{"id":1011,"date":"2013-06-30T21:10:48","date_gmt":"2013-06-30T20:10:48","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.fotocycle.dk\/paws\/?page_id=1011"},"modified":"2013-06-30T21:10:48","modified_gmt":"2013-06-30T20:10:48","slug":"week-25-mostly-brussels","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"http:\/\/www.fotocycle.dk\/paws\/?page_id=1011","title":{"rendered":"Week 25: mostly Brussels"},"content":{"rendered":"

I was on yet another business trip to Brussels last week, and a bit longer than usual: flew up there Monday morning and flew back to Alicante Thursday morning. So most of the pictures are from Brussels, with a few local ones thrown in.<\/p>\n

25_1<\/strong>
\nA new bakery called Pan de Oro<\/em> (bread of gold) has opened in my neighbourhood. In general, I continue to patronise the bakery I have gone to the past 5 years, not least because it is a nicer walk for the dog. But sometimes, especially on weekends, I go to the new bakery. They have good sourdough breads, croissants and pastries, and everything is made from scratch on the premises as far as I can tell. And last but not least, the prices are very reasonable:
\n\"_1010151\"<\/p>\n

25_2<\/strong>
\nFrom a walk on our beach (Playa San Juan) Sunday afternoon. I was amused by the “tipical Spanish food” sign. Foreign languages are not a strong suit around here:
\n\"DSF3047\"<\/p>\n

25_3<\/strong>
\nOn Thursday, after coming back from Brussels, I went straight from the airport to the office, not least because I wanted to attend the retirement drink for Nicasio, one of my original colleagues when I joined this office in 2007. He looks young for his 63 or 64 years. Here he is reminiscing with Maria, worked with him back then as well:
\n\"DSF3145\"<\/p>\n

Then we move on to Brussels.<\/p>\n

25_4<\/strong>
\nOn Monday night, we went to have dinner at an Italian restaurant in the European quarter, as we often do:
\n\"DSF3049\"<\/p>\n

25_5<\/strong>
\nBut on Tuesday night, for a change, we went to a Polish restaurant which I did not even know existed. The food was good and authentic:
\n\"DSF3101\"<\/p>\n

25_6<\/strong>
\nOn Monday afternoon, I had some free time. The weather was nice, so it was just the right time to go to one of my favourite places in Brussels, Place Ste-Catherine:
\n\"DSF3055\"<\/p>\n

25_7<\/strong>
\nOne of the best watering holes in Brussels, the Monk bar:
\n\"DSF3067\"<\/p>\n

25_8<\/strong>
\nLooking out from the Monk:
\n\"DSF3064\"<\/p>\n

25_9<\/strong>
\nTechnical assistance on Grand’ Place:
\n\"DSF3074\"<\/p>\n

25_10<\/strong>
\nIn this side gate to Brussels City Hall, there was always a bronze statue which people would rub for good luck. This time, to the consternation of many tourists, the statue is not there. I have no idea why:
\n\"DSF3077\"<\/p>\n

25_11<\/strong>
\nThis is one of the standard restaurants in Brussels, ‘t Kelderke on Grand’ Place. It is the place to go for traditional Belgian food:
\n\"DSF3080\"<\/p>\n

25_12<\/strong>
\nI chose to eat outside, so that I could glance up at the magnificent square. Grand’ Place is widely considered to be the most beautiful square in Europe:
\n\"DSF3081\"<\/p>\n

25_13<\/strong>
\nAnd this is what I saw and ate–stoemp<\/em> and saucisse<\/em>. It does not get more Belgian than this:
\n\"DSF3082\"<\/p>\n

25_14<\/strong>
\nI am constantly fascinated by these statues on the fence of the EU Commission headquarters. I am not 100% happy with this effort, but fortunately I am in Brussels almost every month, so there will be other opportunities:
\n\"DSF3091\"<\/p>\n

25_15<\/strong>
\nTaking notes:
\n\"DSF3092\"<\/p>\n

25_16<\/strong>
\nWednesday evening I took the metro to the Gare Centrale, near the Grand’ Place area, to take a walk and get some frites and beer. As in so many places in Belgium and France, the carnage that took place during the two World Wars is ever present:
\n\"DSF3141\"<\/p>\n

25_17<\/strong>
\nThese two products are better in Belgium than anywhere else in the world:
\n\"DSF3106\"<\/p>\n

25_18<\/strong>
\nA pretty face, Place St Jean:
\n\"DSF3107\"<\/p>\n

25_19<\/strong>
\nRelaxation, all around:
\n\"DSF3115\"<\/p>\n

25_20<\/strong>
\nCharles Buls with friends:
\n\"DSF3122\"<\/p>\n

25_21<\/strong>
\nBelgians take their Smurfs seriously:
\n\"DSF3116\"<\/p>\n

25_22<\/strong>
\nBuilding detail, Grand’ Place:
\n\"DSF3126\"<\/p>\n

25_23<\/strong>
\nPissy waffles:
\n\"DSF3132\"<\/p>\n

25_24<\/strong>
\nThe Mannekin Pis is like the Little Mermaid in Copenhagen. Small and unassuming, and yet tourists flock to it:
\n\"DSF3133\"<\/p>\n

25_25<\/strong>
\nThe reason I go to the Mannekin Pis is not the peeing boy. But across the street is another favourite watering hole, the Poechenellekeller. This is the view looking out:
\n\"DSF3136\"<\/p>\n

25_26<\/strong>
\nReading, Poechenellekelder:
\n\"DSF3137\"<\/p>\n

25_27<\/strong>
\nTo finish off the week, I flew to Denmark on Saturday morning. This is the morning light at Alicante airport, as seen from seat 15A:
\n\"DSF3165\"<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

I was on yet another business trip to Brussels last week, and a bit longer than usual: flew up there Monday morning and flew back to Alicante Thursday morning. So most of the pictures are from Brussels, with a few local ones thrown in. 25_1 A new bakery called Pan de Oro (bread of gold) […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"parent":877,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.fotocycle.dk\/paws\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/1011"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.fotocycle.dk\/paws\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.fotocycle.dk\/paws\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.fotocycle.dk\/paws\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.fotocycle.dk\/paws\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1011"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"http:\/\/www.fotocycle.dk\/paws\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/1011\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1013,"href":"http:\/\/www.fotocycle.dk\/paws\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/1011\/revisions\/1013"}],"up":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.fotocycle.dk\/paws\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/877"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.fotocycle.dk\/paws\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1011"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}