Tag: Belgium

Exit

Since we finished viewing the Fin-de-Siècle on level -8 the way to exit is via an elevator that’s immense with couches like the one shown below on both sides of it. Then an escalator ride and some stairs to emerge again at level 0.

Musée royaux des Beaux-Arts
elevator

Fin-de-siècle

The Magritte show is on level -4. We then descended to levels -5 through -8 for the Fin-de-Siècle museum. Again I was struck by the geometry, space and architecture that museums always exhibit as much as the art they display.

Box of Trees

Rue de Musée, Brussels

Every time I see two rows of squared-off trees like this (there are some in the Tuileries in Paris as well) I’m reminded of a painting that’s stuck in my mind as a Magritte. However, even though we were on our way to the Magritte Museum and, despite searching arduously on the Internet multiple times I’ve never been able to locate it so I have no idea what I’m misremembering.

Grand-Place, Brussels

Here are examples of those de rigeur snaps one feels one has to take but that you can easily buy better postcard versions of or look up in a guide book. Needless to say, my casual travel zoom (16-55mm or 24-83 equivalent) was not up to the 360º challenge, nor was I carrying a tripod or a gimbal. The first picture uses the panoramic sweep feature of my camera to get about 180º. Even trying to fix the perspective in post proved quite a challenge on several of these. The Grand-Place, or Grote Markt, as the Flemish call it is a magnificent, historical square that has been a UNESCO world heritage site for the last 25 years. Read all about it on Wikipedia. Click any of the pictures above to see them all at full-size (if you’re seeing this in an email you may need to click the post title above to get to the web-site first.)

Hammer and Sickle Marx the Spot

Grand-Place, Brussels

Upon entering the Grand-Place (coming up next post) I noticed this woman unfurling a hammer and sickle banner and getting photographed with it. An almost unimaginable sight in the US, I grabbed a couple of shots and then went over to speak with her and ask about the flag. Although she only spoke Portuguese, and I could only manage some French, a girl with her spoke English and helped her cheerfully explain that they were with the Communist Party of Brazil and she pointed to a brass plaque above her on the wall, noting Karl Marx’s connection with the spot. According to Wikipedia, “In 1885, the Belgian Workers’ Party (POB/BWP), the first socialist party in Belgium, was founded during a meeting at the Grand-Place, at the same place where the First International had convened, and where Karl Marx had written The Communist Manifesto in 1848.” I showed her the pictures I took and she expressed interest in having copies so I gave her my card.

Manneken Pis

Mannekin Pis, Brussels

This one eludes me. Both the allure of the Manneken Pis statue itself and, more bizarrely, the behaviour of global tourists for whom nothing is real that isn’t on their phones. That inspired me to break my usual stance of not doing selective colourisation.

Sticker Therapy

Brussels, Belgium

Note the sicker near the top and slightly to the right of center: Princess Leia with a caption that reads “Fight Like a Girl.” I saw various versions of this all over Brussels and Antwerp. Looking it up I see it’s an umbrella organisation helping women ‘fight’ a range of issues, mostly diseases, but also causes like sexual assault and domestic abuse.