Europe and Africa

On Tuesday, I went to Brussels for the day. It's a couple hours away on the high speed train, which didn't seem to be going more than 100 kph at its fastest, so not very high speed, really, but not too long a trip anyway. After arriving and spending 20 minutes trying to find the tourist info center, I got a map and went and had lunch in the Grand Place, which is, I think, the old center of the city (and probably about the current center). It's a large square fronted by many old and elaborately designed buildings. It's paved with cobblestones and there's no vehicle access, and there were a few market stands in the center: a place selling plants and another selling art. The restaurants around the edges of the squares had large patios, so I chose a place that looked reasonably priced and had lunch. Not a great meal, but not horrible, and good service, and the people were willing to speak to me in French despite my horrible English accent, which I've never lost.

After lunch, I walked around the square, took many pictures, then headed up to some parks that were on my map. Unfortunately, 2 of them were closed off for some reason, so I decided to take a tour bus ride. It was a good idea - the guy gave me a deal and I got to see so much more than I would have on foot. It was a hop-on/hop-off tour, but since I didn't really have any idea where I was most of the time, I just stayed on. It let me see places I'd like to go back to, like the royal gardens (a park) and the palace (these are right across the street from each other). The tour was commentated, thankfully, so I learned that the palace is open to the public in the summer when the king and queen of Belgium are away on holidays.

We also went past the massive headquarters for the EU (Brussels in the EU capital). There's more than one building, of course, it's a huge collection of buildings, and it was pretty impressive. Not only that they were so big, but that an old city like Brussels was able to find so much room downtown to build these enormous complexes. It was also just neat to see the heart of the EU, since nothing like this exists anywhere else in the world. I think Canada should join the EU - nevermind that it's not actually a European country. Then we could all get EU passports, which would make me happy.

Brussels is just as flat at the Hague, but lacks any of the canals and has much nicer architecture for some reason. There is more stuff that stands out there, but maybe Amsterdam is like that, too, I just can't remember. Almost any available space in Brussels seems to be turned into green space; almost all the meridians on the road were covered with grass and had trees growing in them. So, so much nicer than NJ where everything is just concrete.

We went through a park where a world's fair or expo was held in 1954. Belgium built this huge statue of the internal structure of an atom with 9 protons (?) representing the then 9 provinces of Belgium (now there are 10). They are connected with tubes housing wires, etc, and some of the protons (?) you can actually go into. Really, look at the pictures when I get them up because it's impossible to describe in words. The only other thing left from the fair is the American theatre, which isn't used as a theatre anymore (but I forget what they said it was used for).

After the bus tour, I wandered around another nearby park in the central area of the city. It was small, but nice, with a lot of flower beds, fountains, and trees. Although there was still a lot I could do, I decided to call it quits after that, because it was amazingly hot that day and I didn't have a hat, so I was beginning to feel the effects. I hoped the train back to the Hague, and got back in time for dinner, which was nice.

The next day, Eowyn and I took Maddie to Kinderdike (literally: the child's dike) to see the windmills. There are 19 old style windmills here; most of them are converted into houses, but one is still a tourist attraction and is operational. Apparently, on Saturdays from 2-5 pm in July and August, all 19 run at once, so I'd like to go see that! We didn't have much time there, because Maddie had a party to go to that afternoon, but we were able to eat a picnic outside the windmill and I went inside to explore. It certainly isn't somewhere I'd want to live, because there are so many stairs (more like ladders) and it is old and creaky. Normally old and creaky doesn't bother me but I'm afraid of heights and I felt like I was not quite on solid ground on the upper floors. While I was inside, the wind had died down, so the blades stopped turning, so it was quiet but when I got up to the upper floor, where the blades connect to the inside, the wind picked up again. This makes the whole building shake (or it seems like it anyway!) so I had to go back down, because I was already shaky enough as it was.

All along the dike there are bike/walking paths, so Eowyn and I discussed coming back in the summer with the three kids and Dave and renting bikes, which we can do there. That way, each of us could take a kid on the baby seat of the bike and ride along and see more of the windmills. In the Netherlands, almost everyone bikes, and bikes have the right of way. Most people carry their kids on kid seats on the bikes. Or on the handlebars. Or on the back. Without helmets. I'm not kidding. It's terrifying, but everyone is so used to it here, and the cars know how to deal with it. Everyone in this family wears helmets, and you can usually pick out the North Americans that way. Some Dutch people put helmets on their kids, but don't wear them themselves, which seems silly to me. If you have an accident and your kid lives because of a helmet, but you don't, how is that helpful? But almost no one has accidents here, either, which amazes me, because it all seems like a huge accident waiting to happen. In NJ, it certainly would be, because drivers there have no idea what to do with bikes, and usually just honk (which seems to be the typical NJ driver response to anything anyway). I wish more places were bike accessible like they are here, it's just so easy to get around here on the bike, and it's so much more convenient than driving and trying to find parking.

So tomorrow is the departure day for Africa. I'm just about ready, other than last minute packing and scanning my passports. I hope the next 6-7 weeks go by quickly and are productive.