Sumer is icumen in: Spring in Brussels

Last weekend, the 25th of April, we went to visit a forest just outside Brussels which is either very famous or completely obscure, depending on who you ask. It's called the Hallerbos/Bois de Halle, and is particularly known for the beautiful bluebells that bloom for a few weeks in spring. The flowering season is probably almost over - if you're interested in visiting this year or next, you can visit the forest's very informative website, which gives daily updates on whether the bluebells are (still) blooming. It explains that they will only bloom as long as sunlight can still reach them through the forest canopy, so once the beach trees have all their leaves, they will die off. I'm not sure why so many grow in this particular forest, I suppose it's just one of the lovely things nature does.

We spent about an hour walking around in the forest, and it felt like about half that amount of time. It really was enchanting, and I'm not sure the photos do it justice. I hadn't been expecting, in particular, the dense drifts of red leaves that were also covering the forest floor - they made for a lovely contrast with the rivers and pools of bluebells lying under the trees. We went there on a drizzly Saturday, which turned out to be a good choice, as the forest protected us from the rain but there weren't very many other people there. There's a carpark right there and it's all easily walkable for the average person.

We're having a nature overdose this spring, as this weekend we decided to visit the Royal Greenhouses at Laeken, on the 1st of May. The greenhouses are only open for a few weeks a year, as they are actually "royal" in the sense of being in the grounds of the royal palace. Cue much dark muttering from me as we went round about the unearned wealth and privilege of this family who live off taxpayers' money and ill-gotten Congo gains and then expect us all to doff our caps at them when they have the grace to let the great unwashed into their private domain once a year. My parents will be laughing at that, since I used to be quite the fan of the royals when I was a little girl, but as it says in the Bible, "When I was a child, I spoke as a child, I understood as a child..."

Anyway, I had heard from colleagues and the internet that it can get horrifically crowded in there and to expect long lines, so we decided to go for the evening session, when hopefully it would be a bit quieter, and turned up half an hour before it opened - by which time a pretty long line had already formed. Luckily the evening wasn't too cold or rainy, and it actually turned out to be not as much of a nightmare as I had feared. It was good that we got there while it was still light, as it was worth it in order to see and photograph the grounds before going into the greenhouses. Once you're in, you do have to process around the exact same route (and at pretty much the same speed) as everyone else, so I can imagine it getting quite unpleasant on a hot and crowded day. Everyone seemed pretty content to take their time (and plenty of photos) though, so I never really felt like I was trapped behind a slow moving crowd, which is something I really hate.

Looking back at the rest of the queue after we got in

Jules joked that this boar was saying "paint me like one of your French girls"

In front of the palace (you're not allowed any closer)

An empty greenhouse

Selfie in front of the Japanese garden

This crown-topped greenhouse with its towers reminded me of a mosque or the Hagia Sophia

If you're ever in Brussels in spring, it's worth a look, not least for the fact that it's the only time of year you can visit - but be prepared to queue! The queue to get in evaporated fairly quickly I think, but as I said, it's worth making it in while it's still light, so weigh up whether you really want to go when it's quiet or whether you want to see it in daylight etc.

We even have the sun in Belgium

"We even have the sun in Belgium" - that's what a colleague says every time the sun appears, which is actually more often than the dire stories about Brussels weather would have you believe. He also says "see you later alligator, after a while crocodile" (yes, both halves) almost every time he leaves a room.

While winter wasn't particularly onerous this year - I think it snowed three or four times here, without really sticking - I am a happy camper because Spring is most definitely springing! Today it was sunny and 16 degrees, perfect weather to explore the EU quarter and even enjoy an icecream in the park.

Buildings around the Schuman/Ambiorix/Marie-Louise area

Lots of countries have their embassies around Marie-Louise Square, although I don't know if this is one

The EU parliament building

Parc Leopold II

Place Marie-Louise - I looked at an apartment in one of the (less attractive) buildings facing the square. Spacious but pricey!

Statue in Place Marie-Louise

Did you know there's a piece of the Berlin Wall outside the EU parliament?

Yesterday was also nice, and we started off the day with a visit to the newly-opened Chagall exhibition at the Musée des Beaux Arts. This runs until the end of June, so if you're planning a trip to Brussels in the next few months, it's worth a look. It includes over 200 works, so definitely substantial without being overwhelming. There were a few too many people there, on the second weekend it's been open, but not too crowded. And since we're friends of the museum, we got to go for free :) Our favourite works were the series of illustrations he did for the fables of La Fontaine - I'm currently in the middle of collecting a faience dinner series also featuring the fables, so it was cool to see them in a different medium. I'm just sorry they didn't have prints of them for sale in the gift shop!

One of the illustrated fables. Source

After the museum, we walked down to Place Saint Catherine to try Ellis Gourmet Burger; Pretty good, although I had a bit of burger envy since I think Jules's bacon burger was a touch tastier than my chicken burger. I was too scared to order the bacon burger since in these fancy places I always worry they'll come out bloody unless I order well done, in which case it'll probably be fried to a crisp. But Jules's medium-cooked burger was actually fine.

We were also in the neighbourhood last week, to grab a bite at Nordzee (quality was a bit off this time) and do some shopping. We used to drive in to the centre, but this week and last we took the metro and it is actually really fun to wander around on foot and not have to worry about parking and finding our way (particularly for poor Jules). It was sunny last weekend too, and we walked up from Saint-Catherine to the Mont des Arts. Brussels isn't walkable the way somewhere like Tours is, of course, but it is actually really easy to walk around large chunks of the centre. Yay for compact European capitals!

View of Brussels from the Mont des Arts

The Old England building, which now houses a museum of musical instruments

On the tenth floor of the museum is a terrace which you can access without paying for the museum. We went up and took some photos, but it was really crowded and smelt like eggs, so we didn't stay for a drink. Maybe if you're looking for a spot to chill mid-week though

Buildings on the way up the Mont des Arts

Going back in time a little bit, the most notable things to happen in my life of late (explaining the radio silence on the blog) are that Jules fixed my shower - THANK GOD, because I suffered through a whole winter of a shower with all the power of the Mannekin Pis and frequent cold spells thrown in to boot. If only I'd known that all it needed was the head changing, we would have done it long ago! But I thought it must be something more serious (plus it got steadily worse over time), since I still don't understand how that affected the temperature?? And thing number two, I got a chic table and bar stools to sit in the corner of my living room so I don't have to always eat my meals on the couch like an animal. (I mostly still eat my meals on the couch like an animal, but I like looking at my fancy new table.) Here it is bedecked with roses and champagne on Valentine's Day (lucky me!)

And just to underline the lovely weather we're having at the moment, a couple of photos of the snow in Luxembourg from a month or so ago. Pretty, but I'll be glad to enjoy some more sunshine and blue skies from now on!

Walking the dogs on a sunny but cold day in Luxembourg

Early-morning panoramic view from Jules's back terrace

 Okay, that's a wrap! I am out of the habit a bit of doing these sorts of everyday posts, but then I thought life in Brussels is not every day for everyone, so maybe some of you will be interested in what there is to see and do in these parts (thinking especially of my mum and sister who will be visiting separately and sans moi over summer!) Very excited for March, trips to Champagne and Tours coming up, followed by Easter travels in Alsace, Freiburg and Lake Constance. Yay!

Springy springy!

Argh! I typed a whole post and then went to add photos and stupid Chrome stupid crashed and made it worse by going "Aw, snap!" about it. If Google's so smart, it should know that machines pretending to be people (like those effing Westpac ATMs back home) make me ANGRY. Especially if you've just gone and lost my fricking post! Aw snap isn't even just inappropriately persony-y, it's also just kind of dickish, like Chrome is revelling in the fact that it failed. While we're on the subject of Chrome hate, why does Flash player crash EVERY FIVE MINUTES? Seriously!

Anyway, rant over, here's what I had to say...

I had a great long weekend last weekend, lucky enough to get lovely sunshine from Sunday to Tuesday (till today, actually, but it doesn't count when you're at work!) It is meant to be rainy from tomorrow into next week, but at least for once I was off work to enjoy it.

Last Friday I bought some new shoes - I was on a mission to buy summer sandals since the weather is getting nice. So, obviously, I bought heels. I wore one of the pairs to work the other day and ended up with open wounds on my heels :( I'm hoping that that's just a temporary problem until the leather softens up...


So pretty! The ribbon looks pink, but it's red - and you can swap it for a black one (or presumably whatever you like if you buy some more) which is pretty cool! It wraps around your ankle. These aren't the hurty ones (well, as far as I know), haven't had the occasion to wear them yet!



Here's the hurty ones - but they look so innocent!

Then on Saturday I checked out the Festival of Wines from Borgueil which was happening in town. Pretty sweet deal - 2 euros got you a glass and you could then taste as many wines as you liked. I had never had any wines from Borgueil before (it's a small wine region close to Tours) but I enjoyed checking them out! Still prefer the lovely Chinon rosés though, on the whole. I think my palate may have suffered a bit by the end though *cough*. I ended up buying 7 bottles of rosé, based on the impeccable criteria of 1) whether the wine tasted good and 2) whether the person selling it was nice to me. Let that be a lesson to you, vintners! I'm thinking of having a rosé party since I have so many bottles (not that I couldn't work my way through by myself, of course).


At the wine festival. I do have a photo of me at the wine festival, but since according to my mum I have looked "pale" and "waxy" in recent photos, I'm not posting it.

Sunday to Tuesday were spent mostly hanging out in the Botanic Gardens/Park, reading and enjoying the sunshine. I even had my first icecream of the season! And on Tuesday afternoon I went and had a cider sitting outside in the old town, reading and watching the world go by, very nice.

More blossoming trees in the Botanic Gardens:



And some lovely spring flowers in my very own home!


This weekend is of course the start of the F1 season for the year! This means getting up early - I woke up at 6 this morning (qualifying wasn't actually until 7). Then it turned out they weren't actually showing it on TV, grrr! It took an age, but I eventually managed to see about half of the qualifying online though... Vettel is on pole, which is not a big surprise. I am surprised at how much the McLarens have improved from practice and that the Ferraris were in pretty bad form. Early days though, it will be very interesting to see how the changes to the tyres and all the other new bits and bobs work out during the race.

Some more miscellaneous photos floating around:


Me in a new dress when we had some people over for drinks - oh and the lovely red shoes my parents brought over! Killer heels on them though, they ain't for walking!


Some of said people - me, Yann, Géraldine and Anto

The statues on the front of the Hotel de Ville. I would have called them caryatids, but apparently only female figures are caryatids, and males are telamones or atlantes (singular, atlas).





And here's a photo from last year of the Hotel de Ville itself, in case you've forgotten what it looks like (or never knew...) It's kind of hard to see the statues from far away, they are on the bottom level :




Awwwwww Maya gets caught out by those sneaky paparazzi in a compromising position! Still manages to wink seductively like the trooper she is though :D