Saturday I got up and went for a run. The weather is really nice again today. Yay!! When I got back, I did the usual cleaning and laundry, take out the garbage etc. etc. I borrowed the vacuum from Rik thank goodness. After I vacuumed I felt so amazing. The dirty carpet had really been bothering me. After that, I had planned to go to the storm surge barrier in Rotterdam, but I got completely engulfed in planned my trip to Paris next week. I have a list of about 8 pages of all the things I want to do. So many things on the list. So many variables. Looking forward to mastering the public transport system. That’s one of my very favorite things about NYC is the subway. I’m not very good with directions (understatement), in fact my spatial orientation is astonishingly poor. Especially for an engineer I think. But for some reason I’m very good at reading maps and I’m especially good at bus/subway/metro systems. It seems like there is so much to do in Paris. I wish I had more time there. I think this will be the perfect trip to figure out what i want to do on my NEXT trip to Paris :)
I got an email from RJ’s friend Ben, who is having some sort of quarter-life crisis and bought a 1-way ticket to paris and rented an apartment for 6 months. He arrives on the 23rd. I get in on the 24th. So ill have a christmas in Paris travel buddy. Sometimes the way things work out are so unexpectedly random. I wonder if RJ warned him about my insane planning and non-stop schedule. Hahah oh well I’ll just let that be a surprise.
Rik and I went to get some Indonesian food for dinner and accidentally went to this all you can eat Indonesian/Chinese food buffet. Haha I didn’t think they would have things like that here!! I’m so full. But it was super yummy. We went to the grocery store afterwards. I got some stuff to freeze for when I have visitors in a little over a week. Speaking of visitors, I’m looking forward to seeing some familiar faces!!!
Sunday I left early at about 8AM and drove to Brussels. Easy drive. My GPS is working like a charm! It took about 1h45mins. The weather is perfect again today. Much better than the last time I was here (when I got caught in that snowstorm remember??) I started at the Belgian military museum (see photos below). The main part of the museum highlights all of the different uniforms worn by Belgian soldiers in the past few centuries. One thing I noticed is that the uniforms in the earlier centuries were so small! And very ornate. Lots of stitching and decoration. The later uniforms in the 19th century were quite plain with hardly any distinguishing marks, except for rank and flag etc. The walls of this main hall were covered with those quintessential military portraits, of the men in full dress, with his chest out and chin up and proudly staring into the background. There were hundreds of these portraits and easily a hundred different uniforms. The hand weapons were also displayed in this main hall, mostly consisting of many swords and some pistols. Overall from this main hall, I get a sense of a very proud Belgian military history.
The other rooms have more of the same, but for specific eras for the Belgian indendence from the Netherlands, and for WW1 And WW2. there is also a room for heavy artillery, when dozens of tanks. Tank operators must have one of the most nervewracking jobs in the military. You drive right into the middle of a battle and hope the armour protects you and you don’t get blown up. Jeez. I bet its really hot in there too. I think I would like to be a sniper. Not a lot of action, but important at critical moments.
The aviation museum is also included in the military museum (see pictures below). There are dozens of decommissioned airplanes, most actual size and some models. There are also exhibits for early flight methods, including my personal favourite the hot air balloon, and submarines and warships. There were 99% guys in the airplane museum, lots of dads with little kids. I know more than a few guys who could’ve spent the whole day there hahah. I stayed about an hour but had to keep moving to stay on schedule. The museum is free so I bet it’s a fun thing for even locals to do on a weekend.
I left the museum and walked about a half a kilometre over to the metro station. The machines are super easy to use and the metro map is even easier. Just two main lines that cross each other, with a few auxiliary loops. Trains come every few minutes, and there is even a station map that shows where the train is right now, and how long until it reaches your station. Very handy. Hop the metro and head over to the Grand Place. When I get over to the grand place, luckily there is a Christmas market set up! I spent about 2 hours poking around all the little stands of figurines, candy, jewelry, pottery, other miscellaneous crap, had a cup of mulled wine, and had a waffle with powdered sugar. The powdered sugar was a major mistake – I got it all over my jacket haha!!! There were so many people around just doing some last minute Christmas shopping. There was a great festive energy in the air. Last time I was here, they were just putting up the Christmas tree in the grand place, so this time I got to see it all up and decorated. See the photo below!!
I hopped back on the metro, then transferred to the bus, to get to La Loge Architecture Museum. They had an exhibit about the 1958 Expo that ended today so I really wanted to catch that. The exhibit features these amazing (hand drawn!!) architect’s design concepts and plans for construction of all of the expo buildings. there were hundreds of structures built for the expo, including an elevated highway (which was converted to a tunnel in the 1980’s), sports complexes, exhibition halls, amphitheatres, a new terminal at Schipol, etc. There were so many different types of structures and architects, but all of the work is beautiful. Very straight and geometric. I’ve always been interested in the symbiotic relationship between civil engineering and architecture. In reality its not nearly as romanticized as it is in my mind. Architects have to deal with piping for plumbing and ventilation and electrical etc, elevators, handicap access, lighting, etc. the outside of the building is what everyone notices, but all of the auxiliary things really define the functionality of a structure.
Overall this trip to brussells was so much different than the first. I think I got over the ”awe” of the city and really started to notice more about the people and the functionality and the way of life. it kind of reminded me of a cross between NY and SF. Wasn’t bustling like NY, but the amount of commercial, retail and office space is comparable. The look of the city is more like SF, aside from the subway/metro system. Its hilly and the buildings some of the buildings are similar. Many of the modern buildings are very NY, but overall its not nearly as flashy. I got to see just normal people out an about, getting groceries, buying lamps, etc. I like living in the city. The energy is incomparable. I would say the only city in CA remotely comparable to a European city would be SF. I took the bus and the metro back to my car which I left at the museum (plenty of free parking!!). I had tickets to the Cirque du Soleil show “Quidam” at 4PM so I had to get back to my car by 4:15. I bought the tickets I think on Wednesday at a reduced (40% off price). I got to the show at about 4:45, and made it to my seat literally 30 seconds before they dimmed the lights and the ringmaster came out to start the show. Perfect timing!!
The show was fantastic. I think my favourite act was the three little asian girls who did the spinning thread thing. The Cirque shows are always top notch. I’ve seen 2 in Las Vegas before. For this show, it was quite humorous as well as entertaining. I think it was more aimed at kids. There was a funny guy who pulled people onstage from the audience to act out little skits. There were jugglers, a man in a big hamster wheel, balancing people, gymnasts, aerial rope people, contortionists, jump ropes, etc. the show was about 2.5 hours and it was fantastic! I was at the very last showing of Quidam before they packed up and moved to a new city. So I just caught it in time. I stopped for dinner on the way home at kind of a soup and salad place, had a bowl of pea soup and a slice of cherry pie (my two faves), and got home around 10PM. Will be a short week… almost paris time!!!
No comments:
Post a Comment