The Content Reader

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?