25/7 - Brussels
The stereotype of Americans is that they're monolingual. Those who decry stereotypes like to point to counterexamples, for example XXX in his dorm who speaks 5 languages fluently, and YYY who speaks 6, and I also met some multilingual ones while traveling, but this is the danger of selection bias - the monolingual ones are less likely to travel or to go to college. Also, I'm not sure how high the level of proficiency is - each language may not be spoken at the level of a first or even second language (as the Great Leader observed, most people can never be truly bilingual in the sense of being able to think or write poetry in 2 languages). There's also the case that whereas some people are too quick to justify stereotypes with a few examples, others are too quick to demolish the same stereotypes using equally few examples. A few bad apples shouldn't taint the barrel, but neither should a few good ones make you pass it off as prime quality.
People also think that Europeans are all multilingual and can speak their neighbors' languages. This isn't really true since nowadays the most popular seocnd language is English, and not everyone learns a third. People also are conversant with foreign languages to varying degrees of proficiency, and most of them certainly can't write poetry in them. Unless you live in screwy countries like Belgium or Switzerland, where even the country as a whole has no one language.
One of the house rules at the back of the hostel room door was that blankets had to be folded before leaving. Disobedience was potentially punishable with being thrown out without a refund. Just for that, I left mine unfolded (especially since I was only staying for a night).
I read somewhere that the giant structure which looked like a molecule I'd seen in April was the Atomium (iron molecule model) from the 1958 World Fair.
I saw a Delifrance in Brussels. I wonder if there were any in Wallonie.
One franchised waffle chain with many branches was 'Belgaufra. Probably the best since 1950'. Since this was accompanied with a figure in an almost Malaysian pose, I was naturally skeptical:
At 9:43, a large group of women were standing outside a C&A which had a 40-60% sale and waiting for it to open. It was supposed to open at 9:30, tsk.
I'd awoken too late for breakfast and when I reached the breakfast room there was little left, so I just had a cup of vile juice. But then complimentary breakfasts are usually unappealing, so I was much happier to have a Belgian Waffle. It wasn't 100% fresh but was still warm, and mostly chewy and flaky. Sugar had been baked into it instead of sprinkled on top.
A pain au chocolat I had was not as good as the pains I had in France. Which is probably why Delifrance can survive in Brussels.
Although Brussels is officially bilingual, I get the sense that French trumps Dutch as a language. In the hostel, signs were in English and French, and Dutch only for a few bits. More people also spoke in French instinctively, rather than Dutch, and talked among themselves in French; they also seemed to warm more to me when I attempted to speak French than Dutch.
This was my second waffle of the day, with Chantilly. It was heavenly, beating the first by leagues. It was crispy, chewy and even a bit flaky. However eating it while walking was a bad idea, since the powdered sugar landed on my black shirt.
I then went to the main thing I came to Brussels to see - the art museum.
Wappers - Episode of the September Days 1830 on the Grand place of Brussels (1835)
Grupello - Diana.
I think he went overboard in doing the folds of the garment
Half the non-modern art collection was closed. Gah.
Meester van de Lucialegende, Virgo Inter Virgines (last quarter of 15th century)
Noord-Franse School (?), Twee luiken van een retabel-rechterluik: The Ascension (1460-70)
This was very funny because you could see his lower body going up into a hole in the sky. Usually it looks majestic but this was comical.
Hieronymus Bosch - Temptations of St Anthony. Replica.
This could pass for modern art, with its grotesque shapes. And what's with the fish?!
In Lucas Cranach the Elder's Venus en Amor (1531), Cupid had ants on him. Wth.
Barroc: - de roeping van de Hl. Petrus & Hl. Andreas. 1586
Almost all Rubens have that irritating blur watercolour effect. Gah.
Why did Eugene Delocroix do a copy of Rubens' "The miracle of St Benedict"? The two are almost the same!
Frans Snijders & Jan Wildens - Damhertejacht
Rubens - Martyrdom of Hl. Livinus
Rubens - Assumption of the Virgin
Pieter Brueghel II - De Goede Herder (1696)
Westerwald - Pal (Pul?). Mid 17th century
It's nice to see something you read about in class
In the Martyrdom of St Apollonia, I don't get why her teeth are being pulled out.
Joos de Momper II -
Theodoor Rombouts - Prometheus
Andrew: the liver's on yr right side of yr belly
the left side is, erm, stomach. and spleen
haha
Travel tips:
- Travel in the evening. It's good because you save time traveling when attractions are closed.