The Content Reader

It is a little bit of slow motion on this blog for the moment. That is because I have visitors, so I have been out sightseeing. I just wanted to share a few goodies from Brussels. I have read a couple of books that will be reviewed soon; The Sun Also Rises  by Hemingway, Marie Antoinette - The Journey by Antonia Fraser. These will be reviewed for  Paris in July. I am now reading, almost finished Her Fearful Symmetry by Audrey Niffenegger. In the meantime - here some photos! I start with the very symbol of Brussels - Manneken Pis. To honour the Belgium national day he is dressed in a uniform from the revolution in 1830. Here is how the maccarons and the chocolate are shown! Hard to resist I would say. ENJOY!

Sunday again! I don't know where the days go? Maybe it went faster than usual, since my family has been visiting. My brother and his kids, Anton and Sanna left today, and my parents will stay on for another week. That means that the garden will look fabulous after the magic touch of my father, now 90 years old! Showing a few highlights of our visit today to Waterloo and Atomium! Buttes de Lion It is a long way up! Anton and Sanna were climbing the stairs faster  than me and my brother! I wonder why? Fortunately we did not see this warning before we started the climb! "Good level of fitness recommended..."  And last but not least - Atomium. Did not shine as usual due to the gloomy weather!

So finally I managed to finish walk No.2 from Derek’s book Brussels for Pleasure . It covered the Sainte Catherine district in the southern part of Brussels, where once there was a harbour. The harbour was covered years ago and it is difficult to even imagine how it was then. I started the tour at the square ‘Quai aux Briques’ and took the first right turn to enter into the square Sainte Catherine. Continuing along the square it continues into a beautiful street with benches and trees in the middle, almost like a square. There we can look at the first house of interest, an Art Deco building constructed in 1928 by a firm importing exotic fruit. When we look up to the top of the house we see decorations suitable for such a firm; pictures of orange and banana trees. Next fantastic building is on Rue de Flandre. This is a so called ‘hidden gem’. The real house lies hidden inside in the court yard. Today the building is a theatre and art

We are now going further downtown to the Saint Géry district. We start at the Rue de la Grande Ile. Unfortunately, we don't see any traces of the Great Island today. It vanished when the River Senne was turned into an underground canal in the 19th century. Instead the city built a line of grand boulevards in its place. The city planners wanted to give Brussels something of the grandeur of Paris. At the opening the mayor said that he had 'replaced the dangerous and dreary river with the most important and arguably most beautiful boulevards in our city.' Baudelaire was not impressed when he visited Brussels and grumbled something about 'the sadness of a city without a river.' If you live in a city you have to put some extra work into surrounding yourself with greeneries! Aren't they lovely?

Sometimes it is good to venture downtown, like I did yesterday (more in another post). Sitting on the metro, lifting my head from my book (Nausea by Jean-Paul Satre, yes, you need to lift you head from this text from time to time!) and saw this poster for a Boekenfestijn/Festival of Books out at Brussels Expo. Free entrance for the coming days. Since I never had time to visit these exhibitions before, and they are normally crowded during the weekend, I took the opportunity this time. I parked the car and found my way to the right hall. There are 12 halls, and at this hall I had parked. Turned out not to be too long to walk. Coming into the area, you can hardly call it cosy. A raw, high ceilinged building made out of betong. They had marked off an area for the books and the hobby material which they also had. You were not allowed to take any photos (why??) so my description have to be enough. Being a multi language country you find at least books in Dutch, French and here also in E...

The Original Today is the Swedish National Day. Here in Brussels it was celebrated by the Swedish Club with a reception at the Swedish Church. However, earlier in the day it was celebrated by one of the main features and tourist spots in Brussels; the Manneken Pis. For you who don't know who this is, it is a peeing boy! Yes, this is Belgium an one of the main tourist attractions. A small (when you see pictures you always think it is bigger) bronze statue of a naked boy that is peeing into a fountain. However, it has a story behind it.

Here is something more for Brontë fans; quite a lot these days, but have patience other writers will have a say here as well. The Brussels Brontë group organises two events per year (normally in March/April and October) with lectures on anything to do with the Brontës and their time (for info have a look at the www.thebrusselsbrontegroup.org). During the last years there has been an added event in February where one of our members shares his/her special interest in the Brontës. Many of the people in this group are very creative and we see calligraphy, drawings, painting, blogging (not me but that's how I started!), research etc. This February one of our Dutch members, Eric Ruijssenaars , took us on a virtual tour in the Isabelle quarters in Brussels where the 'Pensionnat Heger' where Charlotte and Emily used to live, study and spend their free time betweeen 1842-43. His interest has generated two books about the Isabelle quarters; Charlotte Brontë's Promised Land ...