Another week spent partly in Brussels. On Monday we had an important press conference at the Commission, and the next day I made a presentation at the European Parliament. The latter event, in particular, was nice as it provided me the opportunity to explore a place I do not visit often.
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The area around Schuman is a perpetual construction zone. On the left the new seat of the Council is being built:
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New and old. I actually find the architecture of the European quarter quite striking and attractive:
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When you visit one of the EU institutions, you get a stick-on visitor’s badge. Evidently, this is where many of those badges end up:
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EU Parliament as seen from Rue Belliard:
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EU Parliament façade:
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Each year, the EU Parliament awards the Sakharov Prize for Freedom of Thought. Past recipients are honoured in this little courtyard:
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The visitors’ entrance:
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I have photographed this particular piece of graffiti before. Here it is as seen from the EU Parliament:
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Behind the parliament building there is a small park with a piece of the Berlin Wall. Very appropriate:
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One of my colleagues on this trip, Carolina, had never been to Brussels before, so we had to show her Grand’ Place. This is Brussels city hall at dusk:
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…and at night. I have seen this sight so many times, but I never get tired of it:
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I had the pleasure of having dinner at ‘t Kelderke on Grand’ Place with two lovely ladies; Carolina:
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…and Stephanie:
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I flew home from Brussels early Wednesday morning and went straight to the office. But in the afternoon, when I came home, my sister and brother-in-law, who had arrived from Poland during the day, were there already. My brother-in-law had immediately taken possession of the pool:
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Friday I took my team for lunch at Capricho de Raquel. Here is the head waiter preparing a dish, with an interested onlooker in the background:
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Seafood at its best:
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On Saturday I took a drive in the mountains with my sister and brother-in-law to show them some of my cycling roads. Here is the road from Busot to Jijona:
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The highest point in Busot is the cemetery. It certainly never gets flooded:
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And to finish off the week, a grasshopper on our banister, right at home:
Not writing this to LUG as a courtesy, being partly very critical. For most of the architectural pics, they are the best I’ve ever seen with uncorrected perspective distortion. Probably they are a lot better than they would have been with correction, but I’d have to be able to make a comparison to be sure. The exception is number 10. That, I would have corrected or junked.
Comment by Herb Kanner — 14 October 2013 @ 01:35