Brussels Weekend, Day 1

Barbar is my new favorite beer.  Amber goodness...

This is the lady who ran and elbowed me out of a seat on the metro.  And her wig is totally goofy.  She was wearing gold adidas, too.  I sorta felt sorry for her after I took this picture, but, well, here it is anyway.

Fangs.

At MONK, by Saint Catherine.

A heart with legs.  Poetic.

So happy to have Felipe here!!  We did it up in style yesterday.  Let's just say he got a great intro to Belgian beers.

Gilded or not, a slave clock is a slave clock.  Time is oppressive, I suppose.

This place has cool chairs and good quiche.

Finally found the jeanneke pis!  The trifecta of voiding statues has been attained!  I have now seen the boy, the girl, and the dog!

Why, why, WHY is there a statue of this?!?  What is the city's obsession with creatures urinating???

Biro throws a coin in for luck.

My favorite picture of the weekend.  I would love to hang out at the mannekin pis and take pics of people taking pics in front of it.

Went to this great bar with a super-long, unpronounceable Flemish name that had all of these creepy marionettes hanging.

Had a pint with these guys.

This lady was the creepiest of all.  Her eyes glowed red.... RED, I tell you!

Pretzel mustaches with Felipe.

Artist's rendering of the mannekin pis in middle age.

Pissing Dogs/Boys and Pissed-Off Cats

Tracy is here.  And she's found the zenneke pis!  Just so you know, there's the mannekin pis (see below) and the jeanneke pis (yes, it's a squatting girl child... ack!) and the zenneke pis.  It's the trifecta of voiding statues--a boy, a girl, and a dog!

A couple of angles for your viewing pleasure.  And look--some humorist has placed a Jupiler can below his snout!  A little Jupiler and who won't lift their leg?

We've seen the mannekin pis shill for Coke and, as you know, I'm quite taken with finding him in all forms around town.  It's disturbing that a urinating anything has become a marketing tool for all sorts of things.  But this one is especially icky... a french fry relieving himself is supposed to make me want to eat some frites?  As if an anthropomorphic fry isn't weird enough, this one has made a puddle of... is that ketchup?!  I'm so confused.

And here's the real thing!  The MP in all his glory!  Dressed as a... I'm not sure what... but we were really into his bolo tie.  He looks to have a strange devil tail from this angle--probably not his best.

This is Cochino coming off of a nasty hiss at Jack through the window.  She is all riled up about having a dog here.  Silly chat.

Wherever is the parade this weekend, my good man?

We were looking for a sneaker store (which also sells fixed gear frames) on Saturday and stumbled upon the Eglise Notre Dame du Sablon (or Church of Our Lady of the Sablon).  It was built in the 15th and 16th centuries, and is just splendid.  It has 46-foot high stained glass windows, but it also has all of these other cool carvings, paintings, and statues!  There were two small, black and white marble chapels that looked beautiful but were closed when we went.  Without further adieu, some scenes from Notre Dame du Sablon:

Creeeeeepy dead peeps.

The patron saint of dandies everywhere?

Crests!

This must be the "dame" herself.  Nice dress, hm?

The "dame" classes up some candle holders.  Can I borrow 5 euro?




From there, we strode through the Sablon Antiques Market.  What a charming market, it is!  There were some really beautiful and unusual pieces there--from anything-you-can-imagine made of silver to jewelry to frames to art to bits n' bobs to walking sticks to keys to whatever your heart desires.  Come for a visit and we'll go!

And surely you recognize this old friend?

I am quite taken with the Mannequin Pis.  So much so that if I know we are in the vicinity, I beg to be taken there. (I say "taken there" because I am perpetually lost in this city.  I can't get my bearings--north is south, east is west--the whole bloody city just confuses me.  I had it *down* in SF and Columbus and Philly, but Brussels??  Woof!  I hope it's only temporary...  Even the damn Tenbosch Park is like a warp zone for me!)  I just like seeing what he's up to and, well, seeing him!  This was the first time I caught him in an outfit, and my how jaunty he looks in his neckerchief!  Turns out, his costume was related to parade that had popped up a few blocks away because there were real live people kicking it off in the same outfits.

So it's not a weekend in Brussels without a parade of some sort!  This one featured huge paper mache effigies.  Each figure appeared to represent a city or region in Belgium, and each was accompanied by proud citizens of that city/region and a band.  Yeah, each figure had its own band.  Nice touch.

And that was just Saturday!

Stateside

Left yesterday for Philly. Crashing here for just under a week. Then off to StL for about a week. Then back to Philly to get Cochino's health certificate in order for our trip back to Brussels the first week of June. It's going to be a nutty couple of weeks.

Brussels airport. Is there nothing on which they won't smack the pissing baby? And really, what is implied here? Is he filling the soda bottles with his warm elixir?? Yuck.


Clouds above Essene on 4th Street in Philly this fine morning. Did I mention that I've already snapped 4 window cats since arriving yesterday? Well I have! It's as if they knew I was back.

First Impressions of Brussels

It has been cold. And windy. And sometimes rainy. I feel less pressure to get out and explore everything despite the weather because I know I'll be here permanently soon enough. Summer is right around the corner, so I will be up for exploring then. Plus, I'm really here to interview, meet with recruiters, and *ahem* find a j-o-b.

But here are some snaps from around town the other day...

A lovely park in Sint-Gilles. There was a tap-tap blind guy and some ruffians hanging out behind the shrubbery, so I didn't really explore further. Love the green space, though. (Don't love the potential for mugging or mayhem.)

Park rules, cartoon style. Hope someone told the blind guy.

Horta-inspired door. There is much lovely, art nouveau architecture by (and inspired by) the famous Belgian architect Victor Horta in Sint-Gilles and Ixelles.

I was going to call, but...

Church of St. Bernard sign. I think this is still an active church, as I saw some nuns scurrying out from inside. (Or maybe that's a sign of its inactivity...)

Lots of graffiti, lots of outspoken graffiti.

There he is! The peeing baby himself, Mannekin Pis! We caught him on a naked day, as he is usually dressed in some garish costume. Kinda nice to see him as he is on our first meeting. Bought some delicious nougat around the corner from here. Sure, it was a touristy area and we could have bought some, um, less commercial nougat somewhere else. But it was delicious nonetheless.

Looking down on the lower city, no haughtiness implied.


Yikes!!! The hotdogs come in glass jars here. And these were the girth-iest of the bunch. More on fun treats at the markets, for sure!