Béranger chez les Belges -- some 4 days to Belgium: experiences, impressions, thoughts.
It is a known thing: La Belgique n'existe pas — mais j'y étais !
How did I choose Belgium for my first European trip in the last 7 years? Wouldn't something like Paris or London be a much better choice when you have only visited Vienna, Prague, Dublin, Limerick, Hamburg and... Utah?
It's actually a trivial matter. When the difference between a single and a double room at Novotel is only 5 EUR (breakfast excluded), and when there is a room that's already booked for 3 days, how can be a bad choice to extend it to 4 days and make it double? (The flight is a separate matter.)
So I paid a visit to Leuven, Bruxelles, Bruges and Gent, for a short vacation: 19 to 23 September.
Visiting Bruxelles was not the dream of my life (visiting Paris isn't that important either), however Bruxelles was the city I wanted to visit in the first place while in Belgium, for the very simple reason that I could use my French there. Surrounded by Dutch-speaking people (the Flemish/Vlaams variation, actually), Bruxelles/Brussel is an enclave where French-speaking people could get along easier.
From the Brussels National Airport in Zaventem to Leuven, the train is 3 EUR. From the Station to Novotel Centrum, it's 5 more minutes on walk. To get into the room, you have to pass over the rudeness of the front desk boy, who asks you a "guarantee fund" or 25 EUR in advance, just in case you might be using something from the mini-bar. I suspect this happened because the passport was a Romanian one; would the situation have been better or worse with nationals of Congo or Morocco?!
To calm down my inner feelings, I was given a quick evening tour of Leuven. Not bad, but no pictures as of yet. I was angry.
Bruxelles-tourisme.be declares Brussels to be «the 2nd greenest city of Europe». OK, let's see how it is in real life.
4.40 EUR shorter and 26 minutes later (08:04 towards Quiévrain, 08:32 in Bruxelles-Central), I was in the capital of Europe. Should I add that Bruxelles-Nord is the railway station, and Bruxelles-Central is only an underground dump?
It was too early to visit anything (there is nothing that opens before 9 AM, if not 10 AM), so I decided to walk on the streets, almost at random. It was a very cloudy and windy Thursday morning, so I decided not to take any photos for the first half of the day.
I didn't have any compass, so I managed to take another direction than initially desired. Rue des Colonies, Rue Royale, Place du Congrès (Memorial of the Unknown Soldier 1914-18 and 1940-45), then I turned right on the Boulevard du Jardin Botanique up to Rogiers, where I went down on Rue Neuve, then Blanchisserie, Rue du Marais and Rue des Sables, just to see that the Belgian Comic Strip Centre (CBBD) only opens at 10 AM.
I then took another way (Rue de la Banque, etc.), as keeping walking was the best choice in such a windy day. In the area that includes the National Bank, its Museum and the like (Bld. du Berlaimont, Rue du Bois Sauvage, Rue des Comédiens, Rue d'Assault, Rue des Boîteux, etc.), I noticed a young and very good-looking police woman. Gee, they do have young people in the city police! (I later noticed several other young police guys and gals.)
This part of the town (the north-east part of the center) wasn't very impressive, at least when you're looking for a different style of buildings!
A few streets away from the cute police woman
I couldn't find a reason for getting busted, so I went back on Rue Neuve, up North. Cap compas: the City2 shopping mall, which includes a large FNAC bookshop.
51,000 sqm, 103 stores, 4 stories — Niveau Métro (-1), Niveau Rue Neuve (0), Niveau Botanique (+1), Niveau FNAC (+2). A good place to waste some time in a morning way too windy!
I have spent more than 2 hours in City2 — most of which in the (huge) FNAC! The bad side for me was the multilingual offering of the bookstore: I had to ignore all the books in Flemish, because I can't understand a word! Even so, the good side is that this FNAC has almost everything you might be looking for. Sure thing, rarities like some of the books on my short list would be hard to find even in France, so the overall impression about this FNAC was a very good one. I could have spent hundreds of Euros on books... but I didn't do it. As a matter of fact, I haven't bought anything from FNAC in my first day in Brussels!
Side note: many books edited in France were at a higher price than in any French FNAC, say 7.80 EUR instead of 6.95 EUR, but many of them were at the official list price.
Back to the Belgian Comic Strip Centre (CBBD), Rue des Sables 20, I decided to take some photos of the area. Here's how the CBBD is surrounded by wreckages!
They say the bande dessinée is the 9th art. It could be — or not. For "obsolete people" like me, who have still enjoyed the end of «l'âge d'or de la BD» (my elder brother was even more contemporary with it), the comic strips are an art, no matter we're talking of comics for youth, comics for all ages, or adult comics (although I have to say that hentai is by no means an art, and mangas are horrendous as far as I am concerned). I know some younger people thinking that "comic strips are for idiots, and Belgian comics are even worse". What could I say on such an opinionated assertion?
The problem with the people not understanding anything of comics might be related to the current fast-forward society, where they want plenty of information, grasped in a short period of time, and "as multimedia as possible". Those people are wrongfully seeing the comic strips as some "stripped-down animated cartoons", which they're obviously not.
Today's youngsters don't have patience and they don't pay attention to details. Take for instance La Jungle en folie, by Mic Delinx. Can you imagine nowadays' kids following the excellent puns by the magpies de bas de pages? I wouldn't be that sure. Or take Gotlib's Gai-Luron: how many people are prone to enjoy the parallel story of the white mouse? Let's go further back in time, when the strip was also featuring Jujube: do you think that the burlesque of the eternally unique letter from Jean-Pierre Liégeois, jeune lecteur du Var would have the same impact in our days?
Enjoying a comic strip is an art per se.
I would not reassert my nostalgia with regards to the comic strips of my youth times, nor would I explain why the French weekly Pif Gadget (previously Vaillant le journal de Pif, which was not tout en récits complets) was far more popular in my country than any other French or Belgian comics magazine. You can find a few snippets in my older posts Gaston Lagaffe : 50 ; moi : mélanco...; L'informatique, c'est bidon : ça rend vieux et creux and It's a piracy-sharing society (avec des liens en cadeau...) You can also read Mircea Arapu (Placid), a Romanian living in Paris and member of the editorial staff of the reborn "Pif Gadget" (which can't match the quality of the "original" one) telling Une histoire de la BD roumaine, or Vaillant et heureux de l’être ! Comment j’ai connu Pif et ses amis et voulu les rejoindre ; L’année des révolutions et des retrouvailles.
I have also recently discovered a blog where you can enjoy an "imaginary museum" of the comic strip: Spécial Pif Gadget; Séries Humour, Spécial Pif Gadget; Séries Réalistes, Spécial Dessinateurs de Tarzan, Musée Imaginaire 2, Pif Again…, Pif Vaillant !
In short, the "BD" is for me rather French than Belgian. This doesn't imply I don't have some favorite American strips! I very much like Garfield and The Wizard of Id, but at the same time I don't click for Charlie Brown and Snoopy and I only moderately like Dilbert. They're still a very different matter, as I am finding the comics in French closer to my heart. (Is it a coincidence that the Britons don't really fall for comics?)
This was only a rhetorical question. By visiting Le Centre Belge de la Bande Dessinée, I have found that a few dessinateurs I thought to be French were actually Belgians (or at least born in Belgium). Furthermore, many French-made strips have been published by Belgian editors, and vice-versa.
Fact #1: Belgium has less comic strips than France, but it knows how to build a whole marketing buzz around it. Of course, it has much more than Tintin, Lucky Luke, Spirou, Gaston Lagaffe and Marsupilami, yet France has even more. But it's Belgium the one who knows how to sell the brand! (Kudos.)
For instance, Hergé has only finished some 23 Tintin stories, and one of the unfinished 3 other stories has been issued as an album too. Ignoring for now Le Journal de Tintin — which has published several other comic strips, the same way Le Journal de Spirou (now "Spirou HeBDo") and the French Pif have hosted lots of comics other than the homonymous ones —, it isn't that much to suggest the brand "Tintin" will be so successful, right? (Wrong.)
La bédé est alors universelle, mais son musée est en Belgique, à Bruxelles. Let's start the visit!
I was quite surprised to see how most of the people seemed to have paid 7.50 EUR just to take a quick tour, without paying the proper attention neither to the panels who explained the practical techniques used for the classical comics and the various artistic means and modes of expression (La Naissance d'une B.D.), nor to the comics sampler of over 70 Belgian artists! Definitely, I will never understand why would someone enter a museum just to exit from it ten minutes later!
I for myself have spent ~3 hours inside, and I have enjoyed all the (cough) walls!
Without this visit, I wouldn't have realized how many ways of express things are present in the comic strip, how complex the whole process can be (at least before people have started to use computers), how the creation of a comic strip raises issues you aren't aware of, how important is also the script writer, and in the end... how many graphical artists are on Earth, y compris en Belgique!
A particular surprise from the temporary exposition Les Européens regardent les Européens, exploring national stereotypes in the European Union. With either the graphical expression by a Romanian artist, or with the strip depicting scenes from Romania or Hungary, I could find several references to my national identity — including the R12 clone "Dacia" and the pun "A Bucarest, l'habit ne fait pas le moine" featuring an Orthodox monk :-)
Before leaving the building, I paid a visit to the Slumberland comics shop. I could have spent hundreds and hundreds of euros there, however I managed to keep the expenses at only 83. Obviously, they also sell comics by French authors, despite the omnipresence of everything Tintin (and Milou, etc.). Some "rarities" were available — say, the 5 volumes with Arthur le fantôme justicier, the only album Pas d'obstacle pour les As or Le Meilleur de Pif Gadget (no, I have not bought it!) —, whereas I can also list plenty of introuvables that I could not find anywhere in the city, such as: any of the tomes La Jungle en folie; any of the tomes with Quentin Gentil et les As; anything on Les Pionniers de l'Espérance; the only volume featuring Docteur Justice; Vaillant, le livre (1942-1969: La véritable histoire d'un journal mythique); Pif Gadget, la véritable histoire des origines à 1973; and so on... for instance, no album of Les Rigolus et les Tristus was ever printed...
Fortunately, I own the new edition of Achille Talon, l'intégrale, Tome 1, and I have all the others as (illegal) scans — the same way I have scans of everything Gaston Lagaffe, Iznogoud and Léonard!
Speaking of scanned versions: I happen to have (I guess I still have it somewhere) a color version of Tintin au pays des Soviets, but I am puzzled by the fact that all the current editions are reproducing the original B&W one! Why aren't they print at all the colored version?! Mystère...
I am annoyed by the rapaciousness of the editors. Editing albums of 44 to 72 pages means you would get ruined, broken, should you try to buy an Intégrale of any of the series! Just imagine you buying all the albums with Le Chat de Geluck, l'Agent 212, Gai-Luron, Léonard (Turk & de Groot), etc.
I have nevertheless bought Franquin, Idées Noires (intégrale) (a single album, that's why), then Astérix chez les Belges — for the local color, not because I would be so fond of Astérix. By the way, I found myself not buying Corto Maltese...
Oh, and given the scandal, I took the small format edition of Tintin au Congo. I have a small regret for not having bought Tintin au Tibet, because it's said to be the most "personal" of Hergé's works, who witnessed a deep personal crisis at the time. Parbleu.
The opposed corner, towards Rue St. Laurent
I don't remember very well what was my itinerary for the rest of the day. I only know I was there pour flâner on the streets, not for visiting the museums! So I just kept walking through Brussels...
I didn't take any photo in Place des Martyrs (commemorating the 445 who died in the 1830 Revolution), but I have undergone the torture of walking on such a rough, uneven pavement — were those the same stones as in 1830? I also missed the chance to take photos in the Place de la Monnaie, where the Revolution started.
Moving on through the city...
Sainte Gudule, le bourgmestre Charles Buls...
Cyclocity: a few of JCDecaux's municipal bikes, a wall poster...
At some point, an unknown incident was suspected to happen in a central area, because there were a lot of police cars and the Belgian equivalent of the CRS. Contrary to my expectations, it seemed not to be about the foot match Anderlecht - Rapid Wien, but rather about two coaches sandwiched between the police forces.
« Police business »
At a later time, everything was gone, so I'll never find out what was the issue with the two coach cars.
You can't visit a Belgian or Dutch town and skip its Grote Markt, can you? Well, the sky was very moody (however it didn't rain at all!), so my pictures are not that great:
It isn't very much to say about the Grande Place. I won't tell you what building is what, when was it built, this kind of useless data. I was in Brussels to enjoy ma balade, I had a guide and a map, but as for the checklist of important things to see... not really.
As in many other European cities, I liked the overall atmosphere of a cosmopolitan town, where dozens of nationalities and skin colors are surrounding you, yet it looks peaceful and secure, so you can just enjoy your walk, without the stress of watching your pockets.
I will have a few words later about the Belgian women, however what I noticed in Grande Plaxce is that the French can be a very sensual language...
À la nuit tombante, I only took a couple of pictures from one of the many streets with gorgeous food — and no, I haven't felt the need to try any moules-frites or other fruits de mer. I was told that Leuven has a famous Muntstraat, but Brussels has many more!
I am not sure if the next two photos are from Rue des Bouchers or from some other place...
Galeries Royales de Saint-Hubert, underexposed
A particular thing I liked was the "anti-American" way of preserving the original look of the buildings. Instead of simply demolishing them, they keep the exterior walls and they build something different inside, so that in the end the new building will keep the old façade.
It could be seen better the next day
This policy is however inconsistent. Not only Brussels is an eclectic city, with spots of modern buildings ("modern" can mean mean 1970, but it can also mean 1930!) in a center full of buildings from the 17th, 18th and 19th century, but the rule of maintaining the original look and feel in the traditional areas seems to still have exceptions.
I'll illustrate this with a few shots took from Leuven: at some point in the history, 3 or 4 modern buildings have replaced some old houses (what you can't see in the photo is that the street is a line of old-looking reddish houses). Nowadays, we can see how the old houses were demolished, and it's obvious that the new buildings that will replace them will look modern. When they'll be ready, there will be a compact set of five new buildings in a line of traditional houses. Hmmm...
I know this is not about Belgium, but it was a part of my trip. As the TV at Novotel only had France 2 and France 3 as the French-speaking channels — and Bel RTL Matin (radio) in the morning, the only way to find local news while in the room —, I have enjoyed watching them in the evenings.
For instance, on France 3 ("Ce soir ou jamais"), le débat « Où est passée la Révolution ?» — vive Che, pas Ché :-) —, a fabulously pleasant debate, featuring the savoureuse et sexy adjointe communiste au Maire de Paris, chargée de la jeunesse, Clémentine Autain:
Blonde, communiste et intelligente !
On Thursday, rien d'autre que Nicolas Sakozy, in a joint interview TF1 (PPDA) / France 2 (Arlette Chabot)! This one deserves an intermezzo.
I have to admit I liked Sarkozy after having watched the Ségo-Sarko final presidential debate. I am not necessarily on his side when comes to ideology, but Ségolène was absolutely pathetic and incoherent (Clémentine, c'est différent)...
I know, Sarkozy is accused of "canibalisme" by the French press, as it tries to simultaneously play the roles of the President (the only function he has), of the Prime Minister, of the Minister of the Economy, Finance and Employment, of the Minister of the Interior, and who knows what else. Is the PM Fillon une marionnette? Is Sarko un dictateur en herbe?
I dare to say that Sarkozy was necessary pour la France! Without believing in the old theory of the "necessary alternance of liberalism and social democracy", I do believe that, for being able to redistribute the wealth and solve some social problems, some more wealth must be created first. Unfortunately, France is currently suffering from a certain stiffness (how do you say ankylose?), and this must come to an end.
Undoubtedly, Sarkozy is an excellent communicator — at least, by the French standards, where being pompous is a quality, as we could see from de Gaulle to Chirac. We could only question his sincerity.
He might have been reasonably honest when he said: « J'ai dit à Fadela Amara, Bernard Kouchner, Jean-Pierre Jouyet, Martin Hirsch : restez socialistes, vous appliquez le projet que j'ai défendu pendant la présidentielle. [...] L'ouverture, ce n'est pas du débauchage, c'est réunir une grande majorité pour faire de grandes réformes. [...] Des hommes comme Claude Allègre, Jack Lang sont des hommes de qualité. [...] J'aime travailler en équipe. »
His weird government needed some left-winged personalities to warn on the possible dérapages, should a real reform be considered. Sure, the Socialist members of the government don't occupy key positions, but even without much power, they can still play a role — and they're there also to warn the civil society when certain limits are overpassed. This way, when Sarko will be overthrown for thinking that l'état, c'est lui, at least the positive part of this heritage will remain. In the meantime, let's hope that the Left will have a better offer...
As a discourse, Sarko wanted to seem compassionate and empathetic, while insisting that he knows what failure means, as he has failed himself with several occasions in life: « C'est la vie, on ne gagne pas tous les jours. » He also looked convincing to me when he declared that everyone should be given a second chance: « Je ne veux laisser personne sur le bord de la route. »
He made quite a point while suggesting that it's you and your work that's respected when an unemployed person who has refused two compatible job offers should be penalized. After all, to be able to provide a better help to more of those in need (even you some day!), but who are willing to work, shouldn't be the cheaters banned from unmerited benefits?
Less pleasant was to hear the cliché: « Travailler plus pour gagner plus ! » Also questionable is the blunt Manichaeism: « Tout le monde doit cotiser quarante ans. Je le dis très calmement. Je dis aux agents de la RATP aux cheminots, aux gaziers à tous les autres, je fais confiance à leur honnêteté. »
Time will tell whether Sarko will remain in the history as the small guy that awaked the France, or as the tiny despot who blew it up.
I dare to say that Sarkozy was necessary pour la France! Without believing in the old theory of the "necessary alternance of liberalism and social democracy", I do believe that, for being able to redistribute the wealth and solve some social problems, some more wealth must be created first. Unfortunately, France is currently suffering from a certain stiffness (how do you say ankylose?), and this must come to an end.
Undoubtedly, Sarkozy is an excellent communicator — at least, by the French standards, where being pompous is a quality, as we could see from de Gaulle to Chirac. We could only question his sincerity.
He might have been reasonably honest when he said: « J'ai dit à Fadela Amara, Bernard Kouchner, Jean-Pierre Jouyet, Martin Hirsch : restez socialistes, vous appliquez le projet que j'ai défendu pendant la présidentielle. [...] L'ouverture, ce n'est pas du débauchage, c'est réunir une grande majorité pour faire de grandes réformes. [...] Des hommes comme Claude Allègre, Jack Lang sont des hommes de qualité. [...] J'aime travailler en équipe. »
His weird government needed some left-winged personalities to warn on the possible dérapages, should a real reform be considered. Sure, the Socialist members of the government don't occupy key positions, but even without much power, they can still play a role — and they're there also to warn the civil society when certain limits are overpassed. This way, when Sarko will be overthrown for thinking that l'état, c'est lui, at least the positive part of this heritage will remain. In the meantime, let's hope that the Left will have a better offer...
As a discourse, Sarko wanted to seem compassionate and empathetic, while insisting that he knows what failure means, as he has failed himself with several occasions in life: « C'est la vie, on ne gagne pas tous les jours. » He also looked convincing to me when he declared that everyone should be given a second chance: « Je ne veux laisser personne sur le bord de la route. »
He made quite a point while suggesting that it's you and your work that's respected when an unemployed person who has refused two compatible job offers should be penalized. After all, to be able to provide a better help to more of those in need (even you some day!), but who are willing to work, shouldn't be the cheaters banned from unmerited benefits?
Less pleasant was to hear the cliché: « Travailler plus pour gagner plus ! » Also questionable is the blunt Manichaeism: « Tout le monde doit cotiser quarante ans. Je le dis très calmement. Je dis aux agents de la RATP aux cheminots, aux gaziers à tous les autres, je fais confiance à leur honnêteté. »
Time will tell whether Sarko will remain in the history as the small guy that awakened the France, or as the tiny despot who blew it up all.
I've also watched on France 3 Envoyé Spécial : La brigade du viol. Delicate issues, insightful report. Did you know that in France, a rape is reported every 2 hours? How do you catch a serial raper of 12 women? How about a kidnapped man who has been f-- in the ass four times in seven hours?
A delicate issue in recent times is the increasing number of false reports of date-rapes, purely for revenge reasons. Who do you believe in such a case? How do you make sure that a real victim is not ignored, yet no innocent person goes to jail for 20 years? This is not only a French issue, here's how things are going over the Channel: Feminism's rape fallacy: "Imperfect though they may be, courts must retain presumption of innocence in rape cases. And those who would skew the trial system are not helping women. Isn't it time to acknowledge that it's beyond the capacity of the judicial process to deal with date-rape? At present, just one in 20 reports of rape results in a conviction. Doubtless, many of the convicted 5% are unknown to their victims. Doubtless, many of the men involved in the other 95% are known all too well. Should we be surprised that juries acquit them, or that police or prosecutors consider a conviction would be unlikely in their cases? Or, indeed, that the women involved withdraw their allegations? In date-rape cases, it's his word against hers. Often, juries will be in no position to determine who's lying. Campaigners sometimes speak as if any man accused of rape must necessarily be guilty. Yet jurors know that some women make false accusations, and that others misinterpret or misremember events or even deceive themselves about what's occurred. In the face of uncertainty, our judicial system requires acquittal."
Too bad I missed on France 2: Pédophilie au féminin : le tabou. I personally believe that this can't be pedophilia, but at most corruption of a minor. When a young female teacher is seducing an underage teen, I guess this should be considered less criminal then the other way around (when a male teacher is seducing a Lolita). But, what do I know...
In the morning, just before getting out of my room, I took pictures of what could be seen right off my window: the factory brewing Stella Artois!
There is a comprehensive touristic guide of Leuven (in English, French, German and Dutch) that can be bought for only 1 EUR from In&Uit Leuven, on Naamsestraat 1, close to the Stadhuis (Town Hall). To prepare your visit, you can take a look at the city map I've extracted from that guide.
On my way to the Grote Markt, I enjoyed the walk on Diestestraat, then turning left a little, here's what a crazy guy I've met:
You can't find a more flamboyant Gothic style that this, can you? Unbelievably elaborated, and definitely impressive for such a small town — but it's the capital of the Flemish Brabant, and it hosts one of the most famous Universities: the Katholieke Universiteit Leuven, founded in 1425!
A glimpse of Saint Peter's Church (Sint-Pieterskerk), built mostly in the 15th century:
Joli môme... euh, pas vraiment
I didn't take any picture of Jan Fabre's so-called Totem — a needle with a fly! you can see it here —, but I have already developed a nausea while reading on this site that the photos had to be removed... «because Jan Fabre found no better solution than insisting on having us pay ...copyright fee for photos of his masterpiece!!!» (F-- Jan Fabre!)
But anyway, here's what Ladeuzeplein (Ladeuze square) was looking like in the evening:
Wandering through Leuven, guess what I could find? An international magazines store with maybe thousands of magazines (and some newspapers) in English, Dutch, French, German, Italian, and more! I have never seen so many different magazines under the same roof anywhere!
And the real surprise: they had almost all the Linux magazines in the world! The one I noticed as missing (a French-language one with a Fedora 7 DVD inside) could be found in all the news booths in Bruxelles, so it wasn't an issue...
So, they have: all the publications of Diamond Editions (I only bought LP 43 for the fun, and I have specifically rejected the virus-dedicated special issue); the English edition, issue 83 of the German Linux Magazine (multi-arch Debian 4.0 on the DVD, not interested; the British LXF 98 (15 EUR!); a few more English-language Linux magazines; a couple of Dutch-language Linux magazines; some German Linux magazines I didn't even know they exist! The German ones seemed well-written, however my German is not something worth mentioning...
I was really impressed. I suppose that such a wide range of periodicals is made available only because the city is hosting the KU Leuven...
The store even had some rare American periodicals on social and political issues — the kind with a small circulation and prices around $15 in the U.S. From the various U.K.-issued magazines, I noticed the high price, and also the inconvenient result in Euros. E.g. 3.95 GBP would translate in 8.86 EUR!
Buying French-speaking Belgian newspapers such as La Libre Belgique or Le Soir was much more pleasant: 1 EUR each :-)
Just before the international magazines store
As a side note on another shop in Leuven: nice stuff at Bozzy!
At noon, I decided to go back to Brussels. As I have just missed the train at 12:04, I took the one at 12:24.
Once back in Bruxelles Central, I thought it's time to go see Manneken Pis. I'll skip the detals on how I get there or what else I've been seeing in the meantime. The small guy with bladder problems showed up all of a sudden, right after a corner:
The neighboring streets are charming...
...and there is even a fat cat to watch over Manneken Pis and the souvenirs you can buy:
This one is rather kitch to me — or maybe I don't like the cars on such a street
There is more of Brussels, and I have only seen glimpses of it, but I enjoyed every moment, especially because I haven't had a strict checklist. So, the next step was to go to Le Palais des Thés, place de la Vieille Halle aux Blés. As I am not such a "professional tea drinker", I wasn't going for the teas for the real connaisseurs — ranging from 20 to 58 EUR for 100 g! —, but for cheaper varieties, around 5-6 EUR for 100g. I then took some Bai Mu Dan white tea (they also had Yin Zhen, for 39 EUR / 100 g!), and two green teas, Thé vert aux 7 agrumes and Citron vert Sencha.
The other tea shop of relevance would be l'Univers du Thé:
Some other random shots from my short "pilgrimage":
I had to admit I have not tried the beers "A La Mort Subite", available in gueuze and kriek versions, for that I don't like fruity beers.
7, rue Montagne-aux-Herbes Potagères
Purely by chance, I ran into La Maison de la Bande Dessinée, another major comic strip book shop and museum. I was about to forget: Tintin is available in Romanian too! (But the prices are rather prohibitive for most Romanians.)
Two more random pictures from the area of the Cathedral of St. Michael and Gudule (again!):
There seems to be a strange fact about pay phones, and I still don't know if the explanation is "this only happens in Belgium", or is it me — with my high expectations.
I needed to call someone, so I bought a Télécarte Belgacom for 5 EUR. There was no real rush to find a public pay phone, however I thought that I could find one by just walking on the streets. After all, I was in the very heart of Brussels, right?
Well, it wasn't quite like that. I could see no pay phone in Bruxelles Central, so I decided to go to my business. One hour and half later, I managed to see a lot of things, including Manneken Pis, yet no pay phone in sight!
I've only find some phones on Blvd. Anspach, across from the Stock Market. Furthermore, in 2 days of Brussels, I only saw pay phones in 3 areas: Bruxelles Nord (the station), place de la Monnaie, and opposite La Bourse. I know that most people are having cell phones, but isn't this a touristic city, and the heart of the E.U. offices? Why is it so damned hard to have more Belgacom pay phones on streets?
By the way, here's La Bourse:
An interesting initiative, advertised in many places by posters using the coinage « allochtone » = foreign-born (étranger), is to provide free classes of Dutch and social integration (inburgering) by the Brussels Onthaalbureau:
How do you like this very particular version of the Belgian National Anthem, la Brabançonne?
As there was no time to visit the museums — bien que the Royal Museum of Fine Arts exhibits Rubens: A genius at work between Sept. 14, 2007 and Jan. 27, 2008, I only walked around, coming from Rue de la Régence and Rue Royale, up to Place Royale.
Turning right, I've found the Museum of Musical Instruments, formerly the Old English Department Store:
...and a panorama of the downtown:
I have kept the last picture to show you how ugly can it be to mix various styles. Is it anyone really liking the two brownish bank buildings in the style of the American '70s?
Not to mention that there are far too many Fortis and Dexia buildings in Brussels! For God's sake, should we think of money that often?
Speaking of money, I had the chance to take a few pictures in the north area between Rogier and Gare du Nord. Since the metro station Rogier has the exits in unexpected places, and you can never know beforehand which one should you use — coming from Trône on M2 direction Simonis you can even get off the train on both left and right sides! —, I missed the right exit. But again, this way I could see another part of the city. In the end, I walked up to Bruxelles Nord.
On Saturday, the plan was to visit both Bruges/Brugge and Gand/Gent. The mission was accomplished, not without a small inconvenience of the kind "This is Belgium here!".
We were in the "Semaine de la mobilité 15-23 septembre et dimanche sans voiture en Bruxelles le 23 septembre" which should have generated an increased train traffic — and maybe it did. Nevertheless, the works to the railway made the train to Ostende make a long detour, so after we left Bruxelles Nord we needed one extra hour past the original schedule to reach Bruges! Of course the delay was not listed anywhere in the station... at least it wasn't in Leuven.
Once in Bruges, following Konig Albert I Laan, it was easy to reach 't Zand, one of the man places (no, I forgot to take a photo of the Concertgebouw).
We then followed a random itinerary through the old streets up to the St. Salvador Kathedral — la cathédrale Saint-Sauveur.
Sorry for not taking interior pictures of the Saint-Sauveur:
La Basilique et la Chapelle du Saint-Sang (Heilig-Bloedbasiliek en Heilig-Bloedkapel) is a unique masterpiece (I'm an engineer, why should I be able to provide with a better description of it?):
Eglise d’accueil Notre-Dame (Onthaalkerk Onze-Lieve-Vrouw), 122 meters high — you can't miss it:
A glimpse of the "beffroi" tower — severely underexposed:
Bruges was absolutely stuffed with tourists and a lot of "senior citizens" that could be a mix of Belgian and non-Belgian people, yet it was a pleasant walk. I can't explain how was that possible, but the city was peacefully quiet by my standards. (Did you know its historic center is a World Heritage Site of UNESCO?)
Hôtel de Ville (City Hall), flamboyantly Gothic:
While in the Market square (Markt), I was too distrait to take relevant photos of the relevant buildings, but nevertheless... they're still there — go and you'll find them all. For now, some more pêle-mêle:
The canals, you can't avoid the canals once you're in Bruges!
What a cozy town...
"Poultry"...
"Poultry" one more time, in Konigin Astrid Park:
The last picture is "Gentpoort" (Ghent Gate), on Gentpoortvest.
There was no time to explore the North-East of the center, so I haven't seen the windmills, the "Kruispoort", the Gezelle...
Knowing I can drink Leffe, Chimay and Duvel even at home (the Carrefour chain is importing them), I tried to only drink "des introuvables" while in Belgium. For instance, in Brussels I tried and liked St. Feuillien (brune).
Being it a "French" (Walloon) beer, I had the unpleasant surprise to see it missing from all the brasseries of the Flemish part of Belgium!
At least, from 99% of them, because... there is always a solution! In Bruges, it's called Bierbrasserie Cambrinus, on Philipstockstraat (yes, it's "Cambrinus", not "Gambrinus").
They really had 400 different beers — only 4 or 5 were "temporarily unavailable", so I could taste again my St. Feuillien brune! (I also spotted another place in Bruges where they had "16 draft beers and 250 bottled beers").
Too bad I left Belgium without trying the Kwak — but I've heard the beer is not at the same level with the "concept" of the "kwak glass"...
Gent — the capital and biggest city of the Oost-Vlaanderen (East Flanders) province. I had to take a quick tour, being it for 2 hours only.
After Leuven, Bruxelles and Bruges, seeing Gent was a double surprise: the "good one" is that this city has a very strong and unique personality, so that everyone should probably try not to miss it a part of a tour of Belgium; the "bad one" is that this city was the most filthy and full of the dregs of the society, so that it was the only one where I was quite anxious and looking for being safe!
The St. Pieters train station is ill-placed, all the way south from the center, so taking the tram 1 was mandatory to get closer to the area of interest.
I don't remember very well what was where, so the labels will be scarce.
The Belfort tower:
A dark view of the Town Hall, from St. Baafsplein (Saint Baaf Place):
"Bron der Geknielden" ("Spring of the Bereaved"), by Georges Minne:
This strange building belongs to the National Bank of Belgium (they could do better):
A McDonald's!
How do you like the "Mango" shop? (A dubious area anyway, looking like "the underworld": watch your pockets, I'd say!)
Something, somewhere:
Gravensteen — the Castle of the Counts:
Now, we do have canals in Gent too, and they should definitely be seen earlier in the day! I guess they call this area "Graslei" (and it ends in "Koornlei" if I'm not wrong):
A little later, on the opposite side:
Some more "wet" pictures:
St. Michielskerk (the Church of St. Michael):
I guess this must be...
Elsewhere in Gent:
I definitely can't say I have visited Gent, but at least it was a start. It was kinda late, so I had to take a tram back to the station, to catch a train...
Back to Leuven, via Brussels...
The next time I'll take a picture of tram 4, labeled "Moscou"!
These are for some other time: Namur, Liège (waffle-city), Antwerp, Oostende, plus: the rest of Bruxelles, y compris le quartier européen et le Cinquantenaire, le Palais Royal, the Victor Horta Museum, the René Magritte Museum, the Atomium — and more.
This is not Belgian
It's not a coincidence that l'Agent 212 is a Belgian. There are some things that seems to be happening in Belgium only — some samples follow.
I have already mentioned the scarcity of pay phones in Brussels, but I didn't tell you the other spécificité belge. Fact: when I am in Romania, I can call from my mobile (Orange Romania) any fixed phone in the E.U. for about 0.36 EUR/min (VAT included), and I can call any cell phone of the E.U. for about 0.54 EUR/min (VAT included). When I was in Brussels, calling from a Belgacom payphone a Belgian cell number Mobistar was 1.11 EUR/min! Now, that was nice for a belgicisme!
Say you go from Bruxelles to Leuven by train. When leaving Bruxelles, you are announced (by voice and on displays, where available in the coach) of the direction and the next station in both French and Dutch. When you're approaching a Flemish-language city, the announcement is only in Dutch! Conversely, when you're approaching Bruxelles (an oasis of French in a Flemish province), you're suddenly announced in both languages again! Furthermore, when you buy a train ticket in Bruxelles, it's printed in French and only French. When you buy it in Leuven (26 km away), it's printed in Dutch and only Dutch! Now, only the Belgian SNCB/NMBS could imagine that in a bilingual country, a Walloon citizen suddenly starts to understand Dutch once the train enters 20 kilometers deep in the Flemish provinces!
The street signs indicating the main attractions are probably installed by l'Agent 212, because... This is valid (for instance) for both Leuven and the indicators to "In&Uit", and for Bruxelles and the indicators to Manneken Pis, respectively. Guess what? Such indicators can be easily found when you're not close to the target (say, 500 m ... 1 km or 1-2 blocks away), but once you're approaching the target destination... there is no sign to tell you which street to go, what corner to turn! Definitely Belge.
Nobody ever asks you for your ticket in the SNCD/NMBS trains between Bruxelles-Midi, Bruxelles-Central and Bruxelles-Nord! Why would people pay for a metro, a bus or a tram, when they can use the train for free between these 3 major points? (The train takes about 3 minutes from a station to the next one.) Besides, one can even fake the good intentions: since the jourey is so short, if the railroad guy is approaching you, you can say: "Oh, I was just looking for you to buy a ticket", and you only pay an extra 2.70 EUR! On such a short distance they can't say you were not looking for them (so they can't ask you the 12.50 EUR extra tax), nor can they fine you with 60 EUR (up to 200 EUR)!
Why are Walloons saying septante and nonante, but still quatre-vingt(s) instead of huitante or octante?! (Hint: because they're not Swiss.)
Dieu, était-il Belge ?! — © Philippe Geluck
Belgians may be able to find quick solutions to mundane problems (Pourquoi un Belge marche-t-il sur des tuyaux d'arrosage ? Pour avoir de l'eau plate ;-)), but they still can't have a government.
Following the Belgian general elections that took place on June 10, 2007, Yves Leterme was appointed formateur, hence supposed to become the next prime minister of Belgium. The famous coalition "orange-bleue" — based on the colors of the composing parties: the Christen-Democratisch & Vlaams (CD&V) and the Centre Démocrate Humaniste (CdH) are both "orange", whereas the liberals from the Open VLD (Flemish) and Mouvement Réformateur (MR) are both "blue" — was unable to provide the country with a government for more than 3 months! (And they still don't have one...)
On August 23 Leterme resigned as formateur, and Herman Van Rompuy was designated as explorateur. On September 29 he presented his report and then King Albert II... appointed Yves Leterme as formateur one more time!
Belgium might be the unique country able to function (although it doesn't really exist) without a government!
However, this is good for the economy. The blog Orange Bleue : Le blog qui attend qu’un gouvernement se forme… et qui attend… has opened a boutique, and I hope they have success with it. Pierre Kroll is issuing the album Au pays des oranges bleues with strips from the series La Belgique sans gouvernement vue par Kroll.
Too bad Tintin can't come to rescue...
But they had a government in 1964!
Yves Leterme is a nice guy anyway, and maybe he'll make a career as formateur. He doesn't know if the Belgian national anthem is the Brabançonne or La Marseillaise, but it does know that the only common things to Belgians are "The King, the football team, some beers...".
Contrary to what The Economist said in Sometimes it is right for a country to recognise that its job is done, I don't think Belgium will go away: «nearly three months after its latest general election, Belgium was still without a new government. It may have acquired one by now. But, if so, will anyone notice? And, if not, will anyone mind? Even the Belgians appear indifferent. [...] If Belgium did not already exist, would anyone nowadays take the trouble to invent it? [...] Belgians need not feel too sad. Countries come and go. And perhaps a way can be found to keep the king, if he is still wanted. Since he has never had a country—he has always just been king of the Belgians—he will not miss Belgium. Maybe he can rule a new-old country called Gaul. But king of the Gauloises doesn't sound quite right, does it?»
They can't go away. Not because de Gucht said « Le pays n'éclatera pas » (Le Soir, Sept. 22/23), but because they would have to come to a consensus first. Hopefully, they'll embalm Guy Verhofstadt to look like the country has still some kind of a government, should they not agree in a reasonable time frame (20-50 years).
As I was in the City2 FNAC in Brussels, I was frustrated for not being able to benefit of any of the books in Dutch, and the same stands for the Flemish magazines: there are things in Dutch Flemish that get never translated into French.
In the Flemish Region (Vlaanderen), I was also frustrated by not being able to understand anything... for everything was written in Dutch Flemish (Vlaams). Most surprising, 99% of the Flemish people can't speak French, but only English! So it's not only that apparently the French speakers are intellectually not capable of learning Dutch, but also the Vlaams are apparently unwilling to learn French!
Whereas I am not sure I understand why the Vlaams don't learn the other official language of Belgium (that's French, should you have not followed me) at school, I certainly understand the Walloons for not understanding a iota of the variant of Dutch spoken in the Flemish Region!
Just compare how they say it in Flemish (Belgium), versus how they say it in Dutch (the Netherlands). Isn't it looking like Vlaanderen is particularity touched by a mass epidemics of bronchitis, and there is a severe lack of mucolytics out there? I simply can't be sure of what I am hearing!
Economically, Belgium seems to be a Flemish world. It has been said (or drawn in Le Soir of Sept. 21) that "every day, every Flemish gives 2.50 EUR to the Walloons". Everything Flemish seems to be more dynamic than its Walloon counterpart — or at least they're better at making things look so. I only hope the French-speaking region of Belgium will not become one day as the Québec is for Canada: the province where nobody wants to stay.
From the very little I know about the history of Belgium, I can't tell how this artificial concoct is still well and alive. To my help, I bought from FNAC the book La Belgique : Le roman d'un pays, by Patrick Roegiers. It looks nice, and hopefully it's more accurate with facts than Le mal du pays : Autobiographie de la Belgique, which has a negative review on Amazon.fr.
Last but bot least: free classes of what language is the Brussels Onthaalbureau providing? (It's not French.)
I decided not to buy anything expensive from the said FNAC (for I've spent some money at Slumberland), so I only took two amusing booklets by Jean-Joseph Julaud: Le petit livre de la grammaire facile and Le petit livre du français correct. Applying my "special method of (not) buying CDs" — which is: "look from A to Z and take from the shelves the CDs you'd like to have, no matter they're 2 or 20; look again from A to Z and put back in the shelves half of what you're holding in your hands; repeat until the number of CDs to be bought is less than 5, or the value is less than 50 EUR" — I managed to only spend less than 25 EUR on 3 CDs: Miles Davis, «Sketches of Spain» (9.99 EUR); Stéphane Grappelli, «Django» (5.95 EUR), The Dave Brubeck Quartet, «First Definitions» (8.95 EUR). Ain't I great?
What else to do in a foreign country if not looking after women? Are they blondes or brunettes? Are they tall ones or petites? Are they having fat asses or not?
As I am not used to see so many blond-haired women per squared kilometer, I was pretty impressed by this genetic heritage of the Low Countries. Furthermore, I was finding most of them sexy and interesting, and apparently by no means as dull as the clichés established by the many "blonde jokes". I am not sure what are the Flemish guys feeling about this — are they bored? do they want more brunettes? — but judging by the number of kids, I guess they're not bored at all.
Well, should you ask me, I find the bilingual "Bruxelles-Capitale" even sexier, as you can find many French-speaking girls out there — along with the other 897 kinds of people speaking maybe 132 different languages — and the Bruxellois & Bruxelloises are not as infatuated as the Parisiens & Parisiennes use to be!
The only drawback is that the Flemish women seem not to mix with Walloons, which helps to keep their progenies blond-haired. And they also have a "secret Flemish weapon", which I discovered at the Domus Brewery in Leuven: for the cheese they use to accompany the beer, they provide you with salt with celery! ;-)
What I liked during my short vacation in Belgium was the feeling that they don't stress that much with anything. You will find in Brussels a Tower of Babel of nationalities, yet you won't find them as stressed and tense as the inhabitants of New York or Paris, nor are they having a corresponding rate of the criminality.
Are you in the Flemish region, and not knowing a word in Dutch? Don't be stressed, they would either know English, or they'll understand your gesticulation (but don't bother with French).
Is the fact that they're having 60 or 70 years of age preventing Belgians for going to a pub or restaurant in the evening? By no means. Is it anything that would prevent seniors in their 70s or 80s to take the train and make a weekend trip? I don't think so.
For me, Belgium is on the list of the low-stress countries.
After less than 4 days in a country that doesn't exist, inhabited by people who believe they're Belgians (whatever that means) and who are forced by the law to go to vote, but then nobody can form a government, after having seen more bicycles than an American could see without having a heart attack, and countless blondes (you can find the French-speaking brunettes on the steps of the monuments and public buildings in Bruxelles), I can't say I know Belgium.
But I was there.
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