July Trip
25/7 - Brussels

All the paintings featuring St Anthony's temptations had grotesque creatures straight out of modern art. You've heard of St John predicting helicopters, but St Anthony's predictions of modern art are even more amazing.


Pieter Bruegel I - De Val Van De Opstandige Engelen, 1562


Willem van den Broecke - Het Aards Paradijsaf de Liefde

During lunch time the galleries had staggered opening times. So when I was caught out, I went to walk around and saw this on the menu at the museum cafe - "Club Sandwich: Three Step Fantasy". Uhh.

Finishing all the good stuff, I decided to give 19th century art a chance. I knew the 20th century stuff would be hideous, but perhaps there might be a few pieces worth salvaging in the previous century.


Vogels - La Neige Soir (1883)
"Vogels marked the transition between the Realist aesthetic representation of the landscape and Impressionist subjectivism subjected to the play of light" - In other words, this was my cue to run away
Like many other 19th century paintings, a perfectly good painting/photo was ruined by the application of a blur filter (or some other filter in others). Even I can do that in Photoshop.


Joseph Geefs - La Gerie Du Anal, 1864

Interestingly, Henri Leys did some neo-Medieval paintings of Philip the Good and Mary of Burgundy in 1863.

The 19th century saw the"revival of the triptych" with "secularly sacred character".


Leon Frederic - The Chalise Sellers (Centre Panel) (1882-3)


Fernand Khnopff, Des Caresses (1896)
It must be the French influence.


Writeup on Khnopff
"Woman plays a major role in Belgian Symbolism, since by herself she embodies all the duality and ambiguity of the world. This confrontation of the androgynous being with the female sphinx in an imaginary setting, filled with blue columns and cabbalist inscriptions, is open to many interpretations. Is it a symbolization of power, domination,and seduction, or perhaps rather the image of Khnopff, himself, faced with his reflection, his sister Marguerite, the inaccessible muse? Or, perhaps, it is the eternal vision of Oedipus and the Sphinx?""


Edward Burne-Jones - Psyche's Wedding, 1895
He was proclaimed part of the "2nd generation pre-Raphaelists"

The 20th century section had freehand drawings of deranged madmen which I caught a glimpse of through the entrance, running away screaming forthwith.

Somehow I missed the Death of Marat. Maybe it was in the section under renovation but I doubt such a famous piece would go unexhibited, so I must have been careless.

Another way museums can fleece visitors: charge them for the cloakroom whose use is obligatory.


Place Royale
Behind: St Jacques' church at the Coubenberg


Front of the museum (Musées Royaux des Beaux-Arts)


Our Lady of the Sablon church


Sablon alley


Place du petit Sablon


Palais de Justice


War monument outside Palais de Justice

I was following a self-guided Brussels city walk for most of its stretch, but didn't complete it since I got bored; I looked at some historic town wall and it looked pathetic, so I gave up. Either Brussels was not very interesting or I had travel fatigue.


Tassel Townhouse. It took me forever to find this. I almost gave up but luckily I persevered.
There was no UNESCO sign outside, and personally I don't see why it's so special.

A night shop in Brussels was manned by a Turkish looking guy. Gotta love immigrants.


The guy was good. If not for the sign 'Thank you', I wouldn't have known he was a performance artist.

If signs in Brussels are in only one language, that language is French. Bah.

At 4+ I had my third waffle. This was a chocolate covered waffle from Belgaufra. Touted as 'probably the best', it was definitely the worst waffle I had that day (the most soggy, the least light). Which means it was still good, but still. Ah, the perils of mass production (or leaving them out for too long)! This further proves my theory that products with Malaysian marketing have Malaysian quality.


Belgian romance (train conductor and air stewardess)

There was originally going to be some stories about the LDPVTB here, laid out for the court of public opinion to rule on, but said entity has since been cast into the deepest depths of the abyss (the nether abyss) so that case is closed.

I took a late afternoon/evening train to Luxemburg city and had dinner at the youth hostel. I had pizza and it had the most garlic I'd ever had in a pizza. The crust was passable (baked a little too long and so brittle at the edges) but unfortunately not as good as Italian crust (light and having bodyat the same time). Ah well.

Someone told me that Eurolines had double booked a bus from Berlin the night after the World Cup. So they needed to get a new bus and wake another driver. The poor passengers who couldn't get on the first bus had to suffer a 2 hour delay. Gah.

A map of Luxembourg City had a list of 'interesting buildings', one of which was 'Pescatore Fourd' ('Old People's Home'). Wth?! Maybe it was a really boring city. Or they were advertising how well they treated their old folks.


It was just my luck to visit Europe during another heatwave year. It was bad, but not that bad, since Singapore and Slavery had large inured me to heat. One of the few good things you learn in Slavery is to water parade. Other tips for coping with the heat:

- Don't be afraid to be nua (use an umbrella)
- Walk in the shade
- Stay indoors
- Take breaks
- Shorts/skirts are your friend