J’ai déjà visité Bruxelles une fois, mais c’était assez vite. Je me rappelle seulement de splendide Grande place et du Manneken Pis :p Même s’il ne faisait pas beau on a bien profité en se promenant dans le centre qui  ne manque pas d’endroits très sympas. La Grand-Place de Bruxelles est mondialement renommée pour sa richesse ornementale. Elle est généralement considérée comme l’une des plus belles places du monde. Moi perso j’adore l’architecture dominant, j’adore quand elle est supérieure ! Voilà un endroit ou vous allez vous sentir tout d’un coup énormément petits.

Gradska vijećnica/l’hôtel de ville

Kraljevska galerija Svetog Huberta – najstarija (1847.) europska zatvorena/prekrivena galerija. Luksuzni butizi i slavne knjižare na jednom mjestu. Zaista kreljevski /Galerie royales de Saint-Hubert – les plus anciennes galeries marchandes couvertes d’Europe qui abritent des commerces de luxe et une célèbre librairie.

Knjižara Saint-Hubert specijalizirana za umjetnost. RAJ!/Librarie Saint-Hubert- une magnifique librerie d’art,  un endroit somptueux pour tous ceux qui aime l’art et l’architecture.

Extra skupa čokoladarnica, ali moram priznat da samo jedna kockica tako razgali nepce da brzo zaboravite da ste se iakd pitali “je li stvarno moguce da toliko vrijedi?”Pierre Marcolini!!!C’est cher mais ça vaut la peine!

Manneken Pis

Belgijski ponos – Tin Tin – lik iz jednog od najslavnijih stripova 20. stoljeća- Avanture Tin Tina- čiji je autor Georges Remi zvani Hergé. Kuriozitet- strip je preveden na više od 50 jezika! Les Aventures de Tintin font partie des plus célèbres et plus populaires bandes dessinées européennes du 20e siècle. Elles ont été traduites en une cinquantaine de langues. Georges Remi dit Hergé.

Muzej muzičkih instrumenata smješten je u ovoj prekrasnoj Art Nouveau građevini koja iz 1899. Sljedeći put ću ga definitivno posjetiti /Musée des instruments de musique qui date de 1899 – pour les passionés de L’Art Nouveau

Reklo bi se šeširić na glavi./Un drôle de chapeaux

Katedrala Sv. Mihaela i Sv. Gudule/Cathédrale Saints-Michel et Gudule de Bruxelles

Jedna divna adresa “sve za dom” Comptoir de Famille – 7, place du Grand Sablon

1, 50 euro – the best gaufre EVER!

Evo jedne super adrese za gurmane. Budžet poviše 15 eura./Une bonne adresse si vous êtes gourmands. Comptez plus que 15 euros pour un plat.

Et qui va ramener le chien? 2, Rue de Rollebeek

Je voudrais remercier Margot, You make fashion pour des idées cool que son article sur Bruxelles m’a donné

Portable urinals. 

Who knew?  Unfortunately, there are some things in life that one should not photograph, and dozens of men gathered around miniature towers of gray plastic just outside of the European Parliament qualifies as one such thing.

I don’t want to give the wrong impression.  Overall, Belgium is a very civilized country complete with buses, trams, a suitable metro and the Villo! (its answer to the Velo’V) although the last of these hasn’t really caught on yet.  Only in Brussels can you find a Neahaus, a Godiva and a Pierre Marcolini on the same corner (and only Marcolini would have a collection called “Ephemeral” and a line called “Conspiration” and yes, I am talking about chocolate once again).

Only in Belgium can you order girlie, fruity beers and not feel like an idiot (at least I did not feel like and idiot when I sat down to enjoy a cherry-flavored Belle-Vue Kriek after braving the “Soldes” of Rue Neuve with my hostess.  “Soldes,” you see, are sales, and with an H&M every twenty feet, the denizens of Brussels were out in droves.  My hostess warned me to brace myself for Bershka: “It’s like Primark and TigerTiger combined.”  For those of you unfamiliar with London nightlight and the horrors of Oxford St. on a Saturday morning, imagine the Walmart in South Philadelphia with a DJ; now replace all of the slightly normal clothing with pleather “playsuits,” neon leggings and sequined tank tops, knock 75% of these items off their racks and onto the floor and you’ve got Bershka’s during the soldes).

Nonetheless, I love my Belgian beer.  Actually, I love every beer my Belgian hostess has ever convinced me to try, especially those with fruit involved.  I’d say I was well on my way to becoming a beer connoisseur except for the fact that I was amazed—simply amazed—that proper Belgian bars serve beer in glasses that  correspond to their contents. 

“My glass says Kriek on it!” I exclaimed.

“Of course,” she replied, flourishing her peach St. Louis in a St. Louis glass.  Sure enough, the man at the next table, who was drinking Chimay had a glass that said Chimay.  The woman drinking Stella had a glass that said Stella Artois.

“My flat mate used to drink Stella out of a can,” I lamented. 

My hostess just shook her head.  Evidently one who associates with boys who drink Stella from a can (and spent ten minutes gaping in wide-eyed fascination at the spoils on offer at de Bier Tempel) has a lot to learn about beer.

Chocolate, however, is a different story.  My hostess’s mother prepared a lovely dinner—the loveliest I’ve had since coming abroad—on Friday night, complete with melon and prosciutto, a spinach salad, fish and a six course dessert.  Diligent travel writer and gracious houseguest that I am, I made sure to avail myself of all six courses: fresh strawberries, a raspberry tart, a chocolate éclair, a little chocolate cake topped with a cappuccino flavored macaroon (which, in an unusual display of self-restraint, I split with my former flat mate) a small, individual-sized square of Cote d’Or dark chocolate and a small but not-so-obviously-individually-sized “tablet” (because “tablet” sounds somehow more sophisticated than bar) of Citron Gingembre .

The Citron Gingembre was, without a doubt, the most heavenly chocolate I have ever tasted.  I awoke on Saturday with one and only one thought in mind: to find the little lemon ginger tablets and purchase as many as my suitcase could hold. 

That and tour La maison du chocolat.  For a bit of variety.

La maison, unfortunately, left a bit to be desired.  They give you a little cookie dipped in chocolate when you buy your ticket but it was milk chocolate, and we all know how I feel about milk chocolate.  Also, the cookie was stale.  The collections themselves centered upon a large dug out canoe and a collection of tins featuring photographs of the Belgian royal family.  The demonstration, if you can call it that, featured a pubescent looking “chocolate master” and a collection of three rather terrifying chocolate “teddies.”  I did learn a thing or two about how to make pralines (the European kind, not the candy-coated pecans of New Orleans) but I don’t think I’ll be launching my own line of “ephemeral conspirations” any time soon.

Fortunately, the local grocery store made up for all that La maison du chocolat lacked.      

Picture Walmart again.  A super Walmart, actually, and not a particularly nice one, just so you can get an idea of the average Belgian super market.  I’m not talking Corné or any of the fancy Chocolatier artisanal shops which line the Galeries Royales or the streets of the Sablon, just your regular, run of mill supermarket.

Picture an end cap of Kinder Bueno—child’s play chocolate—but as you round the corner, to find yourself surrounded by chocolate on both sides, close your eyes and thank God you’ve only a day left in Brussels, because you’ll have gained ten pounds by the time you return to London if you stay much longer.

 Beware.  There are crazy American tourists in the chocolate aisle.  Some, like the international students we encountered from Delaware, are so shocked by the nirvana-like experience of the Belgian supermarket that they just stand there blithering “Avocado chocolate?  Thyme?  Lavender?”  They can’t count their Euros fast enough. 

Others, having gone at least forty five minutes since their last fix, scour the shelves like ravenous wolves.  Their cries of, “Lemon ginger!  Lemon ginger!  Where’s the lemon ginger?” echo through the aisles.  Sometimes, when they at last find the long-coveted Cote D’Or Citron Gingembre (and a coupon to boot!), they get so excited that they forget this is a regular Belgian supermarket, not a tourist attraction, and they subject their poor hostess to ten minutes of photographing chocolate. 

Not that I would know anything about that.

And what a Summer Collection it is: for starters, the entire shop is framed by an arcade of Doric columns: tall and gray, they mean business.  Surrounding the door are a series of marble pilasters, in three different colors, which would be more than enough to send me off into a fit of architectural ecstasy even without the gold leaf and glass paneled ceiling.

Given the excessive trimmings, I’m nearly hyperventilating by the time I pull out my camera, and the contents of the Summer Collection 2010 are like nothing I’ve ever seen: rich chocolately browns, bright and summery “sorbet” hues in pomegranate and raspberry, a limited edition “fusion” of strawberry and banana and finally a delicate array of pearls in white, milk and dark “chocolate.”

I decide to treat myself to a little something.  A girl who manages to get on and off the bus at the right stops deserves a little something.  Not only that but I also located the tourist information office just minutes after arriving in downtown Brussels (the real one this time) and spent the afternoon dutifully reading the English gallery guides at the Musée de La Ville de Bruxelles. 

I even tried my hand at a bit of guerilla journalism: taking photographs in an exhibit where they were expressly forbidden, which qualifies me as something of a revolutionary as far as I’m concerned.  This caused the historic preservationist in me to have a small personality crisis and caused the guard to come tumbling after me, hissing, “I see you take your camera!  No pictures!  No pictures!” 

I’m not sure how she knew to reprimand me in English, or how she saw me take my camera out of my bag—I was being discreet— but the humiliation was enough to ensure that I won’t be doing that again.

Instead, I asked a guard—a different guard—where I might find the subject of the exhibition.

“Manneqen-Pis?” he asked.

“Oui, si vous plez, Manneqen-Pis” (I’m getting quite good at this whole French thing).

When the lady at the tourist information office told me the Musée de La Ville de Bruxelles museum had “mannequins in traditional costumes” I decided that the lace museum could wait.  Traditional costumes trump lace any time in my book, and so it was with great excitement that I made my way to the third floor of the Musée de La Ville de Bruxelles museum.

I have since learned that “mannequins” and the “Manneqen-Pis” are two very different things.  Precisely, the Manneqen-Pis is a statue of a naked boy taking a piss.  He is a symbol of freedom according to the mayor of Brussels (which is why perhaps Belgium has been free for less than two centuries; the Belgians, I think, would be better served by a cracked bell enshrined in bullet proof glass or a statue carrying a torch and calling the “tired,” the “poor” and all those “huddled masses yearning to breathe free” to her shores, provided of course that they don’t look like foreigners).

The Manneqen-Pis, I learned, lies a few blocks from the Grand Place.  I decided that since I couldn’t take a picture of the many replica Manneqen-Pis in the exhibition that I had better go take a look at the real thing, but first: a little something from the Summer Collection 2010.

After much deliberation, I selected a scoop of Belgian chocolate, a dallop of limited edition pomegranate sorbet and a spoonful of the aforementioned chocolate pearls.  Häagen Dazs Brussels is a beautiful thing.

Ce 8 mai, on reste à Bruxelles. Demain, comme cadeau de fête des mères (en Belgique du moins), ce sera Bruges. Dimanche, avant de partir, on profitera encore d’une longue journée à Bruxelles, pour finir de découvrir la ville.

Alors vendredi 8 mai, visite de Bruxelles vraiment complète: le pentagone en entier, la Grand Place, le Manneken Pis, etc. Dimanche, il restera à voir le quartier européen et notamment le Berlaymont, la Maison Antoine et le parc du Cinquantenaire.

Voilà quelques photos des visites ‘en famille’ de Bruxelles:

Devant le Parlement européen :

Devant le Palais royal :

Devant le musée Jacques Brel :

Avec le Manneken Pis, déguisé à l’occasion de la Gay pride :

A l’occasion de la fête de l’Iris (fête de Bruxelles-Capitale), des animations étaient prévues dans toute la ville ce week end : des concerts, des DJs, du cirque, etc. Une planche de BD géante (la plus grande du monde !) était installée au milieu de la grand Place :

Malgré un ciel gris et beaucoup de vent, nous avons quand même eu droit à nos gaufres :

Une derrière photo (on profite de pouvoir être pris tous les deux !) dans les Galeries Royales :