Belgium and it's oddities (compared to Canada)

First, sorry to any Belgians who read this who do not find this stuff a little off, but there are some really odd things that I've notice and have to vent a little.

When we left our apartment on Saturday, there were no lights in the hallways, so we found the stairs and felt our way down all 5 flights. No power on the staircases, no emergency lighting, nothing at all. We live on the fifth floor of the building. In all buildings here, when you walk in, you are on floor 0, then when you walk up a flight, you are on 1...was confusing at first, but we're used to it now. There is no sprinkler system in the building at all. I have no idea if the smoke detector works or not, but even if it did, and we had to leave the building, we would have to find our way to the stairs and feel our way down - with hundreds of others in the dark - I smell chaos! The regulations here for building permits is much more lenient than at home.

Dylan and I were supposed to go to Brugge on Saturday morning but when we arrived at the train station at 11am and found out that the trains were on strike, so we couldn't go. We decided to walk around the city centre and take in the sights instead. Strikes are quite popular here - Dylan has run into 3 train strikes since coming in September. This was a 24hr strike - to get their point across, then it's done. When we were walking downtown, there was a huge parade with people in uniforms carrying balloons and signs and we asked someone what it was about. It was the union strike parade. The workers of the unions want to make peace with the distinction between the Dutch and French. It wasn't a government strike - was members of the unions who represented the different cultures who wanted uniformity. Interesting for us....unions aren't allowed to pick and choose their members at home - everyone is able to join the union no matter what their language, beliefs or religion.

If there is construcion or deliveries happening in the city, there is nothing blocking off traffic or the sidewalks. Last week I was walking to the store and there was a truck delivering bricks to one of the homes along the road with a small crane. I kept on walking along the sidewalk and suddenly had to duck to get out of the way of the swinging arm with the crate of bricks on the end of it. I'm serious, I was walking straight into a wall of bricks and noone was telling me not to. In Canada, there would be orange cones blocking off the sidewalk, or at least someone standing there telling people to cross the road...not here...we walked right into the middle of the chaos. The guy just smiled at me, stopped the swinging arm and let me pass - Thanks Buddy!

Windows are being replaced in one of the buildings on the main street where we live. This is a very large building, so there have been deliveries of glass panes for a week now. When you walk up to it, the truck is blocking the sidewalk, so you have to walk around, but there is nothing telling you to walk on the other side or caution or anything. You just have to be aware and watch out for the flying windows. Also, the delivery men usually don't stop when they see you approaching....it is just assumed that you 'watch out'!

There are no stop signs in Brussels. Well, this may not be true, but I haven't seen any yet. Instead of a stop sign, the right has the right away. So, if you are approaching a side street to your right, you have to caution because they will zip right through without looking. When we cross the street, pedestrians are supposed to have the right away (I think), but that doesn't happen here....you take your life in your hands crossing...always. Roundabouts also replace stop signs here. They are chaotic roundabouts!!! It is pretty scary seeing the tiny cars speed into the roundabout without looking and pull out in front of others to get to their destination. So, no stop signs or stops at all for that matter - just drive and yield to the right when you feel like it.

I'm not sure if I've mentioned this before, but there is no tax added on purchases in Belgium. Taxes are already added into the price on all goods (some products aren't taxed, like children's clothing). When you go to a store and buy something for $4.50 - it is $4.50...I love this! No guessing and trying to add the tax in your head - the price is the price - bottom line! Products also don't sell for .99....I mean instead of something being $9.99 here - it would be $10......alot of the prices are just rounded to the dollar.

Bathrooms: Ok, this totally deserves it's own post, but I'll try to cover all the oddities about them. First of all, Dylan and I went to Subway last week. It was the first one we saw here in Brussels and it just opened a few weeks ago. It was delicious - the same taste as at home, but when I asked where the toilet was (if you say washroom or bathroom here, they look at you weird and think you want to get a shower...I think toilet is a little vulgar, but I'm trying to remember to say it), there wasn't one. No toilet....it was Subway sandwiches and there was no toilet - I couldn't believe it. This was the only place where this happened, but I am still a little shocked about it.
I know that I've mentioned that you have to pay to use the bathroom in most places - fast food, metro, train station, shopping centres...mostly everywhere....price ranges from 30 to 50 cents - I'm ok with this now! There is usually an attendant there who keeps the bathroom clean (or bearable), so not too bad. In some places, they pass you some paper towel and have gum, hairspray and other stuff for you to use (for a tip of course)! FYI, the picture above is a toilet in Milan, Italy. I haven't seen any like this in Belgium yet, but I'm sure they exist - I just added it here because it goes along with the theme of this post.

I have NEVER seen a hot water tap in a bathroom here! When you wash your hands, you have to use cold water - there is no other choice. At home, there has to be hot water or you wouldn't be allowed to serve customers. The hand washing at home is an important part of going to the bathroom (I mean Toilet)....and yet, they do not need to provide customers with hot water here or even warm water for that matter.

In most places there is one bathroom for men and women. It is not unusual for me to be in the bathroom with a man's urinal next to me or a man using it for that matter. There is a stall with a door and a urinal next to it for both sexes. In some places, there are 2 rooms - a women's and men's toilet, then a sink shared between the two bathrooms. This is very common here, even in nice restaurants!

The communal urinal is interesting to see in the middle of the street. Men - the world is their toilet, yet they have these in many places in the city. The picture here shows the urinal which has no doors or covers at all - just a big toilet in the city. If you can make out the picture, there are 4 urinals here, so men just hover to the middle and do their thing in public. When Dylan and I were at the Christmas Market last weekend, the huge urinal was right in the middle of it all. I was shocked to see this so close to all the vendors....it was right in the walking pathway of everyone who was going to the market - wasn't even located to the side of the road or anything - right in the middle of it all!

Finding the flusher is always an adventure! I have not seen on flusher like we have on EVERY toilet at home in Europe. There are buttons to push, levers to pull, chains to tug or foot pedals to step on....it is always interesting searching for the flusher!

Many bathrooms are located either upstairs or downstairs in the restaurant - I actually can't think of one that is located on the main floor that I've used. All staircases that lead to the throne are tiny - about a foot and a half wide - straight up (or down) - it's like climbing a ladder. With my big feet, I have to edge slowly up or down these narrow stairs to reach the toilet. There is no such thing as a handicapped bathroom here - if someone was in a wheelchair, they would have to hold it because there aren't elevators or ramps anywhere. It wouldn't be possible for someone to lead a normal life if they were in a wheelchair or even if they weren't nimble for that matter.....it's like crawling through a tunnel getting to the bathroom. They don't have regulations for places to be wheelchair accessible. Most buildings are tall and narrow and don't need to be accessible by law for all individuals.

Ok, that's my rant and info about the oddities. I'm sure there are plenty more, but I think I've said enough! On a high note, Brussels is one of the most interesting and diverse cities that I've visited and I love learning about the differences between here and Canada!

Christmas in Brussels

Last weekend we went downtown to see the sights of the Christmas market, light show and all the decorations in Grand Place. The Christmas Market is about 200 vendors who have little cabins set up along the streets in the city selling goods. There are clothes, jewellery, chocolate (of course) and food. When we arrived downtown, we looked at the nativity scene (which has real sheep and goats) and headed towards Manneken Pis. Mr. Pis was dressed up for the occasion as Sinterklaas - in his usual peeing stance!
While we were observing Mr. Pis, we heard music and looked up the street to see the Christmas Parade and stayed to watch it. It was interesting - Manneken Pis was honoured and the "Friends of Manneken Pis" lead the parade to Grand Place. At the beginning of the parade was a cart with Manneken Pis standing tall leading the parade. When the guy pushing the cart would get close to a group of kids, he would pull a lever and Manneken Pis would pee on the crowd. I said to Dylan that if I was a kid and saw Santa peeing, I might be scarred for life - not these Belgians - they love a peeing boy!

The parade had Sinterklaas at the end along with his Petes. They escorted him to Mannekin Pis where he got off his sleigh and had a photo op by Mr. Pis, then guess what Sinterklaas did - he went to the bar! He walked across the street, through all the children who were there to see him and walked straight into the nearest pub! It was quite amusing - I love Belgium!

When we headed for the market, there were lots of things to see and we spent most of the afternoon walking around and observing. One of Belgium's favorite holiday drinks (which was for sale everywhere) was "Vin Chaud"....yep, that's what it is, Hot Red Wine. I tried a glass, wasn't a huge fan, it tasted exactly like it sounds, hot red wine....not too good (although I've heard that you can get good stuff and bad stuff - I must have had the bad stuff).

There is also a huge skating rink and ferris wheel at the end of the market. There were lots of kids skating the day we were there - lots of 'ankle burners' as Dylan called them as there are no rinks here for skating, the market is the only place in Brussels where people can skate - so I think the locals are out of practice. I've been back to the market three times since, it is a nice place to walk around and get in the holiday spirit!

In the evening we went to Grand Place and saw the light show. It was the lights blinking and flashing to opera music. Was ok to see for about 5 minutes, then we went for a beer - typical Belgian style - Sinterklaas even does it!

Mmm....Lamburger

Last week when Dylan and I went to the market on Sunday (in the pouring rain), we picked up the usual fresh fruit, vegetables, olives, eggs and cheese and decided to buy some meat from one of the butchers too. If you can picture this market, there are probably 100 produce vendors, 30 cheese vendors and at 20 butchers plus about 200 of just 'other stuff' which may dub as 'junk'. This market is huge!

So of course, I look for the tables or carts with the 'deals'....just like we can't buy all the veggies in one place (which drives Dylan nuts btw), we had to browse and find a deal with the meat. We found a large vendor with a variety and a good price on ground beef and another with a great price on chicken. We purchased the meat and were on our way.

So if some of you haven't heard, I'm having a hard time thinking of different stove top recipes every night since we've been here. With no oven, it cuts out quite a few options.
When we got home, the meat was divided up and thrown in the freezer (of our bar fridge) and life went on.

Last Tuesday I cooked the 'beef' and made an extremely hot chilli. It was good, but when I was cooking it, I thought the meat smelled funny, but decided it was just 'Belgian' and went on with it (it was fresh, I knew it wasn't bad). The chilli was good, but had a very distinct taste which I couldn't pinpoint....
Sunday past, Dylan made spaghetti sauce with the rest of the 'ground beef'....as soon as he started cooking it, we figured out the 'different taste/smell'....it was LAMBURGER!

The lamburger spaghetti was good, but once we knew what it was made of, it was obvious. We ate lamb in Dubin when we had Irish stew and neither of us were huge fans, but in Ireland, you have to try the most famous dish. From now on, we will only buy chicken (or Kip in Dutch) at the market - or ask specifically if it is ground beef before we buy it.

As a sidenote, when I go to the grocery store, there are two types of ground meat there to buy - ground pork or ground beef. They are labelled in french, so easy to distinguish and you can also tell by the color - beef is red, pork is pink (with green things in it - not sure what they are). I always buy it at the meat counter, since there is a limited variety in the fridge there. Also, when I buy eggs, it is not uncommon for them to be spotty or even still have feathers attached to them when I open the package - which I've been able to get past in the last few months.

That is our LAMBURGER experience - a mistake we will not make again!!!

Santa Claus vs. Sinterklaas

Although Santa Claus and Sinterklaas resemble each other with the long white beard, red suit and jolly 'assistants', I've just found out that Sinterklaas is NOT Santa Claus.

These lucky Belgians get two days of presents! Sinterklaas is a Turkish Bishop that comes on December 6th, so shoes are put at the chimney on the evening of December 5th in hopes that Sinterklaas fills them with presents. Belgians also get presents from Santa Claus, however, some families do not do the whole filling of stockings, it is just presents from family and friends like we have in Canada.

Lately, I have seen christmas trees for sale in some places, but they are not like the lots we see at home. The trees that I've seen are about 4-5 feet tall and very sparse, so appreciate your big, full spruce or pine trees at home, becuase in other parts of the world, it is a luxury!!!

Tall, Dark and Handsome....

The most famous beer coming out of Ireland - Guinness....what else would I be talking about?

Our weekend in Dublin was a great time - it was nice to be away and not have to be really busy with touristy stuff the whole time. The weather was nice, chilly, but clear days, so we spent alot of time walking around and exploring the city!

When we arrived on Saturday around 10am Ireland time, we went straight to the hotel and dropped our stuff off and started to explore a bit. Our hotel was located in Temple Bar which is not 1 bar, it is about 8-10 blocks filled with pubs, bars and restaurants and some shops - what a place to drop us off!

The weather wasn't fantastic, so we decided to do the Guinness Brewery Tour which was about a 20 minutes walk from our hotel. On our way, we stopped at the oldest pub in Ireland, The Brazen Head, est. 1196.... The pub was pretty interesting with low doorways and thin doors and lots of small rooms - they did have flushing toilets though, which releived me (literally, haha).
The picture here shows the bar, the stone part in the front is the original building and when you go through this, there is a large courtyard with lots of tables outside. It would be a fantastic spot in the summer!

We headed towards the brewery and Dylan was more excited than I have ever seen him. The tour was pretty interesting, I acutally learned a bit about the brewing process and why the beer is so dark. Mr. Guinness opened the Guinness Brewery at St. James Square in 1759 when he signed a 9000 year lease. The buildings were pretty old and the beer tasted delicious! We read after this that the Guinness Brewery is the biggest tourist attraction in Dublin - it was packed! If anyone ever goes, make sure you purchase your tickets for the tour online beforehand, we got to skip the lineup of at least 200 people and go in ahead of them since we had done this - you also get a discount for purchasing them online! This picture is of Dylan and I on the top floor of the brewery where you get your complimentary Guinness and a view of the city.

Once we had a taste, we decided to continue our travels on to another pub. When we left, this fella approached us and said he was going to see his buddy play at a pub with free drinks! He said "Come on, I just picked up these Germans (4 German guys waved) and we're heading over, we got room for 2 Canadians too"! Who are we to say NO? So we followed this guy (who we dubbed as Curly) and went to a pub not far away to hear his friend play. His friend, Steph, was really good and we've been trying to find him online, but can't remember what he called himself. Curly was an interesting cat too, a little odd, but nice fella in general and we had a good time!

We explored some of the city, had a bite and were in bed by 9pm on Saturday night...imagine! Our hotel was along the river in the middle of Temple Bar, we could here people until the wee hours, but we were content to sleep through that and get up early on Sunday for another full day!

Sunday was a relatively nice day so we did a walking tour of the city. We went to Trinity College, Dublin Castle, Christ Church and the middevil part of the city. We walked through the large shopping district early afternoon and along the river. The river runs through the middle of the city, along Temple Bar and there are large (for cars) and small (for pedestrians) bridges over it every block or two. This is us on Sunday morning in front of one of the bridges that has the Guinness colors.

After this tour, we decided to go to Gogarty's, a large pub and have a cold one (see picture below). At this pub, there is live Irish music from 230pm to 230am which we enjoyed all evening! We loved the music and sang along to some of the songs and had a great time. We had our own mini pub crawl and explored the pubs in Temple Bar until late that evening. Was funny, for a Sunday afternoon, all the places we visited were packed, so we weren't the only ones enjoying a few Guinness!

Monday morning, we slept in, had a bite and went back to Trinity College to see the 'Book of Kells' which is an old bible that was written (mostly in pictures) in the 6th century. We walked through the museum and around the campus. The campus was really old - built in 1592 and was the first University in Ireland.

Before we left, we had to have some Irish Stew. It is the dish of choice in Ireland made with lamb. Neither Dylan nor I like lamb, but we decided to try it anyway. It was good, but Mom's stew tastes better to me!

We left Dublin around 4pm and headed back home to Brussels. Because our tickets were so cheap with RyanAir (53 euro for the two of us), we flew to the airport in Charleroi, just outside of Brussels.
Here is a summary of our trip home:
- get bus from Dublin to the airport (45 mins)
- fly from Dublin airport to Charleroi (1h40mins)
- get bus from Charleroi Airport to Charleroi train station (20mins, after a half hour wait)
- get train from Charleroi to Brussels (1hr, but we had to wait 1h40mins for the train)
- get metro from Brussels Central to our apartment (15mins)

We arrived home at 11:45pm on Monday night after leaving Dublin at 4pm (Ireland time), for a total travel time of 7hrs. We had a fantastic time and if we're still here for St. Paddy's Day, we hope to head back that way (but hopefully get a flight from Brussels Airport)!

Sinterklaas is not Santa Claus

I was out exploring with a friend the other day and she informed me that Santa here is not like Santa at home. Santa doesn’t have a sleigh or reindeer or elves or live in the North Pole – no, Santa Claus here lives in Spain! I was a little sceptical at first until we saw “Santa” aka “Sinterklaas” in one of the store windows.

Just read on Wiki: New Amsterdam in North America originally was home to the Dutch and but eventually it was occupied by the English and renamed New York City. The name Santa Claus is derived from the Dutch Sinterklaas.

The picture above Sinterclaas arriving from Spain.

Sinterklaas has a long white beard, wears a red dress and hat and holds a long gold staff with a fancy curled top. Sinterklaas carries 2 big books with all the children’s names in them, which states whether they have been good or naughty in the past year. Sounds familiar, right? Ok, now more detail.....

Sinterklaas arrives in Belgium (and the Netherlands) from Spain by steamboat. Sinterklaas rides a white horse over the rooftops named “Slechtweervandaag” which means “bad weather today”.... (What a strange name for a horse in a country like Belgium.....where rain is typical). Ok, so this is the odd/racist part that I’m having trouble getting used to: Sinterklaas does not have elves – he is assisted by many mischievous helpers with black faces and colourful outfits called Zwarte Piet which means ‘Black Petes’ in Dutch. This came to have racist connotations, originally Pete was said to be an imported African servant of Saint Nicolas – now the story has a more politically correct explanation – Pete’s face is said to be “black from soot” from climbing down the chimneys to deliver the gifts. Attempts have been made to change this racist tradition and introduce “Colored Petes” with the story that Sinterklaas passed through a rainbow with his boat on his way over from Spain – red, blue, green and yellow Petes – but it hasn’t caught on yet.

The original story was that Sinterklaas had only one helper – Zwarte Piet or Pete – but it was the Canadian soldiers during World War II who liberated the Netherlands and helped organize the first post war Sinterklaas celebration that changed this into multiple helpers!

Sinterklaas brings gifts to children on the evening of December 5^th and the children get them on December 6^th. They do still celebrate our traditional Christmas Eve and Day – but no presents during this time. No stockings here - children put their shoes at the bottom of the chimney or by the front door and when they wake up the shoes are filled with candy (I wouldn’t want to be the person filling Dylan’s sneakers – or eating the candy that was in them for that matter!) Sinterklaas carries 2 books with him – Golden Book and Black Book – you know what that means – also, they get a pile of wood or salt instead of coal here! Instead of threatening no toys, parents here threaten their children that they will be put in the sac and taken back to Spain on the boat with Sinterklaas – that’s a little scary!

So, it is quite interesting that they don’t have the same traditions as we do at home – especially the Steamboat part – and why Spain?

I Want You For Belgium

On Sunday morning on the Metro, we noticed alot of people draped in Belgian Flags, Jupiler clothing (their local beer), people covered in the "I Want You for Belgium" stickers and faces painted with the Belgian flag. We weren't exactly sure what was going on, but talked to people throughout the day and got some answers.

The Belgians organized a protest - over 25,000 people walked from the city centre to Cinquantenaire Arch (park across the street from our apartment). This was an important day in Belgian history, so thought I would share the details of this with you.

Quote from the Herald Tribune:
"Some 25,000 people staged a Belgian unity march in Brussels Sunday to vent their anger at a linguistic spat that prevents a government from taking office stoking speculation Belgium's Dutch and French-speakers would be better off breaking up."

Belgium currently does not have a government. The Dutch speaking and French speaking people in Belgium are fighting over power here and are not coming to any conclusions on their own. The protest was to announce that both sides want to come to an agreement and elect a government.

There was talks of breaking up the country into parts - Brussels being the centre, Dutch in the North and French in the South and having separate countries for each.

This is a quote from EuroNews today:
"Marchers carried banners and distributed leaflets in Belgium's three languages, French, Dutch, and German.
Flemish pressure to reduce French-speakers rights and redraw electoral boundaries around Brussels recently led to a collapse in talks on putting together a new government, which has yet to be formed 161 days since the last elections.
Some say the country has a dog's chance of getting a new government until the rift between the two communities is closed."

In Brussels, everyone speaks French and little Engligh. In Antwerp on Saturday, I spoke French to a sales lady and she looked at me like I had 3 heads. I asked her (in French) if she spoke English, she replied (in a Dutch accent)"I'd much prefer English to French".

Not hard for me to beleive that a language can tear a country apart....

Runaway train...

Hello Everyone! Great weekend in Brussels - first weekend I remember where I didn`t see a drop of rain!

We planned on leaving for Antwerp on Saturday morning - Antwerp is less than an hour away and we heard it had a great shopping area. We left the apartment and headed for North Station to catch the train late morning. They leave frequently for Antwerp, so we didn`t have a specific time to catch a train. We met a guy named Adam who was heading to Amsterdam on the same train - he was from Boston and on day 3 of his 3 month European adventure - he sat with us and we had a great chat.

About a half hour into the ride, Dylan said "I think we're going the wrong way"...... then the train left. He realized then that we got on the wrong train and were heading to Luxembourg (the country) - not a good thing since our ticket was only from Brussels to Antwerp. We got off at the next stop (Ottignies - outside of Brussels) and ran for the next train heading back to Brussels which left in 2 minutes. We arrived in Brussels over an hour later and got on the next train to Antwerp - about an hour and a half after we originally left. We said goodbye to Adam and left him to figure out how to get to Amsterdam....

When we finally go to Antwerp, it was a beautiful day and our shopping extravaganza started. I bought 2 new pairs of boots (which I'm really excited about) and we explored the city. It was a shoppers heaven with lots of cool sights along the way.

We left Antwerp at 630 when all the stores closed and headed home on a packed train!

On Sunday, we got up early and headed towards a market that Dylan read about online (open from 6am to 1pm at South Station). You all know how much I love a good market - fleas or not! The outdoor market was bigger than I could have imagined! We were there for 2 hours and didn't see all the booths. We bought lots of fresh veggies, meat and cheese - all for about half the price that I would have paid at the GB! It was great! We are going to go back in 2 weeks time for sure to try to get through the whole thing. It was pretty crazy as people were hollaring everywhere trying to get you to buy things from their booths.
People pull up 18 wheelers and open up the side of the truck and 'voila' they have a butchershop, a cheese store, a fish market, a vegetable stand....etc....and sell off the side of their truck.

This was the highlight of my weekend - I was happy to go shopping and get new boots - but I loved this market! Next time, we're bringing the wheelie cart! :)

ALLLOOO!

This was a few weeks ago:

We were sitting watching TV and we heard someone outside screaming... "ALLLLOOOO .....ALLLOOOO .......ALLO?"

I'm not sure who he was hollaring to or at, but he kept going:
"ALLO? ...ALLLLLOOOO .....ALLLOOO"

We turned the TV off and listened,
"ALLLOOO .....ALLLOOO ....ALLLOOOO"

We went out on the patio to look around and see if we could see him:
"ALLLLOOO ....ALLLOOOO .....ALLLLOOOO"

It is still a mystery!

"ALLO?"

And we laugh about it everyday when out of nowhere someone says "ALLLOOO"!

Tara's Visit to Belgium

Tara's visit to Brussels was a success!
When she arrived on Friday (Nov 2), we spent her first day here exploring Brussels. We had fun doing some shopping, eating chocolate and walking around to see the sights.


On Saturday morning, we left for Paris. When we arrived, it was too early to check into our luxury hotel, so we locked our bags up at the train station and started our adventure. We spent the day visiting Notre Dame, the Louvre, Paris Eye (which i thoroughly enjoyed), Arc de Triomphe and anything else we came across on our travels. In the evening, we headed back to the train station to pick up our bags and headed to our hotel - Formule 1 (where their motto is "When you're asleep, our rooms look as good as anyone's). The hotel rooms are small, cheap and you share bathrooms and showers. For the minimum amount of time we spent at the hotel, it was a great deal!

On Sunday, we went to the Chateau de Versailles - Royal Palace for the King of France - and the home of Marie Antoinette. The grounds were beautiful and we had a great visit. This took up most of the day. The picture of us behind the trees is taken on the grounds. On Monday we went to the Picasso Museum and to the top of the Eiffel Tower. The top of the Eiffel Tower was better than I could have imagined (324m)!

By the time our train left on Monday evening at 10pm, we were all exhausted and ready for bed. We enjoyed our trip to Paris!

We went to Ikea on Tuesday, Tara went to the Atomium on Wednesday and on Thursday we went to Amsterdam. We had fun in Amsterdam - we went to the Anne Frank Museum (Tara and I have both recently read the 'Diary of Anne Frank') and saw all the interesting sites in this crazy city! The picture of us is at one of the pubs in the Red Light District.

On Friday we went to the De Vinci exhibit at the Koekelberg (large bascilica in Brussels). This was an amazing display and we were both impressed with what we learned and saw.

Before Tara left, she stocked up on chocolate and we went out for Belgian waffles! Dylan and I both enjoyed having her here and look forward to more visitors!

Manneken Pis & Jeanneke Pis

Ok - if you can believe it, Manneken Pis is the most famous statue in Brussels. I decided that in order for you to get an idea of how silly it is (sorry Belgians), I had to post some pictures.

There are different stories as to why Mr. Pis is famous, but you can read about him on www.manneken-pis.com if you're interested. I walked by the statue on the weekend and there was a sign that said that Manneken Pis was going to be dressed up 3 days this month celebrating different holidays. He has over 750 costumes on display in a museum in Grand Place. I also read that every time he is dressed up, he pees BEER....haha.....Dylan and I are going to go and check it out next week to see if this is true.

Jeanneke Pis is Manneken Pis's sister. I think that they are both a little disturbing, but who am I to criticise the little guys. This is the only information I can find on Jenneke Pis - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jeanneke_Pis.

Thought you may find this interesting!

Trews Concert

All is well in Brussels!
The last post was on Halloween and Dylan and I had a fantastic time at the Trews concert! I won't get into too much detail, but I will say that:
- beer were 1.8 euro (that's how they say it over here)
- I was their biggest fan
- there were 50 people there max and we were front and center
- we met the band afterwards and I talked the ear off them :)
- we made it home that night, but are not sure how

Anyway, great night all in all! I requested my fave Trews song "You're so Sober" and sang every word. The pictures didn't turn out great becuase the photographer had a few too many drinks....but they captured the moment anyway.
The Trews came over and introduced themselves and were all very friendly and interested that we were in Tilburg for the show even though we were from Nova Scotia - was such a great time!

We made it home safe and sound and had a lazy day. Dylan was off for All Saints day, so was nice to lounge around before a busy weekend.

Happy Halloween

Dylan and I are leaving this afternoon for Tilburg to see The Trews tonight and I'm really looking forward to going away for the night and seeing them!
I thought I would send out an email this morning to let you know what we've been up to lately!

First of all, Halloween here is not celebrated like it is at home. I asked a few people and they all said that kids don't do the Trick or Treating thing in Brussels and it is a sad reason why. Years ago (I'm not sure how long) a pedofial captured, tortured and murdered 5 children who were out trick or treating in Brussels on Halloween. This put an end to the Holiday and now children go to parties instead of going door to door. How sad! The woman who told me this said that it is still too fresh in people's minds and is in general a very sad time in Brussells.

The parties are everywhere though!!! The bakery down the street is having a party - giving out baked treats to kids, the stores have parties and so on....so there is lots for these kids to do and candy to be had. I have yet to see a Halloween candy display at a grocery store - those big boxes of chips and big bags of candy are nowhere to be seen around here. It just isn't the same - thank goodness - my waistline thanks them!

We were downtown on Saturday night walking around and drinking beer in public (cheap entertainment) and didn't see one Halloween costume. I'm sure Halifax and Sydney were booming with people in costume - so here it is more of a children's holiday than an adult fun time!


So, on Friday we bought a futon for "Tara's Room" aka the living room and on Saturday morning, Dylan put it together. It was quite funny becuase we didn't have a hammer or screw driver, so Dylan used a pot as a hammer and a knife as a screwdriver. Beleive me, the neighbors were not happy with the choice of a hammer on Saturday mornning (although it was after 10, so I didn't feel too bad). After about an hour of this activity, I walked down to the bakery - partly to get out of the noise ridden apartment and also to get breakfast. On the way home, I stopped in at the corner store by our apt and asked if they sold hammers/tools/screwdrivers.... (describing a hammer in French was fun). The lady who owns the store ended up giving me their hammer and screwdriver that they own themselves.....and didn't even ask my name....just asked if i would return it. This was the first time I have seen an action of this kind from a belgian.....very nice of her. And of course, it was promptlyl returned once Dylan had the 1000 pieces together! :)


So instead of getting it delivered for 50e - we decided that we would get it home ourselves via the SUBWAY....fun, fun.....Dylan said that it was like in my old neighborhood (the HOOD) when you see people moving using shopping carts! We got it home in one piece and I took a few pictures so will post them on facebook soon!
It is really nice and comfortable and with a little rearranging, we fit it in the living room nicely!

Saturday afternoon we went to the big grocery store - it is at the end of the subway line and was like a big SuperValu. Just to clarify, the one in walking distance to our house is very small and is just a store front - no parking lot or even carts - just baskets. This is the type of store that they place close to a subway line so that people coming home from work and business people in the area stop in throughout the day. So on the way there, I saw about 5 Pizza Huts (they love their Pizza Hut here), a SHELL gas station (had to mention that for you, Allison) and an actual parking lot.....first I've seen since I've been here - literally!

As I mentioned, Sat night we went downtown and walked around and had a few beer. Whenever we are downtown, I always go into the Thon Hotel where we stayed in June to pee. I 'act' like I'm staying there - walk by the reception desk and head towards the bathrooms. We were too far away to go there on the weekend, so I had to settle for McDonalds. At McDonalds, they have a pee lady who has a table and chair outside the bathroom - it costs 30cents to pee and she collects the money and keeps the bathrooms clean......we spent 1.20e at McDonalds that night and didn't eat anything. :)

Sunday, we went to the Atomium which is outside Brussels and a huge building shaped like an iron atom. We went to all 9 of the huge spheres that make up the building and rode on the fastest elevator in Europe - 5m per second. On the way home, we stopped in at all the subway stations and areas we didn't see before. Some were sketchy, some were ok. We got a broom and a pepper mill at one of the areas, but left after that b/c we almost got hit by a car - literally (a Mercedes) - people aren't concerned at all here by pedestrians.....they have the attitude that if you don't get out of the way - it's your fault.

This is a link to the Atomium so you can see what the building looks like: http://europeforvisitors.com/europe/articles/atomium_brussels.htm

At one of the subway stations, I saw a very sad sight. Anyone who has been to Europe knows that there are always people around selling single roses to make money. When we got off at one of the stations, there was this little girl with sandals on and dirt on her face and she literally FOLLOWED us asking if we would buy a rose - she might have been 6 years old. When we got to the top of the escalator, I saw that she had her little sister doing the same thing on the other side of the subway line...she might have been about 4 or 5....they were both really dirty and as soon as they asked everyone who got off the train, they played on the escalator until the next train came. They got on the train with us (by themselves - no adults around) and asked everyone on the car to buy the flowers.....it was so sad!!!
I read this article (and forwarded it to Dylan) last week about people begging for money in Brussels. I pasted the link below:

http://www.canada.com/ottawacitizen/news/story.html?id=16f1696d-67c3-45d7-a6b7-0d590e2b744b&p=1

It is really sad and we see so many people begging for money. We were talking last week about how alot of the people begging are holding children in their arms that look like they are too big to be laying there.....now we know why. In this article it says that some of the women drug their children so they will sleep in their arms and they will get sympathy....can you imagine??? anyway, read it if you have a chance - it is a huge problem here!

Well, that's about it for this week - the last few days have been busy with schoolwork for me and work for Dylan. It gets dark really early here now (we had our time change on the weekend). We're really excited about Tara coming on Friday morning and have a surprise planned for the weekend with her - so that will be fun!!!

Now that we have a spare bed - I hope that some of you will come visit!!! We would both love to see some faces from home!

Have a great Halloween!!!

Hello From Brussels II

We haven't been up to anything too exciting, but I decided to write an email anyway!

Dylan had a good trip to Sweden last week - he said it reminded him alot of home and I think made him a little homesick! I enjoyed the time he was away as well - had a great day with Alison - went shopping, bought some books, new coffee mugs and a broom. We went for sushi for lunch - which was good - but not as good as Momoya at home!

Last weekend we walked around Brussels to see the city again. Friday night we went out for supper to a little Italian pizzaria in our neighborhood (ever since eating pizza for 2 weeks in Italy, we have become pizza addicts) - then walked all the way downtown - which took about 2 hours. It was a beautiful night and was great to walk through the communitites that we had never seen before.

I'm not sure if everyone knows, but Brussels has a red light district - something like Amsterdam's. On Friday night, we walked through it which was packed with cars and men - I was definatley the only woman walking the streets that night - was funny!

On Saturday, we went to Ikea and bought some household stuff that we were missing from home and 2 new pillows - our best purchase! All the pillows here are square. The other favorite purchase is the shower caddy for our mini shower. When we got home, we realized that 2 things we bought - cutting board and can opener - were not in our bag. I'm convinced we were robbed (mostly b/c i was in charge of packing the bag), Dylan thinks I forgot the stuff at the store - we will never know....
At Ikea they have the already set up rooms so you can see what all the stuff looks like....well, even in the kitchens they have set up, there are only MINI FRIDGES.....apparently there is no such thing as a regular sized fridge here......it was weird! All the sinks were really small too - I guess the europeans don't give as much attention to food as we do at home (I hope I get in that mindset before i leave)....

Saturday afternoon, we took off for downtown again and picked up a few things we needed - Dylan got some contraption to try to watch our downloaded shows on the tv (doesn't work yet) and a SIM card for my cell.
Sunday we went to what we call the "cheapie neighborhood" by the red light district about a 10 min walk from downtown. I didn't know what to expect, but it is a huge strip of stores where everything is especially cheap - like a big sidewalk sale.
We bought enough oregano and garlic powder for about 10 years - what do you do with a kilo of spices?

This week has gone by really fast!! We are both REALLY excited for Dylan's sister, Tara, to come next week - we have lots of exciting things planned for her trip!!

Some things about Brussels that I've noticed so far:
- all subways smell like pee.....you have to pay 40 cents to pee at any public place - subway station, mall, McDonalds....so instead of paying, ppl pee anywhere.
- dog owners don't have to pick up dog poop - which is gross. It is everywhere!!!
- at 12degrees, the Belgians think it is winter. Dylan and I wore sandals on the weekend (he also wore shorts) and ppl were staring hard at both of us. I walked to the GB yesterday afternoon with my birks on and everyone stared at my feet.....i stared at their parkas and stocking hats too.....who wins?
- the ppl who beg for money are relentless - they aren't friendly and nice, they hollar at you when you walk by and ignore them - it's a little scary.
- we bought a deck of cards on the weekend and on Tuesday night we decided to have a few games of crib....when we opened the cards, we realized that they were french.....so instead of a K, Q and J - there was a R, D and V.....try to get used to that. It was funny - thank goodness they had pictures on them!

Well, that's about it for now! thank you to everyone who has replied or sent me a message!
Hope all is well - hear the weather is amazing in Halifax - it's pretty chilly here!

Hello From Brussels

I arrived safe and sound after a bit of trouble getting here.

First of all, I had a great turkey dinner at Janet Lynn's sister's house in New Glascow on Sunday evening. When we left, heading toward the airport, we hit an accident in Elmsdale - and we waited almost an hour to get to the next exit. We took the long route to the airport and arrived about 9:30 or so - my flight was leaving at 10:30 - but I made it in time for boarding with not much time to spare!

Flight was fine. When I got to Heathrow (after not sleeping at all) I looked at the board of departues to find out that my flight was cancelled to Brussels. I was so tired and cranky that all I could do was cry. I found my way through London customs (they drilled me with questions - probably b/c i was in tears) and got a new ticket to leave at 430 in the afternoon. 6 hours at Heathrow was ok - I was cuddled up to a planter and got a bit of sleep - and was happy to see Dylan waiting for me in the Brussels airport.

I posted the pics of our small apt on Facebook - and for those of you not on it, it is tiny. The kitchenette (with no stove) has a bar sink and mini fridge - but we're getting along fine with it. It is easy to keep clean since there is so little space - there is no room to make a meal unless all dishes are washed and put away before the next meal. Toast and coffee at the same time is a challenge since I have to balance them both on the corner of the sink to reach the plugs.
anyway, i'm happy with it and it is quaint to say the least.

It took me 4 full days to get used to the time change - the first 3 nights I got up and played solitaire at 3am and went back to bed around 5am. The living room/bedroom/kitchen are pretty much one big room with french doors separating the bedroom, so Dylan had to deal with the clicking of me typing at ungodly hours. i think he is happiest that I am finally sleeping through the nights!

Last week i wandered around the neighborhood. It is absolutely lovely! We live across the street from a huge park, about a 10 minute walk from the small grocery store and there is a bakery around the corner. There are lots of trees and plants and it is only 5 mins away from the Metro stop. I am totally getting used to the European lifestyle of going to the grocery store every day - bakery for bagettes - i am not brave enough yet to try the cheese at the 'fromagerie' - the stuff on display in the window has mold all over it....doesn't look too tasty. Grocery bags cost 3 cents each, so i've been taking my backpack or the wheelie cart (like an old man pull cart - especially on "water days") that dylan bought when he got here. Noone drinks tap water here - so we aren't either, just in case it isn't up to the standards that we are used to (plus, dylan is addicted to bubbly water now - he doesn't drink the regular stuff anymore).

Most of the food is reasonable - we've been eating like we would at home (maybe a little healthier) except no oven, so mostly meat or fish with rice and alot of salads. There are 2 kinds of milk here (in Flemmish it's Mellech - I love saying that) - refrigerated or fresh and shelf milk. In June when we were here, we tried the shelf milk which was gross, so we've only been buying the fresh milk so far. None of the eggs are refrigerated at the grocery store which is a little odd. I put them in the fridge as soon as I get home though. When I cracked my first egg - i was disgusted b/c it has a bright orange yolk - pumpkin orange really.....they taste ok though, so i just add milk and water to scramble b/c they are really thick here. We only have a small grocery store in the neighborhood - called the GB - but we're going to a big one on the weekend. it's at the end of the subway line, so kinda far to do that during the week. we're also going to Ikea this weekend which will be fun. i need a big coffee mug!!! We only have the miniature ones that you would find in a hotel room here now.
Coffee is really strong, but i'm getting used to it. I'm looking forward to a Tim's coffee when i get home - although it will probably taste like water at that point.

The subway in Brussels has 3 lines. Dylan took me out my second night here and showed me how to use it and how to read the subway maps, so i'm an old pro now. I met him at Central Station last night (all by myself) b/c we looked at a new apt in another community. it was kinda sketchy, so we aren't taking it - even though I'm used to living in the hood in halifax. :)

We went to Paris on the weekend. We left at 315 and got the high speed train which goes 300 kms per hour. We got there in 1h20mins.
In the Brussels train station, there is a huge vending machine (a 24 hr grocery store is what they call it). Dylan got a 6 pack of Jupiler beer which we enjoyed on the train. You are allowed to drink in public places here, so ppl are always walking down the street with beer and such.

When we got to Paris, we found our way to the subway and eventually got to our hotel. Brussels has 3 lines, Paris has 15 - so there was a huge difference in getting around. It was easy once we got used to it, but a little confusing at first!
I was expecting a little city with cafes everywhere and people drinking red wine wearing berets - not like that at all - it was huge - 12 million people!! I think they were all at the subway station when we got there on Friday!

On Friday night we met up with a friend of mine from SMU, Michael, and we went over to a friends house who I went to high school with, Ryan. Ryan lives next to the Eiffel Tower, so we had a great view of it and took some pics from his balcony. we went to a party at a bar in the "moulin rouge' part of the city. It was great to see them both - familiar faces in an unfamiliar city!

On saturday we headed for the Louvre when we got up and saw the Mona Lisa along with many, many other pieces of art. There were only a few that I knew, but we enjoyed looking around. The best part was the garden at the front of the Louvre and Napoleon III's apt inside - was really cool!

We walked for many, many miles on Sat - saw the Arc de Triomphe, Notre Dame, shopped at the markets and took in all the sights. we went to McDonalds for lunch and Dylan was pretty excited to find out that he could get a BEER with his meal (see pic on facebook).

In the evening was the World Cup Rugby game. France was playing so the city was wild with people. they had a big screen on the Eiffel Tower and there were thousands of ppl there sitting in the grass watching it. We walked around a bit, drank some wine and got some night pictures (if some of you don't know - Dylan must get both day and night pictures of every attraction).

On Sunday we wandered around to the Panthon, Jardin du Luxembourg, the saffron (sp?) and to that church featured in the Da vinci Code....and more that I can't think of. We walked up all 284 stairs to the top of the Arc de Triomphe and had a wonderful view of the whole city which was great! In the afternoon, we went on a cruise of the canal and saw all the attractions from the water. Did you know that Paris has a Statue of Liberty - we didn't - Americans living in Paris erected a replica in appreciation of the Statue of Liberty in New York (googled it) - it's just down the canal from the Eiffel Tower! In the evening we went to a nice little community near the Place de la Bastille. Our train left at 9:55pm on Sunday night - we had a busy weekend!!! and were super glad to be able to relax and sit down for more than 5 mins.

Dylan is gone to Sweden tonight for 2 days, so I am on my own! I'm really excited to have the whole love seat to myself this evening (we don't have a couch)! Tomorrow I am meeting a friend at Central in the morning and she is going to show me a few things around the city including an English bookstore - yahhhh! I've been using my french quite a bit and it is coming back quickly - no problems!

Well, that is it for now! Thanks to everyone who sent me emails and messages!
I'll keep you all posted on our adventures!