The main event this week was a quick trip to Brussels, to speak at an event organised by the European Commission. It also gave me an opportunity to see my cousin and to have dinner with a dear friend who is retiring at the age of 72 (and we are not sure if this is his last retirement). It was a very short visit, I was in Brussels for about 21 hours, but I packed a lot of work and enjoyment into it.
10_1
But I started the week, as usual, with a Sunday morning bike ride. On the way to Aigues, I stopped to photograph a flock of goats. I just love to see these scenes less than 2 km from the beach with its bars and hotels:
10_2
10_3
A hard-working dog:
10_4
I cycled on to Aigues, where I saw this dignified creature outside her house:
10_5
Then on to Busot where I saw some people engaged in an activity that is most certainly not for me:
10_6
Sunday evening Mochi and I went for a walk to The Place:
10_7
There were other people with dogs in the bar:
10_8
A curious sight on the way home from the bar. When I see something like this, I always wonder about the story behind it:
10_9
On Tuesday mid-day I flew to Brussels. I took the express bus from the airport to my hotel in the EU quarter, passing these statues called “Citizens” which many people find ugly but I always enjoy:
10_10
10_11
10_12
Painted sidewalk next to Berlaymont, the headquarters of the European Commission:
10_13
I like modern architecture, and the area around Berlaymont has a lot of that:
10_14
I have a favourite bar in every part of Brussels, a city I know very well. In the EU quarter that bar is Kitty O’Shea’s. My French cousin Nicole who lives just a couple of km away came to meet me there:
10_15
The Private Stakeholders meeting of the European Observatory on Infringements of IP Rights was being held in Brussels that day. One of the participants was an old friend Phil Lewis who retiring from his job at the Anti-Counterfeiting Group in June, and I had arranged a dinner with him. Much to my delight, he suddenly appeared at Kitty O’Shea’s, along with Marie Pattulo of a trademark association in Brussels, who is also a good friend. When an event in the EU Bubble ends, everybody seems to end up at Kitty O’Shea’s:
10_16
Later in the evening, we joined our colleagues Helen and Patricia for dinner at a nearby Greek restaurant:
10_17
The following morning, I checked out of my hotel and walked to the Schuman metro station to go to the event where I was going to speak. I liked the sight of a mother with a young child walking alongside the Berlaymont:
10_18
I enjoyed the morning light and the modern buildings:
10_19
10_20
10_21
I took the metro to the Central Station, designed by the famous Belgian architect Victor Horta. Construction began around the First World War, but it was fraught with delays, and the station opened only in 1952. It is an impressive building still:
10_22
To make room for the station, an entire old neighbourhood called La Putterie was demolished. A memorial to that neighbourhood, created by Charles Leplae in 1958, is on the side of the building:
10_23
The square in front of the Central Station (which is actually round) is called Carrefour de l’Europe:
10_24
There is an installation marking the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals, with a very Belgian touch:
10_25
The Europe Ocean Days conference was held at a conference centre called Sparks. There was an impressive multimedia installation in the lobby on which various aspects of the deterioration of the marine environment and climate change could be visualised:
10_26
The panel was moderated by a professional journalist, Seamus Kearney, who did an excellent job:
10_27
The Slido app was used extensively to engage the audience:
10_28
The auditorium (people are leaving for a coffee break):
10_29
There was a photographer and videographer, so for once I got some good photos of me speaking in the panel. The subject was the use of intellectual property to mobilise finance for innovation in environmental technologies:
10_30
I took my own photos of my fellow panelists:
10_31
The panel ended around 12:30, and a “family photo” of the six panelists was made:
10_32
My flight home was at 3 p.m., so I hurried to the nearby Central Station and took a train to the airport. Soon I was greeted by the familiar sight of Tintin’s moon rocket in the departure hall:
10_33
I have never actually consumed anything in this bar, but it is impressive indeed:
10_34
I made my way to the gate where I ran into several colleagues who were also flying back to Alicante, including Helen and Patricia with whom I had dined Tuesday night. They noticed something new, a book exchange:
10_35
Patricia considers a book:
10_36
And then I was caught in the act, not for the first time:
10_37
Back in Alicante, it was time for more walks on the beach with Mochi, despite the somewhat un-Alicante weather:
10_38
Watching us closely:
10_39
A highlight of the walk for Mochi is the visit to the bakery to buy bread. This always happens towards the end of the walk (the bakery is a couple of hundred meters from our house), so his other needs have been taken care of at the point. Mochi has to wait outside while I buy the bread:
10_40
But then what Mochi is waiting for happens. After selling me a baguette, the owner accompanies me outside to give Mochi his morning treat:
10_41
Mochi LOVES fresh bread:
