and old fortification walls.
Each city we visited has its own beat and charm. I couldn't help myself but take hundreds of photos, of people, things, and places I saw, so when I'm 82, I have a visual memory of what I did in my first year of living in Europe.
On this trip, I was seduced by the colors, shapes, designs..and it was nice learning about different customs in each country. Select pictures from our trip, starting with Luxembourg, then Brussels. I'll post more stories and pictures about the rest of the trip in later blog updates.
LUXEMBOURG, LUXEMBOURG
BRUSSELS, BELGIUM
Belgians really love comic strips and cartoons. Evidence of this? Tintin hails from Brussels..and Brussels has a museum dedicated to comic strips. I thought only one worked on a comic strip, but at the museum, I learned that it's a team effort. One person to draw, another person to write the text, another to market the comic strips. Also, warning to Americans! The Smurfs are NOT an American invention. Peyo, a Belgian artist, first drew the Schtroumpfs in the 1950s as part of another comic strip.
Hanging out with Tintin, Lucky Luke, Asterix in the Comic Strip Museum.
Mannekin pis is soooooooo much smaller than I expected. But his likeness is happily pissing on everything, everywhere, including here at a Leonidas chocolate shop. While in Brussels, we tried the famous Belgium fries at Fritlande. Unfortunately, they were NOT the best fries I've ever tasted. The best fries I've ever had were actually in Haarlem, NL but the friterie was closed on Monday when we were in Haarlem :( But we did have really yummy Japanese and then delicious Thai in Brussels. We also stumbled on a great Lebanese shop selling platefuls of Lebanese pastries and sweets. Would you believe I didn't try any Belgian chocolate while I was in Belgium, but drank and very much enjoyed Duvel, a delicious Belgian beer?
At the Grand-Place (or Great Square), Brussels' hotel de ville is all lit up with a special light and music display. In Brussels, they speak French..and they celebrate Christmas! On our first night, on our walk to the big market square, we followed the lights and Christmas music we heard which led us to this.
The color, music, and dancing lights brought me Christmas cheer...and made me feel like a child again..in awe of possibilities. R and I were lucky to have caught the light display as the lighting engineers were rehearsing the show 2 days ahead of the opening of the Christmas Market on the Grand-Place.
No comments:
Post a Comment