Saturday 8 October 2011

Snapshots of Bruxelles/Brussel

Something like an hour to get out of Brussels International. Friendly signs and fast conveyors make you feel you are moving at a remarkable speed, but in fact you have the feeling this is your first clash with the corridors of Brussels.

I know the Brussels approaches from the south, from Charleroi. This is new.

Flashback: French rather than Flemish.

Flashback: They don’t care about languages.

Meeting old friends and nice people from around the Black Sea. We are here to devise ways of better communication with the Corridors. I see it that way.

Brussels Louise, a bit up north, the buildings are just like Knightsbridge, tall, red and intrusive, are we in London?

Bilingual. Bruxelles/Brussel. Art-Loi/Kunst-Wet. Vin/Wijn. Huîtres/Oesters.

Armenia-Macedonia 4-1, Azerbaijan-Austria 1-4, BiH- Luxembourg 5-0, Slovakia-Russia 0-1, Turkey-Germany 1-3, Romania-Belarus 2-2, Netherlands-Moldova 2-0, Belgium-Kazakhstan 4-1, Serbia-Italy 1-1, Greece-Croatia 2-0, Montenegro-England 2-2

Friendlies: Ukraine-Bulgaria 3-0

Lots of coriander, salmon, duck, beetroot, tomato, butter, goat cheese, parsley, cream.

Pays d’Oc as a major attendance on the wine front. Is Languedoc a new fashion in Brussels or is it just a solution to priciness?

Taxi driver an old black man of 40-50, no seat belt, bumped TWICE into the car in front of us, almost got sued, jumped a red traffic light, made a traffic jam at a small street, had no change to give us, we got out, he came back in 10 mins to collect cash, I hope he reached home safely.

Refusal to be let to a black party. At the club, we were just told, “This is a Black Party”. Kind of racist, isn't it?

Belga cigarettes, package of 25.

Bar “King” just beside the hotel, near Louise/Louiza. A Bulgarian Roma waitress with perfect French and Bulgarian Roma friends. Had a bunch of Chimays and Duvels at a place where Brussels expressed itself at its best.

I seldom get attached to a city.