Nuit Blanche

Every year Brussels organizes the Nuit Blanche (the white nights). The city comes to life at night. This year's theme was the 7 sins. A fun event, which kept us up till 5:00am. Probably a little too old for that :) but a lot of fun.

Here the Grand Place invaded by green light.

Galerie de la Reine

The Queens gallery.

The Elevator

The Brussels elevator: getting you from upper Brussels, to lower Brussels.

Droit

a l'habitat pour tous. The right for living (having a home).

Power

Only the back.

Quiet

4 - 3 - 2

National pride.

Bonom

A graffiti artist which is currently making waves in Brussels: Bonom. I recently came across this 'baby' graffiti, easily missed if you don't look up. More Bonom.

L'art prend le metro - Le Tropolitain

Another tube station, recently discovered. I doubt I have ever been to this one before. The Gribaumont station shows the art of Roger Nellens (b. 1937), an artist fascinated with futuristic machines. This 14m long art work shows three machines, which in reality would never work (the assembly doesn't make mechanical sense) but as an art work convince you of the beauty of the Tropolitain. The artist is known to have said 'the metro - adventure - creativity'. Le Tropolitain.

Previously in the series of l'art prend le metro:
Eddy Merckx tube station.
Coovi tube station.
Heysel tube station.
Parvis de Saint Gilles tube station.
Horta tube station. More Horta.
Porte de Hall tube station.
Albert tube station.
Montgomery tube station. More Montgomery.
Louisa tube station. More Louisa.
Bourse tube station. More Bourse.
Malbeek tube stattion.
Merode tube station.
Parc tube station.

Music

Palace of Justice

The sunny side (?) of the Palace of Justice.

Belgian Lace

In action so to speak. Traditioanl Belgian lace was (is) handmade, and here a small demonstration on how it is being produced. Specifically, how the lace is made in Brugge.

Rue Haute 207

An antic/ boutique shop which caught my eye. A beautiful building I find.

La Santina

Some music to start the week. The folkloric band of Asturias.

Les Geants

As promised, the giants. Well, some of them. More, if you are interested in the story behind the Marolles festivities.

Fetes de Brueghel

Last Friday, I promised you more photos from the Marolles area. It so happens that last weekend saw a double celebration: the Fete des Geants (the Giants Fair) and the Festival de la Praline (the Praline Festival).

What does this mean? That we saw a lot of giants and ate a lot of chocolate. No photos of the chocolate as such, but stay tuned for some giants.

Fountain Detail

I found this very pretty and tranquil.

Pont Sainctelette

Did you know Brussels has a canal? Well, it does. Not that it actually tries to make the most of it. Which I find a pity, as the area around the canal could really benefit from a little revival.

This particular statue is at the end of the Pont Sainctelette crossing the canal. Built by Ernest Wijnants (1878-1964), in a somewhat byzantine style.

Venus

I promised you a walk in the park. Venus. Yes, the planet. And a very interesting Belgian project we discovered: Space for Muco. A tour of the solar system.

Belgian artists got together and recreated the solar system, on a scale of 1/40,000,000. 9 different Belgian cities have now one more more planets. We came across Venus, but I very much look forward discovering the others as well.

Who knew Brussels (Belgium) holds such interesting artistic secrets?

Etangs du Leybeek

Another undiscovered part of Brussels: the lakes of Leybeek. Look out for tomorrow's post, a discovery inside the park.

Gymnase

An old and out of use gymnse (school) in Watermael Boitsfort.

Down Town

Down town restaurant.

Posh WC

No comment.

Bruegel and the Marolles

Coming soon ... more on the Marolles.

Blue Detail

Man Walking

Brussel - Paris

Paris - Brussels; A lot of work! Oh and this is dinner on the Thalys.

Hot Chocolate

The Whirling Ear

A 6.50m high whirling ear executed by Alxander Calder in 1958. Why? Well initially it was built for the USA pavilion for the world exhibition. Then it stayed in Belgium. Then the USA gave it as a gift to Belgium. Then it was restored. And in 2000 it found its place in the Mont des Arts just on the hill towards Grand Place.

Tryphon Tournesal

Having missed the theme day here a belated street sign: a whole new approach to down town Brussels. Original street names (like Rue Charles Buls) are given cartoon related names (like Tryphon Tournesol).

A street quest worth the detour.